I-League 2017: History repeats as first round of tenders for new corporate clubs produces a dud
JUST LIKE LAST SEASON, the bidding for inclusion of new corporate clubs in I-League has failed on its first round of tenders.
AIFF had issued a call for bids for two new clubs in the country's top division league and multiple bids were submitted to Football House in New Delhi, including prominent names like Ozone FC from Bengaluru and Gokulam FC from Malappuram, Kerala.
With the departure of Bengaluru FC to ISL and DSK Shivajians unlikely to field a first team in the 2017-18 season, the top tier I-League needs new clubs to maintain its 10-club size which is essential to make sure the I-League champions play the minimum number of official matches required to make them eligible for participation in the AFC Champions League, the biggest club competition in Asia.
Today, All India Football Federation officials opened the bids that had been submitted and it turned out that none of the bids met the criteria set by the Federation for clubs to be eligible for a top division berth.
The same thing happened last season, as the tender process for new corporate clubs failed a couple of times. The main problem at that time was that the applicant clubs could not provide the Rs 100 crore bank guarantee that AIFF asked for. In the end, the Federation relaxed the terms of the bids and two new clubs, Chennai City FC and Minerva Punjab FC, entered the I-League.
This season, the AIFF is likely to call for a second round of tenders for corporate clubs. But the situation does not seem too optimistic. The proposal for bringing back the Arrows project - an I-League team made up of talented Indian youngsters under the AIFF wing - which can be seen as a means to make up for the lack of viable candidates for new corporate clubs. It is, however, a good proposal to bleed the promising batch of new Under-23 players into regular senior competitive football. In its first run, the Arrows platform introduced many players like Jeje Lalpekhlua, Debjit Majumder and Prabir Das to top division football.
AIFF's commercial partners IMG-Reliance, which owns & operates ISL and has a good amount of control over I-League as well, is against I-League including new clubs, despite their own eager inclusion of 2 new franchises in the ISL. In fact, they sent an email to AIFF advising against expanding I-League. That all the bids failed would be a good news for them.
The news, however, will come as a shock especially to the fans based in the football crazy city of Malappuram who have been eagerly waiting to get a local I-League club. If Gokulam FC eventually enter the I-League they will become the first top division club from the crucial state of Kerala since Viva Kerala shut down.
It remains to be seen how quickly AIFF revise their bidding terms and launch the new round of tenders. With the FIFA U-17 World Cup just more than a month away, there is pressure on the Federation to wrap up on the structure of I-League well in time before their attention and rescources shift to the historic event.
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