MUMBAI: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will unveil the future roadmap for Indian domestic football on October 14th at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, multiple reports confirmed Thursday.
An official announcement of the roadmap will provide clarity and allow clubs to plan for the future but what is expected to be rubber stamped is the AIFF’s plan to make it official that the Indian Super League is the country’s top league (instead of the present defacto state of affairs) and handing the ISL champions the AFC Champions League preliminary qualifier spot, from the 2019-20 season on.
As for the I-League Champions, they will get the AFC Cup play-off slot.
There is of course the “small matter” that as per the norms set out by the AFC itself, the winner of a member country’s top league is awarded a berth in the AFC Champions League while the winning club of a nation’s top knockout tournament is awarded a slot in the AFC Cup.
There was no confusion till such time as the I-League at least notionally was given the standing as the country’s top league while the winner of the bigger and more high profile ISL (technically a knockout event as the winners are decided in a final play-off) secured the AFC Cup slot.
However, as reported earlier, the AIFF is certain on finding a solution for this dilemma. And if it means tweaking the rules keeping in mind the unique situation existing in India, that too will be done.
Coming back to roadmap for Indian club football, as per a mail accessed by IANS, AIFF general secretary Kushal Das has written to ISL and I-League clubs informing them of the same and has asked them to be present on October 14th at AFC House.
“Dear All, The All India Football Federation along with the Asian Football Confederation will present the future roadmap of Indian Club football on 14th October 2019 at Asian Football Confederation, AFC House, Jalan 1/155B, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 10 am. You are invited to be present. Kindly confirm your presence in the next 5 days,” the letter reads.
The AIFF leadership, including federation president Praful Patel and Das, had held meetings last month with AFC general secretary Windsor John when he visited India.
The AIFF top brass had also met with AFC officials last week in Malaysia for another round of talks where a roadmap was formulated, taking into account the grievances of all parties concerned, Goal reports.
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