BHUBANESWAR: After the hype and hoopla drummed up over formation of state’s own team Odisha FC and trumpeting of #AmaTeamAmaGame (our team, our game), ground reality has come to hit hard.
The home fans are all poised to be deprived of seeing their team and their game on their soil. For, the state government has not been able to provide a home ground for Odisha FC to play its home matches of Indian Super league (ISL). The team is set to go begging for alternative venues in other states as the designated home ground Kalinga Stadium is not ready yet to host the matches.
As per the schedule, the Odisha FC is to face ATK, Bengaluru FC and Hyderabad on November 24, December 4 and December 11 respectively at Kalinga Stadium here. However, the ground is under construction which will not be finished before the second week of December 2019.
Odisha FC CEO Ashish Shah told TNIE, “We are likely to shift two or three home matches as the ground is yet to be prepared. Everything was on right track but due to prolonged monsoon, the groundwork has been delayed. Discussion is on for an alternative venue but we are yet to finalise. We will make the announcement soon.”
Sources said, the team has zeroed in on Ahmedabad for playing the home matches. The Kalinga Stadium ground is up for renovation to host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 to be held from November 2-21 next year. It was expected that the ground would be ready by November 20 this year, thereby allowing it to host the Odisha FC home matches. However, it wasn’t to be.
The officials stated that the work was hampered due to the torrential rains in the last week of October. The sand filling was washed away and had to be redone again. The filling work is expected to be completed in three days but putting a green top over it will need at least three weeks more. This almost eliminates any chance of Odisha FC playing any home match here till December last week.
Meanwhile, the FIFA Technical Committee is supposed to visit the ground to assess the progress of works in the first week of December. The Odisha FC has made a slow start in its maiden ISL campaign. It suffered two back-to-back defeats against Jamshedpur FC and North East United but made a comeback winning against Mumbai City in the third. In the last away match of the first phase, it will face Kerala Blasters on November 8.