The sixth season of the Indian Super League will kick off in Kochi on October 20 with home side Kerala Blasters taking on ATK in the opening clash at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, in what would be a repeat of the 2014 and 2016 finals.
Champions Bengaluru FC will begin their title defence a day later at home against NorthEast United, a replay of last season’s semi-final. However, no venues have been named yet for the match with uncertainty over Bengaluru’s home ground due to a legal tussle over the Kanteerava stadium.
There is no clarity yet over the home grounds of Delhi Dynamos and FC Pune City who are likely to shift base to completely different cities. The Dynamos could play their home games in Bhubaneswar, while FC Pune City may play in Hyderabad with a change in ownership also on the cards.
The league’s first marquee game will come as early as the second week when FC Goa entertain Bengaluru FC at Fatorda with an aim to avenge last season’s loss in the final.
The league phase will end on February 23 with Delhi Dynamos’ clash against Kerala Blasters.
There will be just one break during the season from November 10-13 for international fixtures with India set to play their away games against Afghanistan and Oman for the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers during this period.
There will be no matches on Mondays and Tuesdays except a few weeks where matches will be held every day. All matches will begin at 19:30 IST.
Here is the complete fixture list of the 2019-’20 ISL season:
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