KOCHI: Former I-League champions Gokulam Kerala are poised to shift their home base to the District Sports Council Stadium, Payyanad in Manjeri for the upcoming I-league season. Although the club is yet to receive an official communication from the I-league authorities regarding the change, the tentative fixtures released on Thursday suggest that Manjeri will be their new home turf.
The decision to move from the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode was anticipated after the Kozhikode corporation, who owns the stadium, decided to allocate the venue to KFA for hosting the Kerala Super League. Despite playing in Kozhikode since their debut season in the I-league in 2017-18, Gokulam is officially registered under the Malappuram District Football Association and had played a few matches in Manjeri during the previous season.
According to the schedule, Gokulam will host their first home game on December 3 against Aizawl FC. Prior to that, they will face Sudeva in the opening day fixture on November 22 in Hyderabad and play against Real Kashmir in Srinagar in the second round.
The 12-team I-League will run through December, January, February, and March, ending on April 6, 2025.
Sporting Club Bengaluru and Dempo SC are the two new entrants into the country’s second-tier club competition after finishing as champions and runners-ups of 2023-24 I-League 2.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it held a meeting with the I-League club owners on Thursday and they agreed to its proposals "to invite potential sponsors and the initiative to bring the telecasting partners and broadcasting team on board for all the I-League matches, including the IWL and other elite group of competitions in AIFF".
"Hopefully, we will be able to complete this process by the second week of November as the first match is on 22nd November. That is what we have decided and a couple of points were raised by the I-League clubs, which are being considered by the AIFF," AIFF secretary general P Anilkumar said.
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