ISL to kick-off in Kochi on October 7
The Hindu
The league will have a new playoff format and will be open to spectators
After being played entirely in Goa the last two years, the Hero Indian Super League will travel all over the country again in its ninth edition which opens in Kochi on October 7.
Kerala Blasters, last edition’s runners-up, will take on SC East Bengal in the opener at the Nehru Stadium here. Defending champion Hyderabad FC will start its campaign at home against Mumbai City FC on October 9.
The ISL, in its original home and away format, will be open to spectators this time and most of the matches will be held between Thursdays and Sundays which will bring the event in line with the top global leagues.
The Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the ISL’s organiser, has also introduced a new playoff format for the league. The top two teams at the end of the league stage will automatically make the semifinals. And teams finishing between the third and sixth spots will play a single-leg playoff to determine the other two semifinalists.
The 11-team ISL’s league phase will run for five months, till the end of February 2023, and the playoffs, semifinals and final will all be in March. After the ISL, the Super Cup will be played in April.
New playoff format: Eliminator 1: 3rd placed team vs. 6th placed team.; Eliminator 2: 4th placed team vs. 5th placed team.
Semifinal-1 1st leg: 1st placed team vs. (winner of eliminator 2); Semifinal-2 1st leg: 2nd placed team vs. (winner of eliminator 1).
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Daniel Quizon is the latest to join the band of leaders. The Philippines player beat Russian Artion Stribuk on the third board in the ninth round at the Gift City Club on Tuesday. The four overnight leaders – Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan, Russia’s Rudik Makarian, Mamikon Gharibyan of Armenia, and Colombia’s Jose Gabriel Cardoso – were featured in the drawn games on the top two boards.
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On the seam-friendly pitches at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, Axar Patel’s left-arm spin plays second fiddle to the pacers. Axar, however, has added great value as a batter. The southpaw, promoted to No. 4 in the Pakistan outing on Sunday, held the Indian innings together with an 18-ball 20.