The League Committee of the All India Football Federation met on Monday, May 1, 2023 through video conferencing, chaired by Mr. Lalnghinglova Hamar. The League Committee meeting was attended by Mr. Hamar along with General Secretary Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, and committee members Mr. M. Sathyanarayana, Mr. Arif Ali, Dr. Kiran Chougule, Mr. Amit Chowdhary and Mr. Caetano Fernandes.
General Secretary Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran said, “This is an important meeting, and the decisions made today will have a significant impact not only on the I-League, but also on the overall development of football in the country. And second division league is also in its final stage now.
He further added, “As we all know, AIFF’s roadmap plans to expand the league system to more teams and provide more opportunities to invest in Indian football. I am sure these decisions will inspire the football community to come forward and participate in football and build a strong league that will be able to meet the expectations of all our fans and stakeholders.”
Mr. Hamar, chairman of the league committee, said, “This committee has been the most active in bringing about positive change. There is a lot of activity going on, and we are in the process of completing a fruitful season.
First on the agenda of the committee was to increase the number of teams in the I-League, for which it was recommended by its members that aspiring clubs and/or investors from different socio-economic backgrounds.
New Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurugram, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Noida have been identified as Tier 1 cities from where potential clubs can bid for a place in the I-League. Tier 2 cities were identified for bidding as – Ranchi, Itanagar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Coimbatore, Manjeri, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal and Shillong.
Meanwhile, the Committee also recommended that bids be invited from clubs willing to be located outside Tier 3 cities. Any village bodies under the control of panchayats can also bid, provided they have a stadium, training facilities, not more than 200 km from any domestic airport.
The Committee recommended that the minimum bid value for potential Tier 1 and 2 clubs should be a minimum of Rs 5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore, respectively, while the minimum bid value for Tier 3 bidders should be Rs 1 crore.
Teams with higher bid prices will be given selection preference, and teams entering the I-League will not be provided any subsidy for their respective first two seasons. All teams that come through the bids will have to pay 50 percent of their respective bid value as participation fee for the year the team plays in the league, for a maximum of three years.
Winning bids from Tier 1 and 2 cities will have relegation immunity for two seasons, while those from Tier 3 cities will have it for one season.
Bidders from Tier 1 cities must have a minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore, Tier 2 cities must have a minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore, while for Tier 3 bidders it will be Rs 40 crore.
Bidders will be evaluated on the basis of supporting documents submitted by them, on the basis of which they will be awarded multiple parameter scores.
League committee chairman Mr. Hamer said, “As per the target 2026, we aim to have 14 teams in the I-League by that year, so we will decide how many clubs will get admission depending on the strength of the bids. Get. This is an opportunity for us to increase participation, but we also need to ensure that the new bidders are ready to invest in Indian football and can sustain themselves at that level.”
The committee, and at the behest of several I-League clubs, deliberated at length on the criteria for the number of foreign players allowed in the league, and recommended that the foreign quota be reduced to allow more Indian players. To get an opportunity in the I-League. It was recommended that clubs be allowed to register a maximum of five foreign players in their squad and field a maximum of three foreign players in their playing XI. The committee suggested that it would no longer be mandatory for clubs to sign exclusively Asian quota players.
The committee members also suggested maintaining status quo in the Under-22 regulation of the I-League in the 2023-24 season, stating that each participating club needs to ensure that five of the total registered players in the squad is required. Be below the age of 22 years (born on or after 1-1-2002).
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