Hero I-League
All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) officials met representatives of Goan I-League clubs Salgaocar FC, Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo SC on Friday to discuss the future of the I-League and the league exit announced by Salgaocar and Sporting Goa.
Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa issued a joint statement after the meeting:
The joint meeting between AIFF officials and the Goan clubs was held at Hotel Lapaz Gardens, Vasco earlier today evening. The meeting was attended by Shrinivas Dempo (AIFF Vice-President), Shivanand Salgaocar (Salgaocar FC, President), Peter Vaz (Sporting Clube de Goa, President), Kushal Das (AIFF General Secretary), Sunando Dhar (I-League CEO) Chirag Tanna (Reliance Sports), Vivek Salgaocar (Salgaocar FC, Vice-President), Victor Fernandes (Sporting Clube de Goa, CEO), Adlear D’Cruz (Salgaocar FC, General Secretary), Eddie Noronha (Sporting Clube de Goa, General Secretary), Wilfred D’Souza (Dempo SC, General Secretary).
The Goan Clubs (Salgaocar FC & Sporting Clube de Goa) put forward the below mentioned principal points.
– No forced relegation of the I-League to a second tier league from the nation’s premier competition. All teams qualified for the I-League should be part of the top league.
– No bidding & no franchise fees for existing I-League clubs, merit being the only qualifying factor.
– All governance issues should rest with AIFF exclusively.The AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das agreed to call a meeting of all I-League clubs in order to elicit their views on the matter. He also will be consulting with the AIFF President Praful Patel and the AIFF Executive Committee along with their marketing partners IMG-Reliance to revert back with a final binding proposal on or before July 31, 2016.
The two I-League clubs Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa hold, that their decision to withdraw stands unless they receive a final binding proposal/roadmap which includes the above three points.