Federation Cup winners Churchill Brothers have been been ejected out of the I-league for the upcoming season along with United SC, Mohammedan Sporting Rangdajied United after they failed to satisfy the required legal, administrative, sporting, infrastructure and financial criteria under AIFF’s Club Licensing Regulations.
The official AIFF statement read, “Based on the documents provided by all the parties concerned and the Inspection conducted by the AIFF Inspection Team in the month of April/May, the Committee found that nine out of the 14 applicants have made the grade while four have failed.”
Newly promoted side, Royal Wahingdoh of Shillong, have been given an 1-year exemption to fulfill all the requirements.
I-League Chief Executive Officer Sunando Dhar told PTI, “These licensing criteria are on annual basis. They can come back in the 2015-16 season if they fulfil the criteria by then. But they will have to play in the I-League second division and qualify from there.”
AIFF’s Club Licensing Manager Ms. Roma Khanna revealed that Mumbai FC and Shillong Lajong will not be able to take part in Asian club competitions (AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Qualifiers) as they were not assigned the required AFC Certificate, “Both these clubs do not have AFC A class Stadium, but were fully compliant of the infrastructure requirement for the National License.”
