CHENNAI: In another massive setback to Indian football, its oldest existing and most decorated football team Mohun Bagan Super Giant have decided to stop first team operations on Saturday. This comes as day after All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed there were no bidders for new commercial partner of the Indian Super League on Friday.
The AIFF and the Football Sports Development Limited, the commercial arm that was running the ISL until last season had told the Supreme Court that India's top league would start in December. However, until last night there were no bidders for the ISL.
"There is no tournament for us to play, for now. The players were supposed to get back to training on Monday, (November 10) but after the AIFF confirmed that they got no new bid, we had to cancel it," a club source told this daily. Their Super Cup campaign ended after they failed to beat arch-rivals East Bengal FC to qualify to the semifinals. Player salaries, however will continue, the source clarified. "The team will be ready to get back if the AIFF gives us a tentative date for the start of the season, be it December, January or February next year," the source went on to add.
The bid evaluation committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice L Nageswar Rao, is set to review the situation and deliberate on the future course of action. The ISL clubs, who were earlier assured by the AIFF that the season would begin by December, are once again in a dilemma.
The AIFF told the SC in September that it would finalise the new commercial partner via a tender process by October 15. It was on the same day that the body released the Request for Proposal (RFP) and extended the deadline of the tender process to November 7. The sport's national governing body had set a minimum turnover amount of `250 crore for companies to participate in the bid. A guarantee amount of `37.5 crore a year to the AIFF or five percent of the gross revenue, whichever is higher was another term laid down in the tender terms.
These terms, it is learnt, is not financially attractive for prospective bidders. The second wave of uncertainty has also impacted a club like Bagan, who have actively gone on to play matches. Interestingly, the Mariners were not one of the clubs to have demanded the AIFF to act on the impasse.
It remains to be seen what the next course of action would be for the AIFF. With regards to the FSDL, it had let go of the contractual Right to First Negotiation and Right to Match. This impasse will further impact player salaries and if the AIFF continues without a partner, its finances would be hit deeply, therefore impacting its national teams and grass root programs.
Bagan issues clarification over player release for int'l duty
The Mariners came under the scanner for not releasing their first-team players to the men's senior national team for their inconsequential AFC Cup qualifier against Bangladesh. Head coach Khalid Jamil had announced the probables' list on November 6 and that did not contain any player from Bagan. "The current player call-up has been issued outside the official FIFA international window. In such cases, FIFA does not provide injury protection or salary compensation should a player get injured while on national duty," the club stated.
"Accordingly, we informed both the AIFF and our players that if anyone chose to join the camp outside the FIFA window, a written confirmation would be required acknowledging that any injury and the related contractual costs during the recovery period would need to be covered by them," it went on to add.