Kolkata: Following Kolkata giant’s decision to not give in under any pressure from IMG-R to sign the terms and conditions, FSDL (Football Sports Development Limited) on Thursday announced the floating of fresh tenders to invite bids from new franchise.
This comes just a few days after the All Indian Football Federation said, following a meeting with I-League clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, that the ISL could be expanded to a seven-month long league to be played at weekends.
Mohun Bagan General Secretary Anjan Mitra on Thursday said that his club was not interested in owning a franchise team and so not buying the bid documents.
“Our president has made it clear that we are not going to be part of the ISL and so there is no question of buying any bid document,” said Mr Mitra.
“Our only concern is that I-League should continue to be the official league of the country and its winner should play in the Asian Champions League play-off while the Federation Cup winners should play in the AFC Cup,” he added.
Meanwhile, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), who have been organising ISL since its inception in 2014 , will be floating the tender through ‘Invitation To Bid’ (ITB) to be available on working days from May 12-24.
Bids are invited from prospective team owners in respect of 10 cities — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram.
“Under and subject to the ITB, one to three new winning bidders shall be enrolled and awarded the right to participate in the ISL.
“It being clarified that in case of the city of Kolkata being awarded to the winning bidder, the respective team shall hold its home games outside Kolkata for the next two consecutive ISL seasons,” the FSDL said in a statement.
“All bidding parties will need to fulfil the eligibility criteria and other requirements specified in the ITB including but not limited to summary of plans to operate their team in the league, including the business model and plan to develop the sport at the grassroots level,” the statement added.
“The bid documents must be submitted on Thursday, May 25.”
Eight teams currently participate in the ISL Indian Super League — Atletico de Kolkata, Chennaiyin FC, Delhi Dynamos FC, FC Goa, FC Pune City, Kerala Blasters FC, NorthEast United FC and Mumbai City FC.