34th Federation Cup: Could Jamshedpur replace Ranchi?

As I reported a couple of days ago this year’s Federation Cup is facing problems at one of its venues, Ranchi, and it seems that these problems cannot be solved over the next week and the All India Football Federation is being forced to scout for an alternative venue for India’s premier league-cum-knockout tournament.

Sources within the AIFF say that the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur could be the saviour in such a difficult situation, but the steel city has a major drawback and that is the lack of a flood-lighting system at the multi-purpose venue.This would mean two afternoon matches for Groups A (Dempo SC, Pailan Arrows, Mumbai FC, Shillong Lajong FC) and D (Salgaocar SC, Prayag United SC, Pune FC, United Sikkim FC) instead of at least some evening kick-offs for some of the matches.

But there is also an advantage which is the fact that the Federation Cup qualifiers are being held in Jamshedpur and therefore the ground and other facilities will be ready for use, but for participating teams it would mean changing their travel plans to reach Jamshedpur instead of Ranchi.

Another alternative venue to host eight teams and 13 matches over seven match days seems unlikely to be found at such short notice, which raises questions over the national body being unaware of the ground situation in Ranchi and only woke up to these problems at the last moment.