MUMBAI: Following clear indications that the All India Football Federation would soon deliver a fait accompli that the Indian Super League would officially be deemed the top tier of Indian club football, the majority of I-League clubs met up on Monday to discuss their future course of action.
“All I-League clubs are meeting on Monday and we will see what can be done,” an owner of a top club told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
The club owner also said that if the AIFF goes ahead with its decision to make the ISL India’s top league, the I-League clubs will challenge it in the court.
“All” is an exaggeration of course as I-League champions Chennai City FC for one will not be a part of the meeting. Which is not surprising since the Coimbatore-based club had in any case broken ranks with the other clubs on the issue of participation in the Super Cup back in April.
Another point worth noting is that it has been 106 days since Chennai City FC (CCFC) beat Minerva Punjab to lift the I-League title, but the club is yet to receive its Rs 10 million prize money from the AIFF.
“We won the I-League three months ago but are yet to get our prize money. We sent a letter to the AIFF three weeks ago asking for an update, but have not heard from them yet,” Rohit Ramesh, owner of Chennai City, told Sportstar.
Fellow I-League clubs such as Minerva Punjab and Gokulam Kerala FC are also yet to receive their subsidies of ₹15 lakh for the season. Gokulam, in fact, is to get ₹25 lakh including the reimbursement of floodlight charges.
Last season’s champion, Minerva Punjab received its prize money only after threatening the AIFF to boycott the Super Cup last year.
“We sent them a letter saying that we would pull out of the Super Cup due to a lack of funds.
“They gave us the prize money within the next three days,” said Minerva owner Ranjit Bajaj.
Aizawl FC, which had won in the 2016-17 season, was also made to wait for close to four months until it received its prize money.
For the record, it was in December 2010 that the IMG-R (a joint venture between Reliance Industries and IMG Worldwide) signed its 15-year commecial rights agreement with AIFF that was valued at Rs 7 billion over the duration of the agreement.
Included in the 15-year deal were the sponsorship and marketing rights of all football tournaments and activities organised by India’s foootball governing body, including the commercial rights to India’s national team and the I-League.
According to the official press release released at the time, the aim of the new partnership was to “radically restructure, overhaul, improve, popularize and promote the game of football throughout India, from the grassroots to the professional level.
“IMG-Reliance’s obligation to AIFF was to rebuild the sport from grassroots to professional game so that that a sustainable sporting model is created providing the platform for the national teams to reach their full potential on the international stage in AFC Asian tournaments and ultimately in the Fifa World Cup.”
“We are incredibly excited about the future of football in India,” the late Ted Forstmann, chairman and chief executive of IMG Worldwide had said at the time. “It is the second most popular sport in the country with a massive and passionate fan following. The excitement and exuberance that was evident in the streets of the major cities in India during this year’s World Cup, as well as the estimated 110 million Indian television viewers of the games, is a good indication of potential for future success.
“With the cooperation and participation of the AIFF, IMG-Reliance is committed to making football a commercially exciting and successful sport in India. In a country with a population of 1.2 billion people and incredibly talented athletes, it’s a realistic goal that India aims for a future World Cup berth. Together with our Indian basketball deal, this gets IMG-Reliance off to a fantastic start,” Forstman added.
Praful Patel, AIFF president, had stated: “The AIFF has a vision for the sport of football in the country. Our engagement with IMG-Reliance comes at a pivotal stage of this pursuit to enhance the quality of football and develop the sport across the country. IMG-Reliance brings together an unparalleled advantage of the execution capabilities of Reliance and the global expertise in marketing and development of sports of IMG. We have shared what we have learned from the past and agreed on the tasks at hand as we embark on this exciting journey with them.”
AIFF’s deal with IMG-Reliance replaced its existing ten-year $70 million contract with Zee Sports, ending the agreement four years ahead of its expiry. As termination fee, IMG-R paid Zee Sports $530,000 (Rs 24 million).
