NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation has come in for some serious flak after the AIFF announced the format and schedule of its inaugural Super Cup.
Senior officials from I-League clubs , East Bengal FC, and , have attacked the federation for changing the format. “The Super Cup has now become a laughing stock for us. We were previously told that it will be held in a round robin format. Now we find that it has become a one match tournament,” Debashish Dutta of Mohun Bagan told goal.com.
The qualifiers for the Super Cup are scheduled from March 12-31, while the final round will be held between March 31- April 22 in either Cuttack or Kochi.
“It is not a Super Cup. It has now become a ‘Laughing Stock’ cup. If they continue to operate like this Indian Football is in danger. When we were having discussions regarding ISL and I-League with the AIFF, they promised us that the Super Cup will be held in league format with the teams divided into two groups. Then the top teams will progress to the knock-out stage. It has all come down to that one match and any team can have a bad day at office on that day. They could have done away with Super Cup instead of conducting it in this way,” said Debabrata Sarkar from East Bengal
Ranjit Bajaj, owner of Minerva Punjab said: “It is very unfair that the tournament is not being held in the round robin format. Moreover only eight teams should have been allowed to participate. The top four teams from I-League and ISL. They are giving a chance to everyone to play in the Super Cup. So, then how it is a Super Cup? It has become a ‘Everybody Cup’.”
Bajaj also said that the scheduling should have been thought out better because now he has to keep players for two months and incur costs to just play one match.
On the venue, an angry Sarkar told goal.com: “Yes, they (AIFF) had promised that the Super Cup will be held in Kolkata. Now they have backed away from that promise as well. They had promised a whole lot of thiings but they are backing out now. We had asked that our representatives should be allowed to attend the meeting, but instead they just forwarded a letter asking for our suggestion. I have nothing more to say against this football federation who has made a mockery of themselves.”
In a related development, the AIFF has offered no clarity on the number of foreign players to be registered for the Super Cup either, with the the federation saying a decision would be taken after a “final discussion with all stakeholders”.
