Indian Football: AIFF Executive Committee Ratifies Decisions on I-League Players

The AIFF Executive Committee in a meeting ratified the Action Group’s decisions on I-League players for the 2011/12 season.

The following decisions were taken by the Action Group on the issue of I-League Players including Foreign Players playing in Domestic Club Competitions. The following decisions ratified by the Executive Committee were taken for the 2011-2012 season.

1. 3+1 Foreign Players may be registered for all Domestic Club Competitions approved by the All India Football Federation including I-League but only three can play in any given match.

(a) I-League Players other than Foreign Players cannot play more than 40 Domestic Club Matches for this season. For the avoidance of doubt, Domestic Club Matches include I-League, Federation Cup, Durand Cup, IFA Shield, Local Leagues and other AIFF approved tournaments but does not include International Club tournaments (e.g. AFC Champions League or AFC Cup).

(b) Any I-League Player who plays for less than 45 minutes in any I-League match during the season shall be eligible to play the immediately following Local League Match if any, during the season.

These decisions means that the AIFF has finally pushed through the regulations needed to strengthen the I-League against especially the local leagues in Kolkata and Goa. The Indian Football Association (West Bengal) and the Goa Football Association had already said that they weren’t happy with any such move asking the AIFF to defer the implementation of the rule by a year.