Hero I-League 2020-21 kick off on January 9

 After a long vacation the fourteenth season of Hero I-League is going to kick off on 9th of January 2021. All the matches will be held behind closed doors due to COVID-19 pandemic situation. The schedule will be announced shortly. All the matches are held in Kolkata. The entire tournament will be hosted adhering to the COVID-19 protocols released by the government.

What's new ?

Apart from the COVID-19 situation the Indian 2nd tier league have some big changes this season. Departure of the two big clubs from the league are the big news of the season.Mohun Bagan have merged with ATK in the ISL as ATK Mohun Bagan. East Bengal have also joined ISL. Mohammedan SC and Sudeva fc are the new clubs in Hero ILeague this season. Mohammedan SC have won the Hero ILeague Qualifiers to secure the I-League berth. They had an undefeated run all along the qualifiers.

New aim for the clubs 

This season all the clubs will have a new aim more than winning. They will be more focused on the future seasons to come. They will have to build a strong team with Indian players because of the new foreign player rules. There will be promotion to the ISL (1st tier) in the future seasons.

Indian players

Indian players will be more focused on their own performance than the team this season. They will be trying to catch the sight of ISL clubs. This season will be a good platform for the players to show their skills to the ISL clubs. This will improve the quality of the league. There will be good competition between the players.

Foreign players

Foreign players will be expecting a good season. They know that Indian football is growing and it will be a good place for them to play and support the Indian players.

Pre-season

The teams will get almost one month for pre-season. The 11 teams will need to enter the bio-secure bubble 14 days prior to their first match. The signing and arrival of the foreign players will be completed shortly. All the players will have to complete mandatory quarantine of 14 days.

Season

All eleven teams will face each other once in the first leg of the league before they are divided into two different groups. Top six teams, according to the points table, will face each other once again to decide the winner whereas the other five teams will play against each other in a one-leg league format. The team with maximum points (cumulative points collected from all fifteen matches) will be the winner of Hero I-League 2020-21.