Seven I-League clubs not granted Premier 2 licenses

The committee also decided to postpone the evaluations for NEROCA and TRAU FC.

The Club Licensing Committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), on Friday, June 9, 2023, met via video conferencing to determine the status of the License applications in the ‘ICLS (Indian Club Licensing System) Premier 2’ for the 2023-24 season.

The meeting was chaired by Dr. Girija Shanker Mungali. Other committee members, including Mr. Ravishankar Jayaraman, Mr. Yash K Nayak, Mr. Shekhar Nagar and Mr Anirban Gupta were present in the meeting. Mr. Pradip Choudhury and Ms. Madhu Kumari were granted a leave of absence.

Status of I-League applications

The licensing meeting was held to evaluate applications from Hero I-League clubs for the ICLS Premier 2 license, which would entitle the clubs to participate in the Hero I-League. Among the nine clubs that submitted applications, the committee reached a decision about seven clubs.

However, considering the challenging circumstances prevailing in Manipur, that have led to severe communication problems, the committee decided to postpone the assessment of the applications for the two Manipur clubs (NEROCA FC and TRAU FC) till normalcy is restored.

The seven other clubs who applied for the Premier 2 license were Real Kashmir FC, Mohammedan Sporting Club, Gokulam Kerala FC, Sreenidi Deccan FC, Rajasthan United FC, Churchill Brothers FC Goa and Aizawl FC. The Licensing Committee decided not to grant licenses to any of these clubs due to multiple ‘A’ criteria failures.

When the committee had met in mid May, they granted ICLS Premier 1 licenses to nine ISL clubs, excluding East Bengal FC and NorthEast United FC, as they had failed to meet multiple 'A' criteria. Mumbai City FC, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Bengaluru FC, Hyderabad FC, Odisha FC, Kerala Blasters, FC Goa, Jamshedpur FC, and newly promoted ISL franchise Punjab FC all had received Premier 1 License clearances.