NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation plans to start the 2018 edition of the Hero I-League in the third week of October.
Regarding the foreign player rule, AIFF’s league committee, which met here Tuesday, decided to keep the regulations same as last year and abolish the rules governing the Asian player quota. Teams can now sign any six foreign players without signing any Asian quota player in the 2018-19 season. However, from 2019-20 season of the Hero I-League the foreign player registration will be reduced to a maximum five.
The committee also decided that the I-League will continue during the AFC Asian Cup but matches will not be held on dates that India plays.
The committee also proposed to send a circular to all Hero I –league clubs, regarding of basic infrastructure requirements for live telecast of Hero I-League matches. The individual clubs will have to get the infrastructure of the venue ready by mid September as per the circular.
Regarding the AIFF Youth Leagues, the committee was apprised about the suggestions of the Special Committee meeting held in Mumbai on June 07, 2018 regarding age verification of players in the U-13 and U-15 Youth League category.
The committee decided to not approve multiple teams with the same owners to play in the AIFF Youth Leagues with the exception of Sports Authority of India (SAI) teams.
Additionally, the league committee agreed to the suggestions made by AIFF’s special committee which suggested the preparation of a protocol document that is to be placed to appropriate committee of AIFF for necessary approval.
