The AIFF I-League Club Licensing Seminar ended successfully at the All India Football Federation Headquarters, Football House in Dwarka, on Wednesday, December 18.

Besides AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, Vice-President Subrata Dutta, I-League Chairman A.R. Khaleel, representatives from all I-League Clubs attended and interacted at length in the Meeting.

The day-long Seminar revolved around the Licensing criteria and providing guidance to all the Clubs to attain the same wherein Pune FC were awarded with a Certificate congratulating them on successfully fulfilling the criteria of licensing for the 2013/14 season. The Club representatives were intimated about the process of Online Registration and the Document Submission of the Licensing Process for the 2014/15 season.

Inaugurating the Seminar, Kushal Das congratulated the Clubs for the gripping 2013/14 I-League. “The Clubs deserve praise for their vibrant performance this season. There has been a massive change from what we witnessed last year.”

“The contributions made by the Clubs have led to a massive spectator-interest. There has been 50 % rise in the spectator attendance compared to last year,” he added. “We have witnessed a massive inflow of followers even on social media and there is a wide interest among everyone towards India’s premier Football Club competition.”

The Meeting also saw presentations from Pushpargha Chatterjee (Manager, Coach Education, AIFF) on Youth Development Programme, Avaneendra Mishra of Vibes Communication and Amit Singh of PricewaterhouseCoopers India.

Mr. Mishra portrayed the steps to fasten the Licensing criteria through an user-friendly process by which Clubs are supposed to submit all relevant documents online. Complementing Mr. Mishra, Ms. Roma Khanna (Manager, Club Licensing, AIFF) stated the Clubs need to adhere to the deadlines. “The discretion of whether to extend the registration process lies with the AIFF, that too only in a special case,” she stated.

Furthermore, Amit Singh from PricewaterhouseCoopers stressed on the evaluation and guidelines pertaining to the financial criteria and the management process of maintaining the Salary Cap.

“The constant focus of I-League is to help Clubs in fulfilling the Licensing criteria. Hence, we are committed to organise a series of such Workshops. There will be follow-ups of such interactions with Clubs in Goa and Kolkata to discuss the licensing further,” Mr. Dhar pronounced.

The format of the U-19 I-League also came in for discussion wherein Mr. Dhar, CEO, I-League, explained the format to all. “The League would be played first on a zonal basis (home and away) followed by the Final-leg in Jamshedpur,” Dhar informed.

The zonal groups will be played in Kolkata, Mumbai, Shillong, Goa, and another Group formed by all other Teams from the Rest of India (to be played on a Single-leg basis in Jamshedpur ahead of the Final-leg).

Following India’s successful bid to host the 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup, Mr. Das also urged the Clubs, the State Associations and all stakeholders to work together to succeed in the quest for creating a successful U-17 National Team for the coveted Event.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chatterjee highlighted the necessity of making a full-proof plan for Youth Development Programme. The Clubs also wholeheartedly applauded AIFF’s online application system for Coach Education which is to be implemented soon.

The Seminar came to an end with Mr. Khaleel, the Chairman of the I-League encouraging all the “maintain the same cordial atmosphere”.

“I see a happy family in front of me. For the betterment of Indian Football, let us all work together for its development.”

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Nikhil, Habamutlang Lyngdoh (both Shillong Lajong FC); Donbert Pyrbot, Arkibanshngain Lyngdoh, Wanshan Kharkang (all Rangdajied United FC); Sultan Ahmed, Bhaskar Basu (both Mohammedan Sporting Club); Santi Ranjan Dasgupta, Arunava Bhattacharya (both East Bengal Club); Debashish Dutta, Imran Khan (both Mohun Bagan AC); Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Avijit Ghosh (both United SC); Chirag Tanna, Amit Dharap, Dr. Ashok Kumar (all Pune FC); Prasenjit Basu, Souptikk Das (both Mumbai FC); Alberto Colaco, Abhijit Patil, Pundalik R. Dessai (all Dempo SC); Victor Fernandes, Dilraj Kalangutkar (both Sporting Clube de Goa); Raj Gomes, Rahul Carlos Rodrigues (both Salgaocar FC); Macario Rodrigues, Jovito Lopes (both Churchill Brothers SC); Mustafa Ghouse, Dhruv Nagarkatti (both Bengaluru FC)

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)