The IFA Shield semifinal will be played on October 4 and October 5 as East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Northeast United and Punjab FC have qualified for the knockout rounds.

After East Bengal finished 2nd in their group and Mohun Bagan’s top spot, the Kolkata Derby was destined to be the semifinal. But the IFA announced that East Bengal will take on Northeast United in the semis on October 5, while Mohun Bagan will play Punjab FC on October 4.

IFA secretary Anirban Dutta told MyKhel the reason behind the IFA Shield Semifinal tweak. He says the reason behind not conducting Kolkata Derby in the semifinal is the lack of infrastructure, as it won’t be played at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium).

The Indian men’s national football team will play two international friendly matches at Salt Lake stadium, with Brazil set to play on October 3 and Uruguay on October 6.

The IFA Shield semis will be played at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan, which has a much lower capacity than the Salt Lake Stadium. And Dutta says the unavailability led to the tweaking of the matches.

“If we conduct the Kolkata Derby at Kishore Bharati, that can have a lot of issues. It may well be commercially beneficial for us, but we can’t do it in a stadium which has just 10,000 capacity. That will be an injustice to a massive match like East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan. If the Derby happens in the final, it happens,” he says MyKhel in an exclusive interaction.

“Infrastructure is the biggest issue. If we conduct the derby anywhere but Salt Lake, a law and order situation can arise. Primarily, apart from Salt Lake, there’s no stadium in Kolkata to host a Derby. Kishore Bharati becomes very risky as it has very narrow spaces. We can’t do that with people’s lives.”

The IFA Shield final will be played on October 8 at the Salt Lake Stadium. The IFA Shield semifinals will start at 5 pm IST, but the secreatry says the timing of the final is yet to be decided.