Indian Pro Football Committee meeting today

The Asian Football Confederation constituted Ad-hoc committee for Indian Professional Football will hold its next meeting later today in New Delhi as AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam is currently in the capital on a two day trip.

The AFC president is in Delhi to update himself personally with the progress of Indian football and also speak about his candidature for FIFA president. The last time Mohammed bin Hammam was in Delhi was in September 2010 for similar talks and he also attended the 'Football Players Association of India' awards.

Mr. bin Hammam will chair the committee meeting as its chairman with AIFF president Praful Patel his deputy. Also attending will be new FIFA Executive Committee member Manilal Fernando from Sri Lanka as well as officials from the AIFF and members from I-League clubs, who are part of the committee.

The key topic of discussion will be the 2011/12 season of the I-League with the structure and size of the league plus if all clubs have fulfilled the criteria or not. The latest info is that HAL, Air India and ONGC continue not to comply with the AFC Club Licensing Criteria due to being Public Sector Unit clubs, which would mean that they would not be allowed to be part of next seasons I-League.

If a final decision would be taken today and what effects it would have on relegation and promotion is not known at this moment, but it could make the relegation race redundent and maybe up to three teams could get promoted from the second division, if the three above mentioned clubs lose their place in the I-League.