Xtra Time Web Desk: The forthcoming I League season 2020-21 is expected to start next year from January 07. The I League was earlier scheduled to start in December after Christmas but as per reports in Goal.com the league has been postponed to the first week of January. It is learnt the AIFF after consultation with the West Bengal Government and Indian Football Association (IFA) have decided to reschedule it.
This season, there will be a total 11 teams who will be vying for top honours. Kolkata outfit Mohammedan Sporting (qualified after 7 years) and Sudeva FC are the two new entrants. Mohammedan emerged as the champions of I League Qualifiers held recently in KolkataWhereas, Sudeva from New Delhi earned a direct entry the league after going through the Request for Proposal (RFP) process opened up by the AIFF (All India Football Federation).
The rest of the teams are Real Kashmir FC, Punjab FC, Chennai City FC, Gokulam Kerala, Churchill Brothers, Indian Arrows, NEROCA, Aizawl FC, and TRAU.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country, the upcoming I League season will be a curtailed one. Instead of the usual format where a team plays every other team twice, this time around the tournament will be divided into two stages. A total of 80 matches will be played during the upcoming I-League season, with 11 teams set to play each other just once in the first phase.
After the first phase, the top five teams will be grouped together where they will play for the championship while the bottom six teams will be grouped in a battle to stave off relegation. In the second stage, the teams will face all teams in their group once.