Football
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Bengaluru begin title defence, Champions League quest in January

Bengaluru FC, who made history as the first Indian club to play an AFC Cup final in Doha on November 5, are likely to begin their I-League title defence from January 7, 2017.

"As of now, the I-League is a nine-team competition like last year, with Aizawl FC playing in place of Salgaocar," I-League CEO Sunando Dhar told ESPN, confirming that two-time national champions Salgaocar will not be a part of the I-League, and will be replaced by Mizoram-based Aizawl, originally relegated following their eighth-place finish in 2015-16.

Dhar also confirmed that FC Bardez of Goa and Minerva Academy FC from Chandigarh have submitted their bids for entry into the I-League but those are yet to be evaluated by the Executive Committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), following which they might compete in Indian football's top division.

Bengaluru FC have also done themselves and Indian football a favour with their AFC Cup performance, as this has improved India's ranking among member nations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC ) for continental competitions. While India were ranked 11th among 12 teams in the East Zone in the corresponding rankings for the 2016 AFC Champions League, they have improved to eighth this year, higher than Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Philippines.

Simply put, this means 2015 I-League champions Mohun Bagan had to go through three rounds of qualifications for the main draw of the AFC Champions Leagues, Asia's premier club competition. They beat Tampines Rovers of Singapore 3-1 but then lost to China's Shandong Luneng.

In 2017, Bengaluru FC will get to play in the second round of qualification straightaway, with their preliminary round match slated for January 31. If they win that, then they will be drawn against the 3rd-placed teams from the national leagues of one of Korea, Japan, Australia or China.

Should they lose either of these one-off ties, they will join 2016 Federation Cup champions Mohun Bagan in the AFC Cup main draw. However, if they advance to the main draw of the Champions League, then a third Indian club will be given the second slot in the 2017 AFC Cup which will be taken up by Bengaluru FC in case they fail to qualify for the main draw of the Champions League.

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