General secretary Kushal Das and I-League CEO Sunando Dhar will represent the All India Football Federation (AIFF) at the June 7 meeting of all stakeholders at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
AIFF president Praful Patel will skip the meet where all I-League and Indian Super League (ISL) clubs have been invited to discuss the next course of action. With the organisers of ISL, Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL), mulling a longer league, adding at least three more franchises to the existing eight, the discussions are expected to revolve around the future of the franchise-based tournament.
“Me and Sunando will attend the meeting in Kuala Lumpur,” Das told IANS on Monday.
The meeting, which will be chaired by the AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John, will be attended by the concerned AFC Directors. Senior representatives from FIFA as well as the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, are expected to .
Windsor John was recently in New Delhi at the invitation of Patel to discuss the future roadmap for Indian football. It was there that the June 7 meeting was decided.
Currently, the AIFF and FSDL are deliberating the fate of city giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in the new format. Both outfits have not turned in the bid documents, while refusing to budge from their three-point demands.
The two bigwigs are yet to pay franchise fee of Rs 15 crore and have even asked for money from the central revenue pool, emphasizing on playing their homes in Kolkata.
In a recently held meeting with state body Indian Football Association (IFA), the clubs said the venue won’t be a problem as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has assured an amicable solution after talking to three clubs, which includes ISL champions Atletico de Kolkata.
The IFA is supposed to send a mail to the AIFF asking about the “roadmap”, which was promised to them by president Patel during the May 7 meeting in Mumbai.
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