Dempo players during a practice session at the Howrah Stadium on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: After a lot of uncertainty over the dates and the venues, the 30th Federation Cup will kick off at Barasat Stadium on Wednesday with the match between Dempo Sports Club and SBT. United SC will take on Mumbai FC in the day’s second match.

Sandwiched between two phases of the I-League, the premier knockout football tournament of the country has become a league-cum-knockout one this time. The unavailability of venues has moved the prestigious meet to Barasat.

Only the semi-finals and the final will be held at the Salt Lake Stadium.

While the timing of the tournament is going to make the going tough for many, for some injured players and their coaches, this is going to be a welcome break.

They would hope to take this time to recover and perform better in the second phase of the I-League.

The inaugural match is likely to be an easy one for former champions Dempo, who will take on qualifiers SBT.

The Ranty Martins-Roberto Mendes Silva combine is expected to be too good for SBT. Currently placed fourth in the I-League, the Goa club would look to win their second Fed Cup title.

This tournament also gives a chance to the Calcutta teams to make amends.

The I-League has not been a good one for United SC, Mohammedan Sporting and East Bengal so far. Even Mohun Bagan needed a great comeback to get into the second position.

If any of the four city teams were to win the Fed Cup, it would go a long way in cementing the Calcutta’s status as the premier footballing city of the country.

On the eve of the tournament, the coaches of the city giants sounded upbeat but their main aim still, it seemed, is to do well in the I-League.

“I’m happy with this break. My main aim is to do well in the I-League. We’re still not out of the relegation zone there,” said Mohammedan Sporting coach Shabbir Ali.

“This break will give my injured players time to recover. That would help them in doing well in the second phase of the I-League. I’m hoping that my boys play well in Fed Cup as well,” he added.

Shabbir was happy with the new format of the tournament.

“Earlier, a good team could be out of the tournament after one bad match. This format gives you the time to recover,” Shabbir said.

East Bengal coach Stanley Rozario and Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencharifa agreed. However, Bencharifa added that the schedule is not equally kind to all teams.

“The team that qualifies from Group A will get a lot of rest before their semi-final tie, while our last group match is just two days before the semi-finals,” the Bagan coach pointed out.

“But I like the league-cum-knockout format.”

Stanley also welcomed the new format of the tournament but questioned the rule of allowing only two foreigners in the Fed Cup.

“All the I-League teams have been playing three foreigners. Suddenly in the middle of the season we’re being forced to find a new combination by leaving the third foreigner out. I don’t know what purpose is served by this rule. Nevertheless, we respect the rule,” he said.

With a lot of matches scheduled at short duration, Stanley was a bit worried about the fatigue factor.

“My players have played a lot of matches over the last few days. Some of them are already tired. This will surely be a factor in the tournament,” the coach admitted.

The three men who matter were also not sure about the condition of the ground. More than 20 matches are to be played at Barasat and the coaches hoped the pitch remained playable.

Although the men who matter in the city teams are focussed enough for the tournament, it remains to be seen if the Fed Cup can live up to its billing as a premier football tournament as this comes in the middle of very long season.