ISL 2023-24 Schedule Announement Raises Doubts Over Release Of Few Indian Players For Asian Games 2023

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New Delhi, September 7: The Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-23 season schedule was announced on Thursday (September 7) raising doubts over the release of a few India players by clubs for the Asian Games 2023, which is also scheduled for later this month.

The league clashes with the Hangzhou Asian Games where the football competition begins on September 19 and continues till October 7. The ISL 2023-24, which sees the addition of the 12th team in the form of Punjab FC, kicks off on September 21.

The opening match of the 10th season of ISL will see an intriguing rematch from last season's semi-final as Kerala Blasters host Bengaluru FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

League organisers FSDL announced the fixtures of the first half of the ISL season for matches from September 21 to December 12. The 22-member Indian men's squad for the Asian Games has players from 10 ISL clubs and it is learnt that some of them have been reluctant to release all their players.

Out of the 22 players named in the squad, six are from Bengaluru FC, three from Mumbai City FC, while FC Goa, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Odisha FC, Kerala Blasters have two each. Newly-promoted Punjab FC, Chennaiyin FC and Hyderabad FC have one each.

All India Football Federation Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran had on Monday written to the 10 ISL clubs to release their players selected for the Asian Games, keeping the "national interest in mind". So, it will be interesting to see if clubs release their big name players.

Indian men's football team for Asian Games 2023

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Gurmeet Singh, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Narender Gahlot, Lalchungnunga, Akash Mishra, Roshan Singh, Ashish Rai, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Apuia Ralte, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Rahul KP, Naorem Mahesh Singh, Siva Sakthi Narayanan, Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav, Vikram Partap Singh, Rohit Danu, Sunil Chhetri.

India men's football - Asian Games 2023 Schedule

September 19: India vs China

September 21: India vs Bangladesh

September 24: India vs Myanmar

If India qualifies for the knockouts, their round of 16 matches will take place on September 27 or 28 depending on what position they finish in their group. The quarter-final is scheduled for October 1 followed by the semi-final on October 4, and the bronze as well as gold match on October 7.