Home and away format is time consuming and AIFF will not change this format for near about 100 years. For them the Fed Cup is just a headache. I think for them playing football in proper time is only a problem
Travel costs are a lot in India as flights every mid-week for home and away games. FA Cup format work in Europe where clubs are not very far-1-2 hours by Bus from their Home Town and Team may not even need a Hotel for away game!!! imagine a team from shillong playing I-League at saturday in Goa, fly back to Shillong for Home game of Fed Cup on Wednesday and then again fly back to Pune next Saturday for next I-League games. Fatigue, injuries will compound in that format. Best thing is to use Federation Cup in places which do not have I-League clubs at the moment. Mizoram, Punjab, Telangana comes to my mind.
@munna219777 Now explain how they manage in the Champions League in Europe. Arsenal could play a match in Liverpool on Saturday, fly back to London, fly all the way to Turkey, and then back over to London.
Not every team play in Champions League and we also got AFC Cup and we do it. But FA Cup is where all clubs play and similar format of Home and Away in Federation Cup in India where all teams will travelling mid week also and at weekend also with such huge distances is not feasible. We all looked at fatigue and tired players at ISL because of that. Lets Compare FA Cup with Federation Cup and AFC Cup with Champions League.
Okay fine... then lets compare the US Open Cup where it is at first based on regional location and then as we get closer to the Final we go the usual route. So basically separate the teams into zones for the first round and then allow for teams to play teams outside their zone around the quarter-finals.
So basically this: Using the current I-League and I-League 2nd Division
Zone 1: East Bengal, Mohan Bagan, Mohammedan, United, Lonestar Kashmir, Hindustan.
Zone 2: Dempo, Sporting Goa, Salgaocar, [Champion or highest non-I-League club from Goa], Kenkre, PIFA.
Zone 3: Shillong Lajong, Rangdajied United, Aizawl, Chanmari
Zone 4: Pune, Mumbai, Bharat, Bengaluru FC.
So you play the teams in your group based on a random draw in a group stage format and then the top 2 teams from each group move on into the quarter-finals based on home and away.
The group stage of the Federation Cup can take place the month before the I-League and then the knock-out round can take place during the I-League and I-League 2nd Division season.
So based on this, I can see the Indian football calendar being this next season:
September to December: Indian Super League.
December: Federation Cup Group Stages.
January to May: I-League and I-League 2nd Division (sometime within there)
Comments
Bengaluru .NE.kerala. next federation cup please
I think current Fed Cup needs to be changed. ...home & away....and finals at Neutral venue....start with a NE finals
Best thing is to use Federation Cup in places which do not have I-League clubs at the moment. Mizoram, Punjab, Telangana comes to my mind.