I League 2011-12: Clubs to organize their home matches

In the I League workshop organized by the AIFF on 18th August in Delhi, many important and progressive decisions were taken by the committee. We highlight all the important decisions below, many of which we had reported in a previous article in March–

1. The clubs will be responsible for proper organisation of their home matches. They have the option to outsource the organisation but in any case, if there are glitches, the club will be responsible for it. The AIFF will give INR 50,000 for the organisation per match.

It is reported that the Goan clubs had opposed this move but the AIFF CEO Mr. Sunando Dhar has take a strong stand regarding the matter.

2. There is a proposal that a separate entity for the organisation of I League has to be formed like it is for J-League and other big European leagues including EPL

3. From next season onwards the clubs will not be allowed to spend more than 75% of its budget for buying out players. This figure will come down to 70% and 65% in the consecutive years. The rest of the sum has to be spent on infrastructure and youth development.

4. Transfer Fee will be applicable for the buying and selling of footballers from next season onwards. If a player has committed for 6 months or more to a club, any other club interested in him will have to talk to the parent club rather than the player. The parent club will decide how much the transfer fee will be for the player.

All these important decisions are adding up to the build up of I League into a fully-professional one. But one major issue that was to be resolved in this workshop was that of broadcasting of I League and Federation Cup. But unfortunately there is no news available regarding that as yet.