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Bids for new I- League club may be out by month end [Mail Today (India)](Mail Today (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) BUOYED by the success of Bengaluru FC, the All India Football Federation ( AIFF) is mulling to float tender notices for another new club in the I- League, which will be backed by a corporate house. The bids for the new club are likely to be invited by the end of this month. "The idea is to invite bids by the end of this month. However, the final decision will be taken by the AIFF executive committee," Sunando Dhar, I- League CEO, told M AIL T ODAY . Last year, Bengaluru FC and Mumbai Tigers were the two new entrants in the premier football competition of the country. But the latter withdrew even before the start of the season and the I- League was finally played with 13 teams. English Championship club Queens Park Rangers had also given a tentative proposal to participate in the I- League from 2014- 15 season and are likely to be the frontrunner this time. The club's majority stakeholder Tony Fernandes held discussions with the AIFF president Praful Patel last year for a Chennai- based team. The Bengaluru FC, in its rookie season, is leading the I- League table with 41 points from 22 matches. The stadium facilities, fan connect and community development initiatives taken by the Jindal Steel- owned team are new to Indian football. Also, the AIFF will see whether the clubs have fulfilled the AFC licensing criteria this year and based on that the clubs will be allowed to participate in the ILeague next season. "The clubs have submitted their documents. We will analyse it next month and come out with the final report by the end of May," Dhar said. Last year, only Pune FC complied with all the norms of AFC licensing criteria while the other clubs had requested an extension to achieve the standards. "This year we are expecting the clubs to perform much better on our rating scales. Only Rangdajied FC, which entered the first division for the first time last year, hasn't submitted the documents yet." (c) 2014 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info, an Albawaba.com company |