Football Football AIFF calls for meeting “regarding non-relegation" The AIFF's technical director Isac Doru is scheduled to make a presentation “regarding non-relegation” in the meeting, which will also have the federation president Praful Patel in attendance. Stan Rayan Kochi 29 April, 2021 00:27 IST The meeting is likely to explore the idea of doing away with the relegation from the I-League “only” for the current season because of the Covid-19 pandemic. - Biswaranjan Rout Stan Rayan Kochi 29 April, 2021 00:27 IST The All India Football Federation has called for a meeting on April 30 with the presidents and secretaries of all state associations. The AIFF's technical director Isac Doru is scheduled to make a presentation “regarding non-relegation” in the meeting, which will also have the federation president Praful Patel in attendance.According to the AIFF, Doru's presentation will explore the idea of doing away with the relegation from the I-League “only” for the current season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.RELATED| AFC Executive Committee approves AIFF's roadmap for Indian football However, according to a few sources, the federation might also need to look at moving away from its earlier agreed roadmap -- jointly envisaged by the federation, I-League, ISL clubs and the Asian Football Confederation -- to introduce relegation-promotion from the 2024-25 season.The AIFF general secretary Kushal Das, in September 2020, had stated: “From 2024-25 there will be promotion, relegation where the bottom-placed team (of the ISL) will be relegated to the second tier and the I-League winner will be promoted to ISL.”RELATED| Praful Patel looks for happy marriage between ISL and I-League The roadmap had also announced a direct entry to the ISL for the I-League winners of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.“I think they (the league and club owners) are not happy with the proposal (relegation), so they might be pulling the AIFF to take a decision that there will not be a relegation from the ISL,” a football official said. “Nobody will want to buy a team if there is a danger of the club being relegated. If someone buys a club for Rs 200 crore and if there is a risk of relegation in the same year, who will pay such a huge amount.”(Copy has been updated following clarification/ statement from AIFF's side)AIFF's roadmap for Indian footballYear 1 (2019/2020) - No promotion and relegation in ISLYear 2 (2020/2021) - No promotion and relegation in ISL, two clubs from I-League to be offered entry into ISL by the end of 2020/2021 seasonYear 3 (2021/2022) - No promotion and relegation in ISL, League Format (i.e. Name of league and number of teams) to be decided by AIFF for implementation from Year 6Year 4 (2022/2023) - Winner of I-League to be promoted to ISL, no relegation; no Entry Fee, no distribution of central revenue for newly promoted club from I-League, Only by Sporting Merit, Facilities and national club licencing criteriaYear 5 (2023/2024) - Winner of I-League to be promoted to ISL, no relegation; no Entry Fee, no distribution of central revenue for newly promoted club from I-League, Only by Sporting Merit, Facilities and national club licencing criteriaYear 6 (2024/2025) - One League only and one knock-out competition to be organised by AIFF, promotion and relegation to be implementedEssentially, the roadmap elevated the ISL to the top division of Indian football and stated that two I-League clubs would be offered entry into the ISL by the end of the 2020/21 season. The two Kolkata giants formed tie-ups - East Bengal brought in Shree Cement as an investor and Mohun Bagan tied up with ATK - to join the ISL in the 2020/21 season.As per the roadmap, the I-League winner will earn a slot in the ISL, purely on merit, from the 2022-23 season. This arrangement would continue for two seasons. The promoted I-League clubs will neither have to pay an entry fee nor will they receive a share from the central revenue pool. No ISL club would be relegated in this period. Following this, the AIFF will re-brand the ISL (the name of new league will be decided in 2021/22) and unify the two leagues by bringing in promotion-relegation from the 2024-25 season. The national federation will also organise a knockout tournament. Read more stories on Football. For more updates, follow Sportstar on :