CHENNAI: A long exile is finally over. The last time Chennai City FC played in the city that they are named after was in the early months of 2017. A lot has happened since then. They staved off relegation, then scripted one of the most stunning title wins in I-League history and earned the right to compete in AFC competitions. All that while, they played more than 500km away from their home city, in Coimbatore.
Now the club has announced that they will be returning to Chennai to play their AFC Cup games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. “Chennai City FC will become the first team to host an AFC Cup game in the Tamil Nadu capital,” said a statement released by the team. “The defending I-League champions Chennai City will be kick-starting their AFC Cup campaign on the 11th of March 2020.” Their first match will be against Maldivian club Maziya S&RC on March 11. They had vanquished Bengaluru FC in the play-offs, leaving Chennai City as India’s lone representatives in the tournament. They will then take on Bangladesh club Bashundhara Kings on April 29 before returning to Chennai to play Maldivian outfit TC Sports.
This is the first time Asian football will be coming to Chennai despite Chennaiyin FC qualifying for the AFC Cup last year. They were unable to stage matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium last year and opted for the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad. Curiously, Chennai City too had played their AFC Champions League play-off game in Ahmedabad in January.
Chennai City would have not have been able to play their AFC games at Coimbatore as the stadium does not fulfil norms. The club’s owner Rohit Ramesh said that it was a difficult process to get AFC to ratify the move to Chennai. “We enquired about the dates here and found that the stadium was free on those days,” he said. “The team was adamant on playing their home games in Tamil Nadu and pushed aggressively for the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.” The club though will not be leaving their fans in Coimbatore behind. “We at Chennai City will take care of the travel expenses of our fan clubs...for our home games in Chennai. Our supporters are an important part of our CCFC family.”