I-League: AIFF League Committee to impose financial sanctions on defaulting clubs

The Committee selected 25 clubs from 17 Member Associations to feature in the 3rd Division League

The All India Football Federation’s League Committee met over video conferencing on Thursday, September 28, 2023.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Lalnghinglova Hmar, and attended by Committee Members Mr Arif Ali, Mr Caitanno Jose Fernandes, Dr Reginold Varghese, Mr Anirban Dutta, Amit Chaudhuri and Dr Kiran Chougule. AIFF Secretary General Dr Shaji Prabhakaran and Deputy Secretary General Mr Satyanarayan M were present in the meeting.

Welcoming the members, the Chairperson of the League Committee, Mr Hmar said, “The Committee has been doing a great job despite facing many hurdles in several fronts. There is no doubt we run into problems while conducting the I-League, the IWL, or the other leagues, which go on for months in multiple venues across the country. But at the same time, the Committee, as well as the AIFF Secretariat, do a commendable job to solve all the problems on hand, and successfully run all the events. This year’s I-League and all other tournaments will be no different.”

The Committee was apprised of the infrastructural inadequacies of several I-League clubs, despite regular interaction with them from the start of the season. Therefore, a decision was taken by the Committee to impose financial sanctions and other strict measures on the defaulting clubs, unless they comply with the set criteria within the stipulated time-frame.

Among the IWL clubs, it was informed to the League Committee that Eastern Sporting Union are the only side that have not yet confirmed their participation in the 2023-24 season of the top-tier women’s league in the country. To that extent, the Committee recommended continuing with the remaining seven teams in the Indian Women’s League, which is slated to begin on December 8, 2023, and end by March, 2024.

The Committee selected 25 clubs from 17 Member Associations to feature in the 3rd Division League. These clubs have been given time till October 6 to confirm their participation, following which, the fixtures will be released as per the final confirmations. The group stage of the 3rd Division League is set to begin on November 9, 2023, and the playoffs featuring the top five teams will be held in the second half of December, 2023.