ISL set to announce new football teams

New Delhi: Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the organisers of the Indian Super League (ISL), will on Monday announce the winning bids for new teams for the cash-rich football tournament.

The winning bidders will be enrolled and awarded the right to participate in the ISL from the 2017-18 football season.

An independent panel conducted the tender process, which commenced on May 12 through 'Invitation To Bid' (ITB) and evaluated the bids to maintain an open and transparent process.

The bids were invited from prospective team owners in respect of 10 cities -- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram.

As per the timelines declared in ITB and to maintain transparency in the process, the organisers closed the window for bid submission on May 25.

On Saturday, Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan alongwith several other I-League clubs met All India Football Federation (AIFF) chief Praful Patel at a posh hotel here.

The bone of contention for the Kolkata clubs was the I-League running simultaneously and also the fact that I-League will lose its sheen if both leagues were to run together.

East Bengal and Mohun Bagan also wanted a waiver of the Rs 15 crore franchise fee if they were to take part in the ISL.

"Patel has said that the I-League will also be shown on Star network and assured the I-league clubs of equal mileage. He has asked them to get back by next week on his proposal," an official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

It was also learnt that the I-League clubs seemed happy with the Kolkata clubs saying they will will discuss it with their other officials after getting back to Kolkata.

In the meeting, East Bengal were represented by senior officials Debabrata Sarkar and Shanti Ranjan Dasgupta, while the meeting also had Shillong Lajong owner Larsing Ming Sawyan and Churchil Brothers CEO Valanka Alemao. Bagan top official Srinjoy Bose also attended the meeting.

Apart from Patel, AIFF Vice-President Subrata Dutta, General Secretary Kushal Das and I-League CEO Sunando Dhar were present.