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East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan open their campaign against Bhawanipore, Aryan and Army on 4th, 5th and 6th of August, 2016.

[caption id="attachment_18702" align="alignnone" width="580"] CFL 2016 Trophy. Xtra Time[/caption] Kolkata: IFA today announced the fixtures of the first 18 days of CFL 2016 Premier Division A group. But IFA could not finalise date of the derby yet. The state football association could not finalise the date of the high-voltage derby as there is confusion over the venue, said Utpal Ganguly. Now, the question automatically arises that is venue the only reason for derby's date not to be finalised or Mohun Bagan not playing the derbies against East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting as IFA(WB) only releases the tickets for 8000 official members and apart from these IFA does not provide any gate sale for the tickets sold. IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly said, "We have not spoken to the Mohun Bagan officials regarding derby. If there is any problem, we sit together and solve this issue. I believe for the sake of Bengal football, they will come forward." CFL 2016 Premier Division A will be inaugurated with the match between Aryan and George Telegraph S.C. at the Barasat stadium from 3:30 p.m. East Bengal will begin their journey on 4th August against Bhawanipore either in Kalyani or Howrah stadium. Sports Minister Aroop Biswas will be present in the venue. East Bengal play next on 7th and 12th against Peerless SC in Kalyani or Howrah Stadium from 3:30 p.m. and Army XI from 5:30 p.m. in Barasat Stadium respectively. On the other hand, Mohun Bagan will begin their tournament against Aryan on 6th July in Mohun Bagan ground from 5:30 p.m. The next two matches of Mohun Bagan are against George Telegraph S.C. and Southern Samity on 10th and 14th from 5:30 p.m. respectively. Meanwhile, Mohammedan Sporting will face their first match against Army XI in their home ground on 5th August from 3:30 p.m. Mohammedan play next against Tollygunje Agragami and Bhawanipore on 9th and 13th of August respectively in their home ground from 3:30 p.m. A total of 30 matches will be telecasted live on T.V. IFA is trying to end the tournament by 10th or 11th September. However, this year the CFL trophy will be handed over by the IFA to the winning team in the last match on the ground itself unlike previous years where the trophy was handed over in the IFA Annual ceremony. IFA also took a huge initiative by announcing that from this year the Best coach of the CFL will be awarded with Diamond Coach "Amal Dutta award".