Jamshedpur CEO Mukul Choudhari - ISL season will be challenging due to COVID-19

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic impacted the world of football along with other sports.

However, despite the challenges,  the new season of the Indian Super League (ISL) is set to commence from the third week of November.

The new season will be different from the previous editions of the league in several ways. It will be held at a centralised venue without spectators. The clubs too will have to undergo major changes in terms of adapting to the new regulations.

Jamshedpur FC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mukul Choudhari spoke about the challenges his club will be facing while playing football during the pandemic.

He said, “We are dealing with this situation like any other club and once all the players are here, they will be coming after two months maybe to Jamshedpur or directly to the venue. More importantly, there will be a lot of challenges going forward.

“We have trouble with logistics, international flights have not opened. ISL depends a lot on foreign players. We were very particular while we were picking players. We were also speaking to people whenever we were talking about getting visas and other stuff.

“There are lots of work that is happening in the background, there are a lot of grey areas which we don’t know of. At the same time, we are very clear that we will be taking lots of precautions.”

The club CEO also suggested that everyone involved at the club will have to be responsible and take care of the players and coaches to get the best performance out of them.

“There are a lot of SOPs that have been sent by the ISL. Otherwise, we are also very careful about our own health and safety. It will be a very different season but it is all about being responsible and doing the right things and taking care of yourself and the team to make sure they are in good health and they perform well,” said the Jamshedpur official.

On playing at a single venue without fans, Choudhari opined that the most important thing is that the league will take place. 

He said, “What is more important is that the league happens in the current circumstances when most things are not happening, in fact, I am very happy that the IPL is happening and it will set the ball rolling for all sports. It is not going to be easy. There will be huge psychological pressure and there will be trouble. It will be very different playing without fans in the stadium. It is important that the league happens. A lot has changed in the past four or five months and we are adapting to it and that is what we have to do.”

Jamshedpur have replaced Spanish coach (Antonio Iriondo) with Scotsman Owen Coyle and on being asked whether this change will affect the team's style, the Jamshedpur CEO responded, “It is a global game now. We have Spanish players in other parts of Europe but the game doesn’t change. We have to take the good parts from it. Somebody likes to hold the ball, Tiki-taka is all over the place now. We also learn a lot from Brazil and England. Those are just different styles and at the end of the day football doesn’t change.”