I-League club owners accuse AIFF of 'tender process mismanagement', threaten to move to FIFA

New Delhi: Putting up a united front, the owners of 13 I-League clubs on Saturday accused the All India Football Federation (AIFF) of jeopardizing the future of the second tier championship, citing complete mismanagement in bidding process of broadcast rights.

The I-League is set to start on November 22.

The club owners threatened to take up the matter to the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA, claiming that the AIFF’s actions violate the football development roadmap.

Questions were being asked why the tender for broadcast of five entities of the AIFF -- I-League, I-League 2, Indian Women's League, Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's Championship -- is being awarded when a single company (Shrachi Group) has been the sole bidder.

The AIFF has sought its executive committee's nod to award the bid to Shrachi Sports.

"According to the rules, you need at least two bidders for a tender to be valid, but there was only one bidder (Shrachi Group). The tender committee didn't even sign the document when it was opened, and permission from the ExCo was only taken yesterday," Delhi FC owner Ranjit Bajaj cited lack of transparency in the whole process.

"If the tender is granted to Shrachi Group, the tender needs to be finalised by the executive committee. It has to be ratified and decided by them. The president and general secretary cannot make decisions and then ask the ExCo for permission," Bajaj said.

Maintaining that this is not a call for a boycott, the owners expressed frustration over the lack of communication and the delay in announcing broadcasters for the league, which is slated to kick off on November 1.

"Professional broadcasting is an integral part of sports development globally," said Delhi FC owner Ranjit Bajaj.

"If the federation doesn’t understand the importance of broadcasting, AFC and FIFA can intervene. How can the federation treat us this way? This ill treatment of I-League clubs must end," said Bajaj during a zoom call.

"They aren’t even following the roadmap that they agreed upon with AFC and FIFA.

"Our first step after this will be to approach AFC and FIFA because they are the ones who signed off on this roadmap. Even the Ethics Committee can be contacted," Bajaj threatened.

It is learnt that multiple executive committee members have objected because of the quantum of money that is involved in selling five of AIFF's biggest properties without consultation.

"We can't keep bidding this much without the visibility and platform for growth. None of the players can be sold to the ISL or play for the national teams because we’re not on TV," Bajaj added.

"The fixtures were released a month ago, and we were told we were non-compliant because we hadn’t paid the Rs 7 lakh fees. But how could we pay when we didn’t even know who our broadcasters were?" he asked.

The club owners further slammed the AIFF for its failure to follow the agreed roadmap, noting that promotion and relegation between leagues should have been implemented as per AFC’s guidelines.

"The AFC roadmap clearly says that last year there should have been promotion of two teams, and this year there would be promotion and relegation, with two teams promoted and two relegated. AFC, AIFF, FSDL, and all I-League clubs agreed to it.

"Now we find out that they are going to destroy us. From next year, there will be franchise leagues in various states, and that’s the death of Indian football," he cautioned.

"They want to create franchise commercial models in each state. The winner of the franchise league will enter the national league, and the winner of that will go into the ISL.

"What happens to all the football clubs in I-League 3, I-League 2, and state leagues, which have spent blood, sweat, and tears over generations to keep these clubs alive for the love of football? They’ve made everybody redundant just to make quick money," Bajaj said.

Co-founder of Real Kashmir Arshad Shawl said: "We are very sorry that we've come at this level where we needed to address this issue publicly, instead of sitting behind closed doors to resolve our differences. On behalf of the I-League owners, we are hopeful that we’ll come together, iron out our differences, and start the league on time with all the expectations met."