The 2005 ONGC National Football League (NFL) kicks off in Kolkata Wednesday with a match between defending champions East Bengal and ninth-placed Mohun Bagan in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Since Indian football has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately - the death of Dempo's Brazilian striker Cristiano de Lima Junior last month being the most unfortunate - the All India Football Federation (AIFF) would be hoping the new season augurs well for all.

The new NFL, sponsored by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for Rs. 7 million, would be played on the lines of the previous edition: on the basis of home and away matches between the 12 teams that would contest the four-month long league.

State Bank of Travancore from Thiruvananthapuram and Fransa Football Club of Goa have earned promotion from the NFL second division, while former giants Mohammedan Sporting and Indian Bank, Chennai, have been relegated after they finished 11th and 12th respectively last season.

There are plenty of incentives for the achievers. The winning team will receive Rs. 4 million, and the runners-up will take home Rs. 2.2 million, it was announced.

Besides the two teams, the next four top finishing sides would receive Rs. 1.6 million, Rs. 900,000, Rs. 500,000 and Rs. 300,000 respectively.

At the end of the NFL, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams would contest the Super Cup, with the winning side getting Rs. 1 million in addition to the Rs. 4 million for clinching the NFL title.

Apart from these purses, the winner of each match will receive Rs. 30,000 - up by Rs. 10,000 on last year's edition - and individual prizes for the best goalkeeping, best defender, best half-back and best forward.

The highest scorer of the tournament would get Rs. 50,000 and the Fair Play Conduct winning team stands to get Rs. 100,000.

But all these prizes would come to nought if India, currently ranked 132nd on FIFA's global list, do not improve rapidly at the international level.

Prasar Bharati would telecast 60 select matches, either live or delayed, on its Doordarshan channel. It seems the deal has not yet been signed, which, considering the relationship between the AIFF and Doordarshan, is nothing surprising.

AIFF officials recently announced that the NFL would probably be played for the last time in its present format, indicating that both the format and the number of teams would change from the next year.

One consequence of Junior's death is that the AIFF seems to have woken up from its slumber with this tragedy and is now claiming that arrangements, including the medical facilities, would be better this time around.

But, going by the track record of the AIFF and its officials, unless the facilities are really tested during the upcoming NFL matches, no one can say with conviction that they have improved.

Water Resources Minister Priyan Ranjan Dasmunshi, now in his fifth term as AIFF president, recently announced a long list of reforms that would be in place for the NFL. But only time will tell how many of them are implemented actually.

He has also announced that all foreign players would be insured, while local clubs would do the same with Indian players.

Money from the opening match Wednesday and another encounter between Mohun Bagan and Dempo - the two teams who contested the last month's Federation Cup in which Junior died - would go to the deceased player's family.

TEAMS: East Bengal Club (Kolkata), Dempo Sports Club (Goa), Mahindra United (Mumbai), Churchill Brothers Sports Club (Goa), JCT Mills (Phagwara), Vasco Sports Club (Goa), Salgaocar Sports Club (Goa), Sporting Clube de Goa (Goa), Mohun Bagan AC (Kolkata), Tollygunge Agragami (Kolkata), State Bank of Travancore (Tiruvananthapuram/promoted) and Fransa Football Club (Goa/promoted)

Round 1: Jan 12: East Bengal vs. Mohun Bagan; Jan 13: Vasco Sports Club vs. Fransa Football Club; Jan 14: Salgaocar Sports Club vs. State Bank of Travancore; Jan 14: Mahindra United vs. Churchill Brothers; Jan 15: Sporting Clube de Goa vs. Tollygunge Agragami; Jan 16: Dempo Sports Club vs. JCT Mills