CHENNAI: Indian Women’s League (IWL) club Sethu FC will play their ‘home’ matches at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco da Gama, Goa, after the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai was made unavailable for use early next year.
The JN Stadium is one of the venues for the upcoming Khelo India Youth Games 2024, which is scheduled to be held across four cities in Tamil Nadu from January 19 to 31. It is to be noted that the stadium also acts as a home ground for two-time Indian Super League (ISL) champions Chennaiyin FC. But Chennaiyin will have no ISL matches in January and will compete for honours in the Kalinga Super Cup (January 9 to 28) in Odisha.
“We had initially planned to play our home games at the JN Stadium in Chennai. But the stadium is under renovation and will play host to the Khelo India Youth Games. The stadium was unavailable until the first or second week of February, so we had to look for an alternative option,” Sethu founder and owner M Seeni Mohaideen told TOI on Sunday.
“We were waiting for a message from the Tamil Nadu government. The government officials made a push, but there was a schedule clash. Considering all factors, including finance, Goa was the best option for us. The team’s pre-season camp is going on in Goa. We have three home matches in January and another home game early in February, so we decided to play all our home matches in Goa. With the help of the All India Football Federation and Goa Football Association, we got permission to play at the Tilak Maidan, last week,” Seeni explained.
‘Working towards long-term goal of playing continental football’
Heading into the new IWL 2023-24 season that will begin on Friday in Kozhikode, Sethu have a new set of staff. Former India youth team coach Kanan Priolkar has been appointed as the head coach, while former East Bengal women’s team chief coach Sujata Kar has been roped in as the assistant coach. Robin Charles Raja, former head coach of the now-defunct Chennai City FC, will serve as the technical director for the IWL 2018-19 champions.
“As usual, we will go for the IWL title. We have made the appointments keeping our long-term goal in mind. We want to compete at the AFC level (continental) in the coming years,” said Seeni. After finishing as the runners-up to Gokulam Kerala FC in the IWL 2021-22 season, Sethu bowed out in the semifinal stage of the last edition.
