Report: Decision on cancellation of I-League to be taken on Saturday

An AIFF official revealed that the competition is all set to be abandoned amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The All India Football Federation will hold a video-conference on Saturday in which they are officially expected to take the decision on cancelling the I-League season after the lockdown period was extended in the country.

The I-League still has a few game-weeks of football left but with Mohun Bagan already having won the title, the AIFF is thought to be convinced that cancelling the rest of the season be deemed fit.

An AIFF official spoke to PTI on the matter and said, “There is no time left for us to conduct the I-League. It is certain to be cancelled. The meeting will be held via a video-conference.”

While the Mariners are expected to be crowned as champions officially, there will also be discussion on the splitting of the prize-money for the second as well as third-placed teams. Moreover, the whole relegation issue will also be on the agenda of this meeting.

East Bengal and Punjab FC are currently stuck on exactly the same points (23 points from 16 matches) while Real Kashmir are just behind them with one point less and having played a game lesser than them as well.

The AIFF is expected to take the decision on splitting the prize money between these teams if they are to cancel the rest of the campaign. Aizawl FC are the ones currently in the relegation zone, but they could be exempted the drop due to the situation.

The league committee is thought to be considering the possibilities of exempting relegation this season and only a few teams from the I-League second division could play a knockout-based mini-tournament somewhere around August to determine which team will be promoted into the I-League next season.

Regardless, it seems like the current I-League season is now well and truly over. That means, Mohun Bagan have also played their final game in the league, as they’re set to merge with ATK in June to create an allied unit which will participate in the Indian Super League (ISL) from next season onwards.

The final game of the league’s season was last played on March 14, when NEROCA played out a thrilling 2-2 draw with Chennai City FC in a closed-doors game.