I-League team Chennai City FC to play AFC Cup home games in Chennai

Reigning I-League champion Chennai City FC would play its first Asian Football Confederation Cup game against Maziya S&RC at the Nehru stadium here on March 11. This would make CCFC the first team to host an AFC Cup game in the city.

The defending I-League champion plays Maziya S&RC from the Maldives in the game scheduled to kick off at 7.30 p.m on March 11, the club said in a press release. CCFC would play all its AFC Cup home games at Nehru stadium.

The club president Rohit Ramesh said Coimbatore, where CCFC has been playing its I-League home matches, was the first choice but the stadium there could not "fill in" to the standards required for AFC. "We tried Coimbatore as our first option, but it could not fill in the standards required for AFC. The team was adamant about playing their home games in Tamil Nadu come what may and pushed aggressively for Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai," he said.

He also said the team would take care of the travel expenses of its fan clubs (Southerners and Roaring Lions) for the AFC Cup home games in Chennai. CCFC currently lies sixth in the points table in the ongoing edition of I-League with 19 points from 14 games.