ISL 2024-25: Three Kolkata Giants, Six Legendary Derbies

thebeautifulgame · March 15

The road to glory kick-starts on 29th March, two do-or-die clashes, four Semi-Final battles, and one epic showdown on April 12!

https://x.com/IndSuperLeague/status/1900796629550284905

thebeautifulgame · March 15

Playoffs Schedule:
• March 29: Knockout 1 – Bengaluru FC (home) vs Mumbai City FC
• March 30: Knockout 2 – NorthEast United FC (home) vs Jamshedpur FC
• April 2: Semi-final 1 (First leg) – Winner of Knockout 1 (home) vs FC Goa
• April 3: Semi-final 2 (First leg) – Winner of Knockout 2 (home) vs Mohun Bagan Super Giant
• April 6: Semi-final 1 (Second leg) – FC Goa (home) vs Winner of Knockout 1
• April 7: Semi-final 2 (Second leg) – Mohun Bagan Super Giant (home) vs Winner of Knockout 2
• April 12: Final – Winner of Semi-final 1 vs Winner of Semi-final 2

https://www.indiansuperleague.com/news/isl-2024-25-playoffs-dates-for-knockouts-semi-finals-and-final-announced

indian_gooner · March 15

what happened to the appeal by neufc against kbfc fielding ineligible player?

munna219777 · March 16

They should do away with Playoffs.

ISL has improved over last 10 years but lot of changes are still needed.

thebeautifulgame said:

ISL playoffs fiasco: where, when, who?
The ISL league stage for the 2024-25 season is done, and it's been quite the ride. The logical question now is: when are the playoffs? When's the final, and where will it be held?
The official answer for all that: nothing.
What do we know, though? The league stage ended on March 12, Wednesday. The final standings are on the website, and as per those standings, the league has also announced the playoff pairings: Bengaluru FC vs Mumbai City (3 vs 6), NorthEast United vs Jamshedpur FC (3 vs 5). Up until here, we're good. Now, if the pairings are out, why not announce the playoff dates? And their venues?
Well... there are two major points of confusion here, and both deal with that who has finished third. One of the points is present and material, the other is in the past (but has still not been cleanly dealt with)
Let's start with the critical present issue. NorthEast United, who finished fourth, have approached FIFA about Kerala Blasters fielding an unauthorized player during their match (Dusan Lagator, who was carrying over a pending suspension from the Hungarian league). If the appeal's won, a 0-0 draw becomes a 3-0 win and NorthEast automatically go third.
NEUFC CEO Mandar Tamhane told ESPN that they've requested FIFA to expedite the matter considering its urgency, that they had written in January to AIFF (and then again later) and that now AIFF themselves have also written to FIFA (details uncertain).
The official "final" standings then, may not be so final since they are pending a decision from the sport's global governing body. But what happens to the officially announced pairings then?
If a decision is made in favour of NEUFC, will the ISL now change all the playoff eliminator ties around? (as they surely must). Will it now mean Mumbai City have to travel to either Guwahati or Shillong and face Alaaeddine Ajaraie and co. instead of taking the flight down to Bengaluru? Will Gerard Zaragoza have to plan to overcome the low block of Khalid Jamil at home rather than the more expansive Petr Kratky's plans?
Over the past couple of days, meanwhile, even these "final" standings we see today were in doubt - from the clubs concerned to the league itself, no one was sure who had finished third.
On Monday, ahead of their final league match against playoff-chasing Mumbai City, Bengaluru manager Zaragoza had corrected ESPN at the pre-match press conference when asked about finishing in the top four... "top three." he'd said. It appeared the club were sure they were finishing third regardless of what happened on Tuesday.
During the match itself, Bengaluru rang in some changes, lost rather meekly, and everyone just went about their business. For instance, in the post-match interview, ISL's expert commentator on the night, Erik Partaalu, spoke to Zaragoza about finishing third and meeting Mumbai City again at the Kanteerava for the eliminator. Bengaluru posted on their socials about finishing third, about facing Mumbai City again in the playoffs, before... quietly deleting it.
Cue chaos. Why was the post deleted? Why did the league not immediately announce who would play whom in the eliminator? The ISL official site had Bengaluru fourth immediately after the match, and only changed to reflect what it shows currently sometime during the course of Wednesday.
The reason for all this confusion? The ISL rules to determine who wins a multi-team tie on points is rather convoluted, and more than a little open to interpretation.
The rules state that "if two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above criterion, their place shall be determined as follows:"
"most number of points obtained in the League Matches between the Clubs concerned"
Since three clubs -- Bengaluru, NorthEast and Jamshedpur FC -- were tied on 38 points each, it first goes down to that marker. In that BFC won 7 points, NEUFC won 7 too and JFC won 3.
mething even more fundamental: an official confirmation of when these playoff matches will take place.
Educated guessing and source-speak have put it as eliminators on March 29 and 30, Semifinal first legs on April 2 and 3, second legs on April 6 and 7 and the final on either April 12 or 13. But a fortnight out from the matches, no one can be 100% about any of these dates. Or venues.

Bring on the ISL playoffs. Whenever. With whoever.
https://www.espn.in/football/story/_/id/44237297/isl-playoffs-fiasco-where-confusion-reigns-supreme