SPEAKING AT AN EVENT IN DELHI, AIFF General Secretary shared that the merger process is yet to be flagged off. Referring to the tentative date for the merger to be complete, Kushal Das said,
“When it will happen, we don’t know. We can only start the process once all stakeholders align"
At the launch of the 10th edition of the I-League, Kushal answered questions from journalists where he said the I-League is the top-most tier of Indian football as it offers the chance to clubs to showcase their talent at the Asian level.
This year the percentage of live telecast matches has gone up as majority of the 90 matches will be seen on TV.
To a question on why this year's Durand Cup runners-up did not make the cut in the I-League, Das replied saying,
“We have a fixed set of rules for evaluating bids and the evaluation is done by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a third party. Financial and infrastructural criteria are as important than fan support and unfortunately, NEROCA were not able to meet the financial criteria."
Das recapped how the year has been fruitful for Indian football as the efforts put in by AIFF won them the AFC Developing Member Association of the Year award. The tournaments conducted by the association has churned out 4500 I-League coaches. He also shared the plans of beginning more youth leagues notably the Under 13 I-League.