I League news : AIFF explains their plan to add more teams into the 2nd tier of Indian football! Read out the exclusive report.

On May 1, 2023, the All India Football Federation’s League Committee assembled via video conference. Mr. Lalnghinglova Hmar served as the meeting’s chairman. Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, the secretary general of the League Committee, Mr. M. Satyanarayan, Mr. Arif Ali, Dr. Kiran Chougule, Mr. Amit Chaudhuri, and Mr. Caetano Fernandes were all present at the gathering.

The initial matter on the Committee’s agenda was to expand the I-League, and its members advised inviting bids through a triple-tier system to give aspirant clubs or entrepreneurs from varied socioeconomic backgrounds possibilities.

AIFF League Committee meets over video conferencing; discusses Hero I-League bidding criteria#Vision2047 👁️ #IndianFootball ⚽

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) May 1, 2023

There are eight Tier 1 cities—New Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurugram, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, and Noida—from which prospective teams might submit bids for a spot in the I-League. Ranchi, Itanagar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Coimbatore, Manjeri, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, and Shillong were designated as Tier 2 cities for the bidding.

The Committee additionally recommended inviting applications from teams willing to be headquartered out of Tier 3 municipalities. In order to submit a bid, organisations from any village under panchayat authority must have access to a stadium and training facilities that are located no more than 200 km from a domestic airport.

The Committee suggested setting the minimum offer amount for prospective clubs from Tiers 1 and 2 at Rs. 5 crore and Rs. 2.5 crore, accordingly, as well as Rs. 1 crore for Tier 3 bids. No subsidies will be offered to teams that join the I-League for each of their first two seasons; instead, the teams with the greatest asking value will be selected first.

All teams that successfully submit bids must pay a joining fee equal to 50% of their respective offer amounts up until the year the team competes in the league, with a three-year maximum. Relegation immunity for successful bids from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities is for two seasons, whereas it is only for one season for winning bids from Tier 3 cities.

“As per Target 2026, we aim to have 14 teams in the I-League by that year, so we will take the call on how many clubs will gain entry based on the strength of the bids that we receive. This is an opportunity for us to increase participation, but we also need to ensure that the new bidders are prepared to invest in Indian Football and can sustain themselves at that level.” – an AIFF official said.