The traditional 'Bar Puja' (worshiping the bar post and a football followed by fixing the bar post inside the ground thus marking the start of the new season) was celebrated at both grounds of the Kolkata giants Emami East Bengal and Mohun Bagan Supergiants in presence of their supporters and former footballers.

At the Mohun Bagan ground, an additional attraction was the opening of the New Gate in the name of Chuni Goswami by former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar. Sunny was facilitated along with the old football stars of club Bikramjit Debnath Balai Dey Xavier Payas and Dipendu Biswas and the state sports minister Arup Biswas.

Remembering Chuni Goswami, Gavaskar narrated an incident of the Ranji Trophy final in 1972 where Bengal faced Bombay. Sunny admitted while Chuni Goswami was batting on 96 he was given out by the umpire’s wrong decision as the ball sneaked off Goswami’s bat and reached his hand after a bounce. “But I had to keep mum to keep the request of a senior player as the Bombay team was afraid of losing the match if Chuni-da stayed back at the crease,” said Sunny. The facilitation was followed by the puja.

The neighbor club Emami East Bengal also celebrated the day. In presence of the AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey along with Emami officials and former footballers like Prasanta Banerjee, Mihir Bose, Sisir Ghosh, Debjit Ghosh, Monoranjan Bhattacharjee, Aloke Mukherjee, and sports Minister Arup Biswas, the club-flag was hoisted followed by the traditional puja. 

Addressing the media AIFF president Chaubey said, a few important decisions were taken at yesterday's executive meeting. It has been decided that arrangements will be made for the remunerations of Women footballers. 

He further added that according to FIFA rules, no match can be held when the temperature is above 37 degrees. So either the matches had to be played on the night of the schedule is to be changed. He also said, "it has been decided that the teams in the state league championship will participate without foreigners." Thousands of supporters of both clubs flocked to the ground on Saturday morning, ignoring the scorching heat.