The All India Football Federation on Friday invited bids for new clubs to join the I-League from 2023-24 season onwards.
Under the Vision 2047 plan released by the AIFF earlier this year, the federation plans to increase the number of I-League teams in a triple-tier system in order to provide opportunities to aspiring clubs and/or investors from various socio-economic backgrounds.
New Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurugram, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, and Noida have been identified as the Tier 1 cities from where potential clubs could bid for a place in the I-League.
Tier 2 cities identified for the bids are Ranchi, Itanagar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Coimbatore, Manjeri, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, and Shillong.
As per the invitation to tender, the entity that wins the bid will be granted the right to own and operate a new football club from 2023 onwards, the AIFF said in a release.
The invitation to tender can be acquired from the Football House in New Delhi or via email between May 7 and 22 upon payment of Rs 5 lakh.
On May 1, the AIFF’s executive committee had also suggested that bids from clubs willing to be based out of tier-3 towns be also invited.
Entities from any village under the control of panchayats can also come up with bids, provided they own a stadium, and training facilities, which are not more than 200km from any domestic airport.
The committee had recommended that the bid value for potential clubs from tier 1 and 2 should be a minimum Rs 5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore respectively, while the same for the tier-3 bidders should be a minimum Rs 1 crore.
”The teams with the higher bid value will be given preference of selection, and no subsidy will be provided to teams that enter the I-League, for their respective first two seasons,” the committee had said.
”All teams that come through with bids will have to pay 50 per cent of their respective bid values as participation fee till the year the team plays in the league, for a maximum of three years.” Winning bids from tier-1 and 2 cities will have relegation immunity for two seasons, while the same from tier-3 cities will be for one season.
Bidders from tier-1 cities must have a minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore, those from tier-2 towns must have a minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore, while the same for tier-3 bidders will be Rs 40 crore, the AIFF had said after the executive committee meeting.
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