Coimbatore, Nov 20 (PTI) Chennai City FC is geared up forthe forthcoming season of I-League and will play its homematches in Coimbatore with the first game here on December 23.
The team, which made its debut in the I-League lastseason, would play nine matches at the Nehru Stadium here,with the first being against Kolkata giants East Bengal onDecember 23.
The stadium is being renovated for the purpose, saidChennai City FC owner Rohit Ramesh.
The League gets underway on November 25 and Chennai Cityplays its first match against Indian Arrows on November 29 atGoa.
Ramesh said he was happy to bring football to Coimbatoreadding it would also help promote the sport.
"It's going to be a huge task in terms of money and manymore but I believe the football-loving people of Coimbatoreand the corporate companies will come forward to travel withus in our journey to promote this sport," he said.
He said it is not only about promoting football. "We areactually shaping heroes out of the State players. Eighty percent of the players are from Tamil Nadu. We want to give thema chance and bring the best out of them that they mayrepresent the big stage in the years to come.
After a long time, Nehru Stadium here would see some ofthe top teams such as East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and ChurchillBrothers among others in action, in the I-League, which wouldrun till April next.
The Chennai City FC coach V Soundararajan was happy withthe team's preparations and said they were looking forward tothe opening match against Arrows.
The team officially launched its jersey at a function lastnight in the presence of Tamil Nadu Minister for MunicipalAdministration and Rural Development S P Velumani and Ministerfor Youth Welfare and Sports Development P Balakrishna Reddy.
Chennai City FC finished eighth in its debut season in2016-'17 but registered a memorable 2-1 win over East Bengal.
PTI SSRC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.