The All India Football Federation on Tuesday launched the country’s first-ever professional women’s league, the Indian Women’s League, which will be held at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi from January 28 till February 14, PTI reported.
The tournament will feature six teams – Jeppiar (Puducherry), Eastern Sporting Union (Imphal), Rising Student’s Club (Cuttack), Football Club Alakhpura (Haryana) and a team each from I-League and ISL clubs, Aizawl FC and Pune City FC. The six participating teams will play each other in a round-robin format with the top four advancing to the semi-finals.
“This is a beginning for the women’s football in the country,” AIFF President Praful Patel said at the launch. “We are starting with six teams and hope to expand it to 16 in future. This gives our women footballers the option to take it up as a career.”
Praful Patel takes dig at Goan clubs
Patel also took a dig at Goan clubs that quit the men’s I-League recently, PTI reported.
“The clubs which have pulled out were not investing in football. They blame other reasons but the real reason is that they don’t have bandwidth now to continue,” the AIFF president said without taking names.
India’s club football system was thrown into turmoil last year when former champions Salgaocar and fellow Goan side Sporting Clube de Goa withdrew from the I-League, opposing the AIFF and IMG-Reliance’s proposed revamped structure for the new domestic season.