Kerala launches India's first College Sports League

Kerala inaugurated the country’s first-ever College Sports League (CSL-K), an initiative that aims to revolutionise campus sports, on Friday.

The college-centric league, organised by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs and Sports Kerala Foundation, kicked off with football league at Calicut University from July 17-26, featuring 60 teams from all UGC-approved colleges in the state.

Next month, the volleyball league will take place on the MG University. 

"It came to our notice that students tend to move away from sports at a high rate after they graduate from schools. Through CSL-K, we aim to develop a competitive and interesting sports environment in colleges, an environment in which more and more students will be drawn to sports. We have constituted specific sports councils in almost all colleges which will take the charge of conducting the league in their campuses," Sports Minister V Abdurahiman was quoted as saying by the New Indian Express.

Three-tier format

The league is inspired by popular collegiate sports leagues in countries like the US, with the inaugural edition featuring football and volleyball. the league will be more elabourate as more games – cricket, basketball and kabaddi – will be included in coming years. The teams have been selected on the basis of criteria including previous performance and team strength.

The CSL-K will be held in a three-tier format: starting with a district-level league featuring 168 matches among top teams from 14 districts, followed by a zonal-level league with 48 matches involving district champions and wild card entries.

The competition will conclude with a state-level league featuring knockout rounds, culminating in a grand finale to crown the league champions.