KOCHI: Despite the challenges posed by the second wave of COVID-19, the All India Football Federation is keen to conduct the Indian Women's League by September. The IWL was initially slated to be held last month in Odisha but was postponed due to the ever increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
Hosting this year's IWL takes on added significance after the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) announced that the winners of the 2021 IWL will get to feature in the AFC Women's Club Championship 2021, which is a pilot tournament of the AFC. It will be a first of its kind opportunity for women's teams from India and that is why the AIFF is keen to conduct the IWL despite the challenges.
"Our plans are to host this event by September, if the situation obviously improves in India. We don't want to risk the safety of the players. If we can hold the tournament, then obviously whoever the champion team is, would qualify," said I-League CEO Sunando Dhar.
According to the circular issued by the AFC, either the winners of the 2021 or 2020 edition will get to play in the continental tournament.
"If for unfortunate reasons we can't have the tournament within the stipulated deadline, then we'll have to talk to AFC and see if we can nominate Gokulam Kerala FC (winners of the last IWL edition) to represent India," he said.
Dhar however mentioned that nominating Gokulam would be the last resort and the priority was to conduct this year's IWL before the AFC tournament which will be held between October 30 to November 14.
"The second wave is much stronger than the first wave. But obviously during the first wave we successfully held three tournaments (I-League qualifiers, I-League and the Indian Super League) and all three of them were done without any major incidents or Covid cases. The budget and maintaining a bubble is an expensive proposition and whether the AIFF would be able to afford that would be a question mark. But we have the confidence of pulling it off because we have done three events and we can do the IWL as well," he said.
The latest move by the AFC could also act as an encouragement for the ISL and I-League teams to start fielding women's teams going forward.
"We are trying to promote women's football among I-League and ISL teams. We've made a women's team as one of the criteria in the club licensing also. It's not mandatory, but I'm sure that this step from AFC and the plans of AFC to start a Champions League from 2023 onwards would act as an impetus for other clubs in ISL and I-League to start a women's team. Every club in India would want to represent the country in Asia," he concluded.