Shillong, Apr 23: Shillong Lajong FC will face Dempo SC in their first match of the Championship Round of the Indian Football League 2025-26 on Sunday at the SSA Stadium here. Kick-off will be at 6:30PM.
Lajong finished Stage 1 in second place and the top six all progress to the Championship Round of Stage 2, while the bottom four will battle each other in the Relegation Round at a single venue, ie the Deccan Arena in Hyderabad.
Each of the teams in the top three will play three home games and SLFC’s will be against Dempo on Sunday, Chanmari FC on 2nd May and Rajasthan United on 15th May. The two away games will be versus Sreenidi Deccan on 10th May and Diamond Harbour FC at a date to be confirmed later.
The points from Stage 1 will be carried over into Stage 2. This means that Lajong will start 5 points behind leaders Diamond Harbour, who should be favourites to take the title (also in their debut season) and, with it, promotion to the Indian Super League.
Let’s remind ourselves of how Lajong did against their five upcoming opponents in Stage 1.
The Reds began their IFL 2025-26 campaign against Rajasthan United at home on 1st March and that game ended 1-1. At that stage no one knew how Lajong’s young and all-domestic squad would do but they acquitted themselves fairly well.
Their meetings with Chanmari and Sreenidi were both on the road.
Against the Mizoram-based Chanmari, who like Diamond Harbour are making their IFL debuts, Lajong came from a goal down to win 2-1 in Aizawl on 19th March. A couple of weeks later Lajong then held Sreenidi to a goalless draw in Hyderabad.
SLFC only lost two matches in Stage 1 and these were against Diamond Harbour and Dempo.
Diamond Harbour have an enviable line-up by IFL standards but were only narrow 2-1 winners at Fortress Lajong on 14th March. The only really disappointing moment in Lajong’s season came against Dempo. Playing in Goa on 7th April, Dempo had yet to win any of their six games up to that point but trounced the Reds 3-0 that day.
Shillong Lajong Stage 2 fixtures:
vs Dempo, 26th April, 6:30PM, Shillong
vs Chanmari, 2nd May, 6:30PM, Shillong
vs Sreenidi Deccan, 10th May, 6:30PM, Hyderabad
vs Rajasthan United, 15th May, 6:30PM, Shillong
vs Diamond Harbour, TBC, 6:30PM, Kalyani
(File photo)
