Federation Cup set to return, AIFF inducts five new clubs into I-League

Carrying the status of Indias premier cup competition the Federation Cup football tournament will return after a gap of six years from the 202324 season the sports apex body said on MondayThe All India Football Federation AIFF has also decided to induct five new teams into the ILeague having accommodated all five bidders into the ILeague with the vision of expanding the competition to a stronger leagueBesides Satyanarayan M the secretary of Karnataka State Football Association KFSA has been appointed as the new deputy secretary general of the AIFFThese decisions were taken during the federations executive committee meetingThe executive committee in line with AIFFs Vision 2047 plan felt it would be prudent to revive a legacy competition like the Federation CupTo that extent it decided that the Federation Cup will be the premier cup competition in India from the 202324 season onwards the AIFF said in a press releaseAs far as the ILeague is concerned five entities had placed their respective bids for corporate entries into the league YMS Finance Pvt Ltd Varanasi UP Namdhari Seeds Pvt Ltd Bhaini Sahib Village Punjab Nimida United Sports Development Pvt Ltd Bengaluru Karnataka Concatenate Advest Advisory Pvt Ltd Delhi and Bunkerhill Pvt Ltd Ambala HaryanaThe top decisionmaking committee decided to accommodate all five bidders into the ILeagueAlso Read AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran suggests restructuring of ILeague to ensure survival of smaller clubsAIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said This executive committee meeting is being held on a day when the Indian senior mens national team is preparing to battle it out against Kuwait in the final of the SAFF Championship tomorrowDespite two teams from outside the SAFF region who are regarded as considerably stronger sides playing in the current SAFF Championship India made the final and are going for the ninth titleThis is ample testimony of Indias growing footballing strength Having reached the FIFA ranking of 100 after winning backtoback tournaments in Imphal and Bhubaneswar it is proved that Indian football is moving in the right directionHe further stated The biggest strength of this executive committee is their complete faith in running the game in the country in the most democratic mannerPerhaps never before has the federation been run with so much inner democracy where everybody has the right to air their views and opinionsIndia will take on Kuwait in the SAFF Championship final in Bengaluru on TuesdayAIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran said We had open discussions on Indian football agendas especially the decision to inculcate five new clubs into the ILeague which is historicThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever