ISL | With these kinds of fixtures, you destroy teams even before the playoffs: Vukomanovic

Kerala Blasters coach criticizes Indian Super League scheduling, calling for improvements to benefit teams and players.

Three games within the space of eight days, and flying back and forth thousands of miles from home between those matches!

Kerala Blasters head coach Ivan Vukomanovic felt the poor scheduling of Indian Super League matches towards the end of the league phase was destroying teams and players before the playoffs and, if given a chance, he would like to change that.

“Three games in that short period… I would also try to improve that for the next season, speaking about people who are organising these fixtures,” said Vukomanovic in Guwahati on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game against NorthEast United FC there.

“You put some teams in a situation, later (towards the end of the league phase) if they have to play in playoffs, actually with these kinds of fixtures you destroy teams even before playing playoffs instead of getting them in the best shape.

“Sometimes I have a feeling they don’t care about the clubs, they don’t care about the players, they don’t care how we feel but again, we have to deal with that.”

The Blasters, who have qualified for the playoffs for the third straight year under Vukomanovic, played Jamshepur FC on March 30, after a 14-hour trip from Kochi to Jamshedpur, and then flew back to Kerala for the April 3 match against East Bengal FC and are now in Guwahati to play NEU on Saturday.