Mumbai’s Kenkre Football Club is all set to make their I-League debut this year. But much of their pre-event challenges centre around limited time to tune up. Kenkre FC was announced as the replacement team for the I-League after All India Football Federation (AIFF) barred former champions Chennai City FC from playing as they failed to comply with the Club Licensing Regulations.

Starting December 26, I-League will be played across three venues—the Mohun Bagan Ground in Kolkata, the Kalyani Stadium in Kalyani and the Naihati Stadium in Naihati. Thirteen teams along with the referees, officials and volunteers will be inside bio-secured bubbles in four different hotels in Kolkata. Lewis said the team will have to enter the bubble 10 days prior to their first match which is on December 31 against Real Kashmir FC (at Kalyani). "On Saturday [December 4] we got a formal confirmation that we will make our I-League debut this season. We were aware that there could be a possibility of us playing after the situation with Chennai City FC. But we need to start our preparations for a lot of things simultaneously. We barely have 10 days," the club's director Joshua Lewis told www.mid-day.com.