Hoping to play in the I-league one day, Viva Chennai submitted a bid with AIFF to have a representation in the... Read More

CHENNAI: After Chennaiyin FC (ISL) and Chennai City FC (I-League), it seems the city is all set to have representation in the second division I-League too. Viva Chennai , which plays in the Chennai Football Association's ( CFA ) Super Division League , has already submitted its bid to the AIFF and is all set to get the nod. The winning bidders will be announced at the end of this month.

An AIFF official confirmed the development. “We have received their bid documents along with other teams. Our plan is to take football to different places in the country. So if a Chennai team shows interest, it will be great for the sport. However, we will weigh their proposal before taking a final call,” an AIFF official said on Friday.

Viva Chennai co-owner and head coach CM Renjith said that their aim is to play in I-League. “There are a lot of talented players in Tamil Nadu. But we don’t have any proper tournaments apart from the CFA league here. So a lot of players lose interest and don’t want to take up football seriously. We want to give them that platform. Our aim is to play in the I-League. We could have directly bid for a team next year but then we wanted to take the difficult path of qualifying through second division. This will be a great chance for the talented players to prove themselves,” Renjith told TOI.

The second division I-League is expected to feature the reserve sides of ISL teams, including Chennaiyin FC, among other sides. Expecting tough competition, Viva Chennai have already started their preparations. “We are having a camp in Thiruvananthapuram for the last three months. We have played in competitions in Kerala, Assam, Lucknow and will be going to Chhattisgarh next week. The average age of the side is around 24 years and we will have four foreigners, including one of Asian origin. We have played a few friendlies with I-League club, Gokulam FC. So we are leaving no stones unturned,” informed Renjith.

Viva Chennai started their journey four years ago after Renjith, along with other investors, took over Star Juvenile club from then owner Dhaneswaran. The club was renamed when it made the CFA Super Division league two years later . Although many of the present owners are from Kerala, Renjith said the club will be based out of Chennai. “We will be shifting to Chennai by December end. We are yet to decide on our home ground because Chennaiyin will play their matches at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and practice at Nehru Park. So we might play our matches at some local ground or might shift to Coimbatore like Chennai City,” he said.