Mumbai may host NFL 2nd Div ties

Mumbai, March 18: Mumbai football fans might witness another football fiesta in the second week of April. The Cooperage is among the venu...

Mumbai, March 18: Mumbai football fans might witness another football fiesta in the second week of April. The Cooperage is among the venues scheduled to host the second division National Football League, according to Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, president All India Football Federation (AIFF).

Speaking to The Indian Express in a telephonic chat from Calcutta, Munshi said, “we have three venues in our mind — Mumbai, Bangalore and Haldia (West Bengal) — and it is quite possible that we run the Second division National Football League at all three venues or two of them. The committee will finalise the dates and venues on March 21.” He, however, said the event in all probability would be staged between April 7-21.

He hinted that the 18 teams from different parts of country will lock horns in three different groups.

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Earlier, the AIFF had decided to hold the entire event in Goa despite knowing that the state would be playing host to the South Asian Federation Games from April 22-May 1. Interestingly, allmatches were to held at an open playground since the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao would have been busy with the SAF Games. “The Goan Football Association suggested to have the tourney in an open ground. I refused the proposal because it is quite dangerous to play in an open ground since the tournament features some local teams too. And what about the security of the players?,” opined Wali Mohammed, secretary, Western India Football Association (WIFA). “I proposed the Federation to organise it in Cooperage as we can provide ground with a stadium and most important, security to the players,” he said.

Meanwhile, the controversial issue of inter-state transfer has been put on hold, according to the AIFF chief. “The AIFF will defer the transfers till the end of league,” he said.

The transfer issue has almost resulted in advancing the schedule from May to April. AIFF’s decision to conduct the second division league after the transfer raised a furore with Vasco Club (Goa) and Bengal Mumbai FootballClub (BMFC) threatening to go the legal way as both clubs have reportedly spent heavily on their recruits — both foreign and Indian players.