East Bengal to join ISL in 2020

After months of speculation, its finally happened, East Bengal has been given the green signal to pick up the bid documents required to enter the Indian Super League (ISL) later this year. This particular development took place during a Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) meeting to discuss a 12 team league expansion on Wednesday. A source from East Bengal confirmed the current scenario to Sportskeeda, stating that the bid documents can only be collected and submitted post the lockdown.

Our source said, "We have been in constant touch with FSDL for two months now, this is not an overnight scenario. There are investors who we are going to tie-up with, the FSDL is already aware of that. We will make this announcement post the lockdown, about who our investor is. With regards to ISL, we can only submit the paper post lockdown."

FSDL still unclear about 12th team addition

The two main agendas of the FSDL meeting on Wednesday was the addition of two teams to make it a 12 member league and the commencement of the 2020/21 edition later this year.

The idea of a short league and knockout tournament was also floated, but the FSDL is yet to conclude that matter. Another meeting is scheduled for next month, where the roadmap will be discussed in more detail.

The Kolkata derby will now take place on ISL turf`

For East Bengal, it was imperative to join the ISL this year, with arch-rivals Mohun Bagan joining hands with ATK to create ATK-Mohun Bagan next season. Our source added, "I mean its no question, we have no option but to play the ISL. Hence we are taking steps towards doing that. We plan to have multiple investors this time around so that a repetition of last season's situation doesn't arise."

Last year the All India Football Federation (AIFF) laid down the official roadmap till 2021, including the addition of two ISL teams in late 2020. However, there is still no confirmation on which team will take the vacant second spot.