Barasat: I-league CEO Sunanda Dhar who was present to watch the U-18 I-League finals between East Bengal and AIFF Academy at the Barasat Stadium has said, “No matter which tournament happens in the county, Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will always play in the top-tier league.”
He also said that apart from having a spots reserved in the ACL and AFC whether a third spot can be obtained is a matter of discussion. As a result the AIFF President Mr. Praful Patel will visit the AFC Congress at Bahrain to discuss about it.
“If the I-League and ISL competition happen simultaneously then the availability of players will have to be looked upon and accordingly future planning will have to be carried out”, said Mr. Dhar.
He believes that the merging of both I-League and ISL will be beneficial.
Mohun Bagan General Secretary Mr. Srinjoy Bose has been show caused by the AIFF Disciplinary Committee for behavioral issues in Mohun Bagan’s last I-League game against Chennai City FC. Mr. bose will have to reply his show cause letter within a few days, however Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen whose name was involved has been cleared off.
People had objected about the timings related to the U-18 finals which was scheduled to start at 11 am and was later shifted to 3:30 PM. Mr. Dhar said that he had heard complains about the 11am timing but no such complains have come up to him regarding the commencement of the match at 3:30 PM.
United Sports club upon loosing the match at sudden death claimed that after playing a full game of 90mins the game preceded to penalties instead of playing Extra Time. This change in rules was unknown to them. Sunanda Dhar replied that the game would go to sudden death was decided at the Manager’s Meeting 3 days before.