National players to miss early part of ISL as games clash with India's pre-WC qualifiers

Majority of Indian players would be missing the early part of the second edition of Indian Super League (ISL) that has been announced to kick off from October 3, owing to national team commitments.

ISL would be featuring 61 matches played over 79 days- nine days more than the inaugural season.

Atletico Kolkata will begin their title defence against Chennaiyin FC in the first match of the season in Chennai and the final, like last year, will be held on December 20.

However, India are scheduled to play the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup joint qualifiers on October 8 and 13 and therefore the national team players will be playing for the country from October 5 to October 14, after which they will rejoin their franchises.

India will also be travelling to Turkmenistan in October and proceed to Oman on October 13 for two crucial matches that could determine their destiny.

According to reports, an ISL official said the eight franchises have been notified of the national team commitments of the Indian players. The official said that according to AIFF rules, the franchises would have to release the players four days in advance, including the match.