ISL 2017/18: Bengaluru, Chennai lead the race to host Indian Super League final
There is a fifty percent possibility of there being a clear-cut home side in this season's ISL! With just three more matchdays remaining in this season's group stage, the tournament authorities are looking at Bengaluru and Chennai as the two possible venues in contention to host the Indian Super League final.
The ISL organisers have scheduled a meeting on Friday, when the rest of the nation celebrates the festival of Holi, to decide where to host the summit clash this season, with Bengaluru and Chennai being the two main contenders, the tournament authorities confirmed to Sportskeeda.
Till now, three of the four semifinalists have already qualified for the knockout stages -- Bengaluru FC, FC Pune City and Chennaiyin FC.
Bengaluru FC have been on flying form this season, and have proved that they are miles ahead of the rest of the pack, having garnered as many as 40 points from their quota of 18 matches.
The Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, which has a capacity of 24,000, has beeen the talk of the town after it was sold out in Thursday night's match, that saw Bengaluru FC play the Southern Derby against Kerala Blasters. To add to that, the Bengaluru fans came up with some rather innovative banners for the derby.
On the other hand, Chennai boasts of a much bigger arena, which can host around 40,000 fans -- something that could give them the edge over their opponents. Chennaiyin FC have also had their fair share of love from the crowd, with the Super Machans fans turning up with fancy banners and unique chants for top stars like local hero Dhanpal Ganesh and Dutch star Gregory Nelson.
While it would be interesting to see which way the ISL organisers' verdict swings, the one thing that is sure about 2017/18 ISL final is that it is definitely going to take place in South India this time around.