Kolkata: Chennai City FC and Chandigarh-based Minerva Academy FC were on Sunday handed direct entries into the I-League, sources at the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) bid evaluation committee meeting said.<\/p>\n
Minerva Academy had finished behind Dempo in the I-League second division in 2016. They have since then renamed themselves as Minerva Punjab FC.<\/p>\n
Chennai City FC, on the other hand, play in the local league in Chennai. AIFF has also incorporated Goa’s Churchill Brothers to play in the I-League, making it a 10-team contest.<\/p>\n
The 2016-17 edition of the tournament is scheduled to start in January next year.<\/p>\n
Chennai City FC, it was learnt, had submitted a bid for direct entry in the league but failed to meet the financial criteria which needed a performance bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore.<\/p>\n
But they were given the nod after AIFF watered down the bank guarantee to a mere Rs 1 crore.<\/p>\n
Popular Goan club trio of Salgaocar, Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo SC recently pulled out of the I-League citing AIFF’s lack of vision.<\/p>\n
The withdrawls left AIFF with barely seven teams in the I-League top division, which included the relegated Aizawl FC and Churchill, who are being recalled after a two-year hiatus.<\/p>\n
Churchill were denied permission to play in the top division for failing to follow strict Asian Football Confederation (AFC) guidelines.<\/p>\n
They were part of the I-League till 2014 but were dumped for failing to fulfil the mandatory club licensing criteria.<\/p>\n
Since then, Churchill filed four petitions in the Delhi High Court and earned a relief last week when the court asked AIFF to consider their application.<\/p>\n
Goa’s FC Bardez and Neroca FC from the North East region of the country also submitted their bids but failed to make the cut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kolkata: Chennai City FC and Chandigarh-based Minerva Academy FC were on Sunday handed direct entries into the I-League, sources at the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) bid evaluation committee meeting said.<\/p>\n
Minerva Academy had finished behind Dempo in the I-League second division in 2016. They have since then renamed themselves as Minerva Punjab FC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[19372,12975,345,466,16270],"class_list":["post-30552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world-football-news","tag-all-india-football-federations","tag-football-news","tag-i-league","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-minerva-academy"],"yoast_head":"\n