Indian Women's League to start from April 25, East Bengal to take part

The AIFF League Committee also increased the number of foreigners in the IWL to three.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) League Committee on Monday announced that the 2022-23 season of the Indian Women's League will start from April 25, 2023.

The Federation’s League Committee meeting was chaired by Mr Lalnghinglova Hmar over video conferencing on Monday, March 27, 2023. 

Secretary General Dr Shaji Prabhakaran, was present in the meeting, along with Committee Members Mr M Satyanarayan, Dr Kiran Chowgule, Dr Reginold Varghese, Mr Amit Chaudhuri and Mr Caitanno Fernandes.

The Committee, in its first order of the day, decided that the Hero Indian Women's League shall start from April 25, 2023. The Committee took this decision to ensure there was enough gap between the Hero IWL and the Hero 27th Senior Women’s National Football Championships 2022-23. 

Sticking to the matter of the IWL, the Committee took a decision to increase the number of foreigners to three, with a maximum of two allowed on the pitch at the same time. This was considered after clubs had requested the same. 

The 2022-23 season of the Hero IWL will see a format of having 16 teams split into two groups. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage consisting of quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals. The top eight teams will get direct slots in next season’s Hero IWL, which will be played on a home-and-away format.

The Committee also decided to include East Bengal in the Hero IWL season after much deliberation, in the interest of developing and growing the league. The IFA had requested that East Bengal be considered for inclusion this season.