Kolkata: The AIFF Bid Evaluation Committee granted Chennai City FC and Minerva Punjab FC the right to field their teams in the I-league 2016-2017 season.
Among five clubs, namely Neroca FC, Minerva Punjab FC, Sudeva FC, FC Bardez Goa and Chennai City FC, who had submitted their bids and based on the evaluation of their proposals, the selection of the two teams was made by the AIFF Bid Evaluation Committee who met at the AIFF headquarters in New Delhi after the re-tendering was initiated on November 25, 2016.
“I, on the behalf of AIFF, welcome Chennai City FC & Minerva Punjab FC to the I-League family and we all hope that we will have a competitive I-League,” said Kushal Das, general secretary of the AIFF.
He added, “With Chennai City FC & Minerva Punjab FC joining the fray now, we have ten teams competing in the next I-League. Now, we have representatives from Chennai and Punjab, which means we’ll reach out to more supporters and newer markets.”
Chennai City FC had submitted a proposal for direct entry in the league but failed to meet the financial criteria which required a performance bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore. But later on, they were given the green signal after AIFF brought down the bank guarantee to Rs 1 crore.
Minerva Punjab FC have already plied their trade in the Second Division League 2015-16 having held the second position, while Dempo SC announced their withdrawal from the I-League in spite of their promotion to the top division as a result of winning the championship.
It must be noted that the likes of Sudeva, Bardez and Neroca failed to fulfill the Request for Proposal (RFP) document, according to Das.
I-League CEO Sunando Dhar also sounded content with the clubs’ addition.” New teams from two new venues will add a newer dimension to I-League and they will get a chance to rub shoulders with the top clubs of Indian football. ”
(with inputs from NDTV)