AIFF to send second-string team to Asian Games

The decision comes after a series of events in the last few days.

The All India Football Federation have decided to send a second-string squad for the Asian Games, after the ISL clubs refused to release players for the camp. The Asian Games will be held from 19 September and the ISL will commence on 21 September.

With the dates colliding, the clubs were hesitant to send out their star players for the competition and as a result of which the AIFF has come to a decision of sending a 'second' team to the event. However, it is not yet decided who'll be guiding the team to the competition as Igor Stimac is not keen to go with the second team! Moreover, AIFF is not working with the clubs for the selection of the final squad.

What happened?

The AIFF was deliberately requesting the clubs to release players for the Asian Games. But since the Asian Games doesn’t fall under any respective FIFA window, clubs are not obliged to send out their players.

Kalyan Chaubey had previously requested the FSDL to defer the Indian Super Legaue by 10 days. In reply to that, AIFF spokesperson had mentioned that the schedule can’t be changed but they are free to hold discussions regarding the same.

Thus, to reach a solution, the AIFF took this decision in the Executive Committee meeting held today. Just a few months back, the Federation in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports and Indian Olympic Association got a green signal for participation in the Asian Games.

The IOA wasn’t interested in sending the football teams for the event as their rankings in Asia were not up to the mark. The fight was evaluated to be a strong one from AIFF's side. But the current situation is such that even if India want, they can't send their best players for the tournament.

Former ISL champions Bengaluru FC had informed that Gurpreet Singh Sandhu won't be able to join the camp since both their backup keepers are injured. Sandhu was one of the three senior players to accompany the U-23 (U-24 for this edition) side in the Asian Games. But at this moment, Khel Now can confirm that even Sandesh Jhingan and Sunil Chhetri won't be involved in the tournament.