NEW DELHI: Even as the bid evaluation committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) cleared the decks Wednesday for the inclusion of Gokulam FC from Kerala in the I-League, it added two conditions. A change of name and change of location
Gokulam FC will now be known as Malabar FC since Football Sports Development Ltd, commercial partners of the AIFF, did not approve the earlier name of the club.
“An official of AIFF’s marketing agents joined the discussion on Skype. They wanted the name to be changed. The club has agreed. They have also agreed to play their home matches in Kozhikode,” a federation official told Calcutta Telegraph.
Another change that has been forced on the club is that they will have to switch their home base from Manjeri and move instead to Kozhikode. The stated reason being that the AIFF wants the game to spread across the state of Kerala.
Malabar FC is promoted by film producer and distributor Gokulam Gopalan and will be the first team from Kerala to play in the I-League since the relegation of Chirag United Kerala after the 2011-12 season.
The Kerala side are the second new team in the I-League this season after it was confirmed earlier that the AIFF had decided to revive the concept of a team comprising Under-20 players playing in the I-League.
AIFF’s Pailan Arrows club was located in Kolkata and competed in the I-League for three seasons from 2010-2011. The club was formed with the stated goal of nurturing young Indian football talents in the hope of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Though Pailan Arrows had middling success in the I-League, the AIFF disbanded it in 2013 as the club’s sponsors, Pailan Group, declared they could no longer financially support the team.
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