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          Indian Women's League 2023: All you need to know

          Gokulam Kerala became champions of the Indian Women’s League for the second successive time. AIFF
          • Anirudh Menon
          Apr 25, 2023, 07:52 AM ET

          The 2023 season of the Indian Women's League, the country's top-flight club competition for women's football, is set to begin from Wednesday morning.

          Here's all you need to know about the tournament:

          When, and where, is it being held?

          The IWL starts on April 26 and will take place entirely in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It will be held across two grounds - TransStadia and Shahibaug Police Stadium. The last group stage match will be held on May 13.

          There will be four matches a day, with the first two kicking off at 8 AM and the second two at 4.30 PM. Day one starts with matches between Misaka United and Mata Rukmani at Transstadia and Sports Odisha taking on HOPS FC at the same time at Shahibaug.

          Ok, what was that kickoff time again?

          Eight in the morning. For the duration of the tournament, the kickoffs have been kept at 8 AM and... 4.30 PM. Also, for the duration of the tournament two matches will be played simultaneously at both kickoff times.

          The temperatures are predicted to be in the high 20s for the morning kickoffs and the high 30s for the evening ones. Not ideal playing conditions, to say the least.

          Here's a list of 2023 IWL fixtures

          Where can we watch it?

          If you are in Ahmedabad, you'd have to choose which of the simultaneous kickoffs you want to go for. If you're looking to watch it online... well, you can only watch the evening games. That's right, there will be no broadcast of the 8 AM games. The evening matches will be shown on the Indian Football YouTube channel.

          Which are the teams competing this year?

          The 2023 edition is the biggest IWL so far, with 16 teams split in two groups of eight each. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage, the dates for which haven't been announced yet.

          Read ESPN's profiles of all 16 teams right here.

          With 16 teams participating, though, the important question of game time has to be asked: Why can't there be more matches with all team playing the other? Why must it be held in two groups?

          After all, one of the greatest concerns facing Indian women footballers is that they get very little game time, as Manisha Kalyan told ESPN.

          "The main difference is the league," she said when talking about what sets the football in Cyprus apart from the game in India. "The IWL is a very short league. But here [in Cyprus] there's a proper league. We play at least once or twice every week, and every week is therefore a new challenge.

          "In India, our national team players get to in play in the [national] camps, but for the other players in the IWL, there just a couple of big tournaments [IWL and national championships]. The season's so short, a max of two months."

          The 2023 IWL will be on for just about a month.

          So, who are the teams to watch out for?

          Two-time defending champions Gokulam Kerala continue to be a force to reckon with. They may be without Manisha Kalyan, but they've brought back goalscoring machine Sabitra Bhandari of Nepal and have got the services of the best playmaker in the land, Indumathi Kathiresan.

          Odisha FC, who also have an ISL team, are loaded with stars in attack, but none bigger than Bala Devi. Arguably India's best women's footballer currently, she returns from a stint at Rangers and an injury layoff to a tournament where she remains the all-time top scorer (38 goals, despite only playing two of the five seasons).

          Sethu FC finished runners-up, narrowly, last year but it might take some doing from them to repeat that feat considering the departures from the squad (especially Indumathi.)

          Inaugural IWL champions Eastern Sporting Union and the return of Kamala Devi (who had announced her retirement early last year) is another storyline to watch out for.

          Kickstart FC are potential darkhorses, and have only strengthened their squad (which finished third last season) with the likes of Dalima Chhibber signed up.

          Oh, and one of the grand old institutions of Indian football is making their debut this season: East Bengal FC, who will hope the IWL goes better than their men's team's ISL season.

          Any changes in rules and regulations?

          The one big change being implemented now is that of a base salary mandate: The AIFF have said a full annual professional contract should be worth a minimum of Rs 3.2 Lakhs.

          There is also a 3-foreigner-per-squad limit, with two allowed on the field at a time.

          There are also proposed changes to the IWL format next season, in a bid to address the duration issues surrounding the tournament. The AIFF have announced that from 2024, the league will be held on a home-away basis and that there will be a three-tier national structure, with a 10-team IWL at the top. A fourth tier will consist of the state leagues.

          The top eight in this year's IWL will get to qualify directly for next year's edition.