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The All India Football Federation Senior Vice-President Subrata Dutta chaired AIFF League Committee meeting at AIFF Headquarters, Football House in New Delhi on Monday, February 19.
Besides Mr. Dutta, Deputy Chairman Lalnghinglova Hmar and all other members – B.K. Roka, Anil Kumar and Chirag Tanna – except Rochak Langer and Souter Vaz attended the meeting.
AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, I-League CEO Sunando Dhar, AIFF COO Kishore Taid and AIFF AGS Competitions Anil Kamat were also present.
SUPER CUP: The Committee decided on the schedule of the inaugural Super Cup. The qualifiers for the Super Cup are to be played between March 12 and March 31 while the final round will be held between March 31 to April 22, 2018.
The schedule will be finalised keeping in mind the AFC Cup commitments of Aizawl FC and Bengaluru FC (subject to their qualification to the Group Stages) and the venue is to be decided between Cuttack and Kochi after AIFF inspections.
The number of foreign players to be registered for the Super Cup was discussed and a final decision will be taken after a final discussion with all stakeholders.
The tournament will be played on a knock-out basis among 16 teams. The top six teams of the I-League and the Indian Super League would be granted a direct entry into the round of 16, while the bottom-placed teams from both the leagues would be playing a play-off to decide on the remaining 4 spots.
SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE: Meanwhile, the Second Division League will be divided into two phases – the preliminary and the final. In the preliminary stage, 18 teams will be divided into three groups where all matches would be played on a home and away basis.
The winners of each group plus the best second-placed team would qualify for the final round. However, if reserve teams of ISL clubs finish as winners or runners-up in any group, the position will be passed on onto the next non-ISL team.
The final round will be played at a central venue, the winners of which would be promoted to the next tier of Indian Football.
Each club can register maximum 3 foreign players for the Second Division League out of which one player has to be a national of an AFC Member Association.
AIFF YOUTH LEAGUES: It was also discussed and decided to initiate age-group leagues in the states under the State Associations. The top teams of each age-group would be able to participate in AIFF age-group leagues.
