Football: AIFF decides to organise women's league from April 25

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) The next edition of the Indian Women's League (IWL) will be held from April 25, with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) League Committee allowing teams to recruit three foreign players with a maximum of two allowed on the field at a time.

The Committee held a meeting chaired by Lalnghinglova Hmar over video conferencing on Monday and in its first order of the day, decided to start the Hero IWL from April 25.

The Committee took this decision to ensure there was enough gap between the Hero IWL and the Hero 27th Senior Women's National Football Championships 2022-23, the AIFF informed in a news published on its website.

The Federation's League Committee meeting was attended by Secretary General Dr Shaji Prabhakaran, along with Committee Members M Satyanarayan, Dr. Kiran Chowgule, Dr. Reginold Varghese, Amit Chaudhuri and Caitanno Fernandes.

Sticking to the matter of the Hero IWL, the Committee decided to increase the number of foreigners to three, with a maximum of two allowed on the pitch at the same time. This was considered after clubs had requested the same.

"The 2022-23 season of the Hero IWL will see a format of having 16 teams split into two groups. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The top eight teams will get direct slots in next season's Hero IWL, which will be played in a home and away format," the report said.

The Committee also decided to include East Bengal in the Hero IWL season after much deliberation, in the interest of developing and growing the league. The IFA had requested that East Bengal be considered for inclusion this season.