XtraTime Web Desk: Kolkata giant East Bengal’s participation in the upcoming I-League or ISL season is in serious doubts after Quess Corp chairman Ajit Isaac’s email to the All India Football Federation. Mr Isaac on Saturday clarified to the AIFF that the sporting rights are still with Quess East Bengal Football Club Private Limited.
Though later in this week Ajit has stated that Quess will give back the sporting rights soon to the club as they don’t want the supporters to suffer. On being asked about the matter while taking to www.xtratime.in in a live football show I-League SEO Sunanda Dhar has said,”East Bengal need to have the sporting rights in order to fulfill the licensing criteria of Asian Football Confederation. The Federation had made it clear on Friday that any change or transfer of sporting rights will need the written consent of Quess East Bengal representative. Apart from such an official confirmation in writing, the AIFF has also stated that in the case of a mutual termination of the joint venture, a copy of the termination document should be presented before it.”
Sudeva FC (Delhi), Sreenidhi FC (Visakhapatnam) and Ryntih SC (Shillong) are the three clubs which have submitted the bid paper for the forthcoming I-League season. While talking about the development Mr. Dhar said,” Yes all thre clubs have submitted the bid paper today. I can’t say who his a bit ahead at the moment as when the bid will be open and the evaluation will be done, only then we can say who is a strong bidder. Not only that but also we see whether the company is passionate about football, their roadmap for the betterment of Indian football and some other things.”
AIFF was all set to start a Women League in India during November 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic they have to postpone it but Mr.Dhar feels that they can start the League in March 2021.