The 2026-27 ISL season marks the return of the full-fledged home-and-away format, rather than the truncated version of the previous season. 

Bengaluru FC (BFC) head coach Pep Munoz is happy to have the league return to its old self, even if he is not a fan of the playoffs.

“Last season was like a small tournament. This season is how it should be,” Munoz said at a press conference here on Thursday. 

“The only thing that affected our pre-season was that we didn’t know exactly when the league would start. So we arrived to camp early, and we had enough time to prepare,” Munoz said. 

Munoz added that the playoff structure, where the top-six teams from the regular season advance to an elimination tournament, makes it hard to determine the true champion. 

“I prefer the regular format — home and away matches, champion, done. But if you finish sixth, or you finish on top, you have to show it again in the playoffs. In the end, who is the champion? The champion of the regular season, or the champion of the playoff? But this is just my personal opinion. We will go with what we have,” Munoz said. 

He also threw his weight behind goalkeeper Gurpeeet Sandhu, who was replaced at half-time in the recent international friendly against Brazil after making a couple of mistakes. 

“He is the best goalkeeper of the country. Sometimes people take the bad actions (mistakes), and post it on social media. And everyone calls it a big, big, big mistake.

“But no one talks about the first 20 minutes of the game, where he made two saves against Vinicius. He was perfect in the first 20 minutes in a huge game. I’m very happy to have him back,” Munoz said. 

BFC opens its campaign against Sporting Club Delhi here on Saturday.