JOIN USBengaluru FC will host Mumbai City FC in their first-ever Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on November 19.
Defending champions Atletico de Kolkata will take on runners-up Kerala Blasters in the opening match at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on November 17, a release stated.
Having won the bid to participate in the ISL back in June, the Blues will now be hoping to carve their niche in the competition. Also, with the league expanding to ten teams for the AFC-approved revamped season, Bengaluru are joined by newly formed Jamshedpur FC.
The competition will have 95 matches to be played over a period of four-and-a-half months as opposed to the previous two-and-a-half month schedule.
The change now allows the games to be played from Wednesday to Sunday in a week, with majority of the fixtures scheduled towards the end of the week.
The maximum number of foreign players in the playing eleven has been reduced from six to five from this edition.
The teams that finish inside the top-4 in the league phase will then to the semifinal.
Bengaluru FC fixtures: Phase 1: Nov 19: vs Mumbai City; Nov 26: vs Delhi Dynamos; Nov 30: vs FC Goa; Dec 8: vs NorthEast United; Dec 14: vs FC Pune City; Dec 17: vs Chennaiyin FC; Dec 21: vs Jamshedpur FC; Dec 31: vs Kerala Blasters; Jan 7: vs Atletico de Kolkata.
Phase 2: Jan 14: vs Delhi Dynamos; Jan 18: vs Mumbai City; Jan 26: vs NorthEast United; Jan 31: vs Chennaiyin FC; Feb 3: vs Atletico de Kolkata; Feb 8: vs FC Goa; Feb 16: vs FC Pune City; Feb 25: vs Jamshedpur FC; March 1: vs Kerala Blasters.