PANAJI
Salgaocar Football Club and Sporting Clube de Goa have decided to leave the I-League with effect from the forthcoming season over the All-India Football Federation's decision to restructure the national football league system. The decision was made public in a joint statement issued by the two clubs on Friday.
The AIFF's draft plan, made public last month, is to form a three-tier football system in India from 2017-18. The Indian Super League (ISL) will form the top tier of competition and will be insulated from relegation; the I-League and its lower division will become the second and third divisions, with relegation and promotion only taking place between these two tiers of competition.
"Over the past few weeks, Salgaocar Football Club and Sporting Clube de Goa have had several rounds of discussions and have deliberated the impact that the May 17 proposal will have on the state of the sport," the statement said.
"It is clear that the proposal is highly discriminatory, goes against sporting merit, is unworkable for I-League clubs and hampers Goa, which is the best represented state in the I-League, the most."
The plan - which AIFF consistently denies is set in stone - has been backed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
In their statement, the clubs called the AIFF's proposals "shocking and disheartening" and "heavily biased against the I-League and its clubs". They said this would relegate the I-League to a "second-tier league... despite the repeated claims made by representatives of AIFF and FIFA that the I-League was the premier league competition in the country."
The statement details the sequence of events from that May 17 meeting. It said the proposals were circulated among all stakeholders, who gave their feedback as sought. "The lack of response from the AIFF is telling, and makes it clear that the fate of the world's most popular sport in the world's second most populous nation would be decided unilaterally.
"We therefore have no option but to believe that the AIFF will enforce the May 17 proposal, which would promote the ISL to the nation's premier tournament with a 'pay to play' franchisee model with no promotion or relegation. Furthermore, it guarantees the winner of the ISL representation at the AFC level, with the other available spot going to the winner of a tournament that again is heavily skewed in favour of ISL franchisees."
"This effectively removes any incentive for a club team to participate in the restructured I-League, given that monetary incentives were never a contributing factor. The lack of the latter was ensured by the AIFF who unfairly sold the rights to the I-League without consulting all its stakeholders. Remarkably, while demanding professionalism and fiscal responsibility from I-League clubs without itself reflecting the same, the AIFF has still not settled dues to I-League clubs dating as far back as 2008."
