NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation has confirmed the participation of nine teams for the Hero 2nd Division League 2018-19, with the door ajar for a possible tenth team.
The decison was made by AIFF’s League Committee, which met at the AIFF Headquarters here Friday. The committee reviewed submissions made by the various 2nd Division League applicants under the club licensing process.
After several deliberations, the committee came to the decision to confirm the participation of only the following clubs for Hero 2nd Division League 2018-19:
Ozone Football Club, Karnataka
South United FC1, Karnataka
Fateh Hyderabad AFC, Telangana
New Barrackpore Rainbow FC, West Bengal
Mohammedan Sporting, West Bengal
Chhinga Veng FC, Mizoram
Lonestar Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir
Hindustan Football Club, Delhi
ARA FC, Gujarat
Tiddim Road Athletic Union FC has been granted time to complete club licensing process in the next 3 days, commencing Saturday. The committee granted the extra time considering the recent issues with the Manipur League, which the club had no control upon and also acknowledged the fact that the club had participated in last season’s Hero 2nd Division League and qualified for the Final Round.
The committee also approved the participation of the following reserve teams of Indian Super League in Hero 2nd Division League 2018-19:- ATK, Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters FC and Chennaiyin FC.
As per the relevant regulations of the competition, reserve teams can only participate in the preliminary round of the tournament. The Hero 2nd Division League is scheduled to start from the first week of January 2018 and go on till mid-April.
It was also unanimously decided by the committee, that teams from Hero I-League and Hero Indian Super League and Hero 2nd Division League will have to undergo the AIFF Academy Accreditation process to be eligible to participate in the Hero Youth Leagues from the season 2019-20 onwards.
The committee also unanimously decided on the new names for all AIFF age group league tournaments. Under this change, “U-13 Youth League” from now on will be known as “Hero Sub Junior League”, the “U-15 Youth League” from now on will be known as “Hero Junior League” and “U-18 Youth League” from now on will be known as “Hero Elite League”.
The committee also decided to hold the Hero Super Cup between the last week of March till mid of April 2019.
