AIFF ExCo ratifies Vision India relaunch

The Asian Football Confederation's Vision Asia project is set for a new start in India after the AIFF Executive Committee ratified the re-launch of the Vision India development programme for the districts/cities of Mumbai, Pune and Chandigarh under a new format.

In a letter dated May 26 to the AFC, the AIFF also informs that it will relaunch the AFC-sanctioned development program in Aizawl (Mizoram) and Cochin (Kerala) next.

Earlier, in April 2010, the AIFF had nominated the five cities to the AFC to restart its Vision Asia programme focusing on projects at the district or city level instead of the state level as was under the previous practice which had failed in Delhi, Kerala and Tamil Nadu with only Manipur being the exception.

This has been the case because India has large states and implementing the AFC Vision Asia programme at the state level has been difficult to impossible. The AIFF now hopes that the format change to the smaller district/city focus will resolve the problem and yield results from the program.

Before the relaunch is a go, the AFC Vision Asia Committee will have to deliberate and endorse the AIFF's decision in its meeting on June 18 before the matter has to be finally approved by the AFC Executive Committee in a meeting scheduled on July 29.

The relaunch is then expected to start with a pre-assessment visit probably in mid-year followed by an assessment visit in the last quarter of the year.

Vision Asia is a continental development programme of the Asian Football Confederation focusing on all important elements of football including competition, refereeing, marketing and media which has been launched in selected countries across the continent.

AFC/AIFF right to backtrack on Club Licensing?

In the end all talk about a professional I-League from next season onwards came to nothing, then once more as has been usual for matters involving the I-League or the old National Football League in the past clear cut decisions in the interest of the league and the game have not been taken.

It seems that history is repeating itself again and again which all started from the first season of the National Football League in late 1996. General rules and regulation are created for all clubs to follow like the AFC Club Licensing criteria, but they are then broken by the federation itself. So who actually fears that mismanagement or not being a commercial entity would pose to be a problem this season.

Officials from two of the three 'Public Sector Undertaking' clubs - Air India, ONGC and HAL - said after the news came out on Wednesday that they are out of the I-League. They believe that AIFF president Praful Patel will come in their defence and ensure that they will be playing I-League next season. Knowing this fact it sounds like the officials knew that they would not have to worry and ensure that their PSU teams are detached from the mother company and made into own commercial entities.

The question remains will things then change in 12 months time? Or will the same questions be asked again and nothing happens once more. This is something for the Asian Football Confederation and the All India Football Federation to answer.

One thing is clear whatever the PSU's have done over the years for Indian football is undoubted, but if they want to be part of a professional set-up then things need to change and that quickly, otherwise there cannot be a place for them in professional Indian club football. We can't continue to live in the past and let gradual change happen, we need a faster pace of development at all levels of Indian football.

I-League: 14 team league, PSU sides to stay!

I had kept a question mark last night behind my article 'PSU sides out of I-League?' because as per my information it hadn't been fully decided if the three 'Public Sector Undertaking' clubs - Air India, ONGC and HAL, would be allowed to stay in the I-league or would be thrown out, while the Indian media reported that a final decision had been taken and the clubs had been thrown out.

This was clarified by the AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam at a press conference in New Delhi today, where he said, "The committee has decided to accept all the 14 teams in the next edition of the Indian Professional League. However, there are four teams (HAL, ONGC, Air India, Indian Arrows) who have just not met one criteria for commercial entity. The eligibility for these four teams has been extended by one year."

This did come as a surprise as many where of the expectations that the AFC would maintain their stand of wanting a real professional I-League in the 2011/12 season. But that under these circumstances will not be the case as the league remains semi-professional even terming it professional.

The Indian Professional Football Ad-hoc committee discussed and decided following key points: composition of the I-League, time-line to set up the I-League 2011-2012 season, the registration of I-League clubs and the I-League organisation.

Following the last meeting of the committee last September a thorough and wide-ranging inspection of all I-League clubs was conducted in October/November 2010 by an AFC Professional Football Project Special Mission Team, and the members, after discussing the report presented to them, approved the composition of the I-League first division with 10 clubs that have met the criteria and decided to give a waiver to four clubs, which have failed to meet the requirements.

The 10 clubs, which complied with the I-League criteria, are: 1. Mohun Bagan AC (Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata), 2. East Bengal Club (Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata), 3. Chirag United SC (Barasat Stadium, Kolkata - to improve the stadium facilities by July 2011), 4. Viva Kerala (Jawahar Stadium, Kannur - to improve the stadium facilities by July 2011), 5. Mumbai FC (Cooperage Ground, Mumbai - to improve the stadium facilities by July 2011), 6. JCT FC (Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana), 7. Pune FC (Balewadi Stadium, Pune), 8. Churchill Brothers SC (Nehru Stadium, Margao), 9. Dempo SC (Nehru Stadium, Margao), 10. Salgaocar SC (Nehru Stadium, Margao).

The members also recommended that three clubs - ONGC (Cooperage Ground, Mumbai), Air India (Cooperage Ground, Mumbai) and HAL (Bangalore Football Stadium) – who failed to meet the 'commercial entity’ criteria, and also Indian Arrows (Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi) be given a grace period of one season in the first division on the condition that if any one of them wins the I-League or finishes second or third, they will not be eligible to represent India in the AFC Champions League.

It was further suggested that the top two second division teams would be eligible for promotion to the first division only if they satisfied the professional league criteria. In case they fail to meet the criteria then there would be no relegation of any club from the first division, which would continue with the same 14 teams.

The members agreed to a proposal that the deadline for the clubs to improve their stadiums would be July 2011, following which another inspection of the clubs would be undertaken between July to September 2011. Thereafter, the I-League's 2011/12 season would kick off on September 2011.

The committee proposed that the I-League regulations should be revised to ban the registration and participation of I-League clubs in other leagues other than the I-League and that I-League club players should not be allowed to register with any other club other than I-League clubs. This would mean no I-League sides in the Calcutta Premier Division or Goa Professional League.

With all the matches at present being organised by the local Football Association (state or district), the committee proposed that the clubs should start implementing the home match operations - including and not limited to ticket sales, match operations and security. This would mean that all the clubs would have to create new jobs and positions within their system to run such match day operations.

PSU sides out of I-League?

The meeting was held yesterday and it was clear from the onset that when the Asian Football Confederation constituted Indian Professional Football Ad-hoc committee would meet again in New Delhi the key issue regarding the I-League would be the future of the three 'Public Sector Undertaking' clubs - Air India, ONGC and HAL. With the clubs in their current status the I-League cannot be termed a professional league.

All the participating clubs in the 2010/11 season of the I-League excluding the Indian Arrows (India Under-20 national team) had been given the deadline of December 31, 2010 to fulfil the AFC Club Licensing criteria or face the consequences. 10 of the clubs had fulfilled the criteria, while the three PSU sides continued to be unable to turn their football teams into commercial entities.

And that being a pre-requisite for any club to participate at the professional national level in Indian football, meaning the three sides would not be even allowed to participate in next years 2nd Division I-League or fulfil the criteria and then participate in the 2nd Division.

While the officials of the three clubs continue to speak about the contribution of PSU's to Indian football and their problems to turn their football teams into commercial entities, another PSU side in BEML (EM) from Bangalore has been able to transform their football team into a commercial entity and was a late entry into the 2nd Division this season.

Professionalism has to come into Indian club football and the old habit of asking for more time to get things done again and again cannot continue for ages. Then the vicious cycle would continue and the league would remain what it said has now been for 15 years, a league which at times is rather amateur and else semi-professional.

Still a final decision has not been formally taken with some AIFF officials asking their AFC counterparts to be lenient and give a little more time to the PSU's to try and set their house in order. If the AFC will agree and if the three clubs will utilise the time to finally become commercial entities will have to be seen.

One thing is clear, the 2011/12 I-League will be a 14 team affair and both the AFC and AIFF want to ensure it is finally a fully professional league.

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.

AFC Club Licencing deadline, Clubs hand in papers

The AFC Club Licencing deadline for I-League clubs ended yesterday on December 31, 2010 with the remaining eight clubs handing in documents which would allow them to stay in the I-League in the 2011/12 season, but some could face the axe.

When the results were released in November 2010 of the assessment of Indian clubs it was a slap in the face of Indian club football. All clubs failed the tough AFC Club Licensing criteria; while only six clubs - Chirag United SC, Mumbai FC, Pune FC, Churchill Brothers SC, Dempo SC and JCT - could fulfill the watered down I-League criteria. The eight other teams - East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan AC, Salgaocar SC, Viva Kerala, Air India, ONGC, HAL, AIFF XI - had until yesterday to provide the AIFF with documents to prove that they have fulfilled the criteria.

The Kolkata giants East Bengal Club and Mohun Bagan AC have been able to sort out their ownership issue. The United Breweries Group owns 50% of both the clubs through different companies, but had their chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya as director of both clubs. This was changed with Dr. Mallya resigning as Director of United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt. Ltd. and his taking Sidhartha V. Mallya being given a place on the Board of Directors.

Two other clubs in Salgaocar SC and Viva Kerala had not met the criteria due to not submitting in audited profit and loss statements, have both now done so; while the AIFF XI, India's Under-20 national team, is a matter of concern as they do not fulfill a number of criteria; but the AIFF think that this developmental team should be seen as a special case and not judged by standard guidelines.

The three public sector unit clubs in Air India, ONGC and HAL could face the axe as their football teams still aren't separate private entities. Air India and HAL have applied for privatization, but ONGC has asked for an extension of the deadline to meet the criteria.

The AFC Special Mission Team is set to return to India in February 2011 after reviewing all the updated documents and will announce which of the current 14 teams would be allowed to play the I-League in the 2011/12 season.

AFC to remain tough on Club Licencing

The AFC Ad-hoc Committee for Indian Professional Football held its third meeting at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today to take stock and discuss where Indian football stands in its professionalisation of club football. The meeting was chaired by its chairman AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam with AIFF President Praful Patel, AFC Vice-President Manilal Fernando and FIFA's Director of Member Associations Thierry Regenass all attending besides other members.

AFC president bin Hamman said, "India has made good progress under the leadership of Mr. Patel and with the support of AIFF Executive Committee and clubs, I hope they will be a force to reckon with in the future."

Talking about the failure of a majority of Indian clubs to meet the AFC Club Licencing criteria of participation in the I-League, bin Hammam said, "The clubs need to understand what this criteria means and how it will serve them in the long run."

"I can't see the development of football in Asia without the active participation of India. I hope everyone will do their part in this endeavour and I believe that there is a way forward but we need to have a strong will to do it."

An AFC Special Mission Team visited India a few weeks ago and went to all 14 I-League clubs to assess their current status as per the AFC Club Licencing Criteria. The SMT submitted its report on the inspection visit and revealed issues related to competition, media, infrastructure, marketing, technical, legal, finance and audit in Indian football.

The results of the assessment of Indian clubs can be termed as a slap in the face of Indian club football. All clubs failed the tough I-League Club Licensing criteria, forget the even tougher AFC Club Licensing criteria; while only six clubs - Chirag United SC, Mumbai FC, Pune FC, Churchill Brothers SC, Dempo SC and JCT - could fulfill the watered down I-League criteria.


The AFC Ad-hoc Committee for Indian Professional Football approved the timeline for Indian clubs to fulfil the I-League criteria in the coming months. The clubs have been given a deadline of December 31, 2010, to fulfill the criteria and submit all the required documents to the AFC. An AFC SMT assessment will take place in January-February 2011 and a report will be submitted to the AFC Ad-hoc Committee for Indian Professional Football in its fourth meeting in March/April 2011. There a final decision on participants of the I-League 2011/12 will be taken.

Meanwhile FIFA's Director of Member Associations Thierry Regenass informed that the work on artificial turfs in Mumbai, Shillong, Imphal and Bangalore have either started or would start soon under FIFA's 'Win in India with India' project. He said locations for two turfs in Goa and one each in Kolkata and Pune have also been identified. He also revealed that apart from the eight artificial turfs, FIFA had also approved US$ 2.5 million, which will be used for football infrastructure development projects across India to strengthen football further.

Mohun Bagan, East Bengal fail AFC Club Licencing

A six member expert team from the Asian Football Confederation visited the 14 I-League clubs over the last week to access their status and to see if they comply with the AFC Club Licencing criteria set out of by the AFC and AIFF to fulfill status of a professional football team in India. If a club does comply with the criteria by December 31, then they would be thrown out of the league and sadly eight of the 14 clubs failed the screening, amongst them Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.

This was disclosed by the visiting AFC delegation at Football House in New Delhi yesterday with all the 14 clubs present. The AFC Delegation comprising of Tokuaki Suzuki (Director of Competition), Maskat Klychamamedov (Development Manager, AFC Professional Football Project Manager), Steve Kim Tae Hyung (Media and Communication Manager), Bryan Kuan Wee Hoong (Director, Audit), Khan Hung Meng (Development Officer, Coach Education Department) and Mahajan Vasudevan Nair (Sports Lawyer) along with I-League CEO Sunando Dhar and Sujesh Rajan (I-League, Senior Manager) had visited the clubs. Visited the club, looked at the club structure, general organisation, training facilities and stadium.

Only six clubs in defending champions Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers SC, Pune FC, Chirag United SC, JCT and Mumbai FC have fulfilled the criteria so far. The other eight failed due to different reasons. Mohun Bagan and East Bengal failed due to the fact that they have the same 50% owners, the United Breweries Group; the PSU (Public Sector Units) clubs in Air India, ONGC and HAL due to their status; while Salgaocar SC and Viva Kerala due to the lack of their audit papers; and the AIFF XI (India Under-20) due to the fact of missing a number of factors.

The clubs have until December 31, 2010 to fulfill the criteria or otherwise they will not be allowed to take part in the 2011/12 I-League season. But the question remains if all will be able to do so. Salgaocar and Viva Kerala have the easiest of tasks. Get their numbers and accounts checked and hand in the papers with profit or loss. But for the other six the problems could be more fundamental.

An exception for the AIFF XI is likely as the team is linked to the overall development program of the national federation. One of the reasons which could be given by the AIFF is the fact that the federation has to look after youth development as not enough is done by all the clubs. If that had been the case, then all this would not have been needed.

The PSUs are at a cross road. Will the AFC and AIFF find a backdoor for them to stay in the I-League or will the rules for all apply. If second is the case, then it could be quite tough for them to stay in the league, actually it looks very unlikely.

For Mohun Bagan and East Bengal a fundamental issue has come up which surprisingly no one seems to have thought about. No two clubs anywhere in the world can be owned by the same entity, even if it is through different arms of a company or corporation. In the case of the Kolkata giants Vijay Mallya happens to be a director at both clubs; while Mohun Bagan is sponsored by McDowell's, rivals East Bengal wear Kingfisher on their jersey's. If the UB Group have to relinquish the ownership of one of the two Maidan giants will have to be seen. If this becomes part of the criteria, then things will surely get much more difficult then who does the UB Group drp of the two clubs and who would be willing to take over the UB group stake in that club.

A major concern for the visiting AFC team are the match venues. None of the stadium got an A-class certification. The closest to certification is the Stadium at the Balewadi sports complex in Pune, while the Saltlake Stadium has been provisionally certified due to its artificial turf but the stands and other facilities are a major worry.

The first step is taken, the clubs informed about what they have and what needs to be done. The AFC is set to send a team again in January 2011 to look at the development in three month's time.

Kerala FA amends statutes

The Kerala Football Association held a special Annual General Meeting yesterday at the Mas Hotel Auditorium in Kochi to discuss and decide on the recommendations of the AFC's Vision Asia team to change their statutes to professionalise the state FA.

The Kerala FA adopted the new statutes which is a key step towards professionalising the administration of football in the south Indian state. One of the elements is to appoint a paid General Secretary to organise and run football in the state. Kerala is now the second state after Goa to adopt the new statutes.

But not all issues are sorted regarding the amendments. Therefore the Kerala FA general body has authorised the KFA president K.M.I. Mathur to hold talks with the All India Football Federation about the voting rights and size of the general body plus the time frame of implementation.

Currently the KFA general body has seven members from each of the 14 districts plus the president, secretary and treasurer. This bring the number to 101 members in total. This number will come down as under the new system each district will only send in three member to the general body, a total of only 42 members. The new executive committee will be made-up of 21 member instead of a number of close to 40 currently.

By accepting the amendments the Kerala FA is close to completing Phase 1 of the Vision Asia programme. The first phase covers governance of the football association, including its statutes, governing bodies, general secretariat, membership, standing committees, judicial bodies and administration.

Manipur State League - An Asian success Story!

The fifth edition of the Manipur State League is set to kick-off on Wednesday with Youth Welfare Club taking on new entrants All Irengband Football Association at the Mapal Kangjeibung ground in Imphal. The MSL has been organised since 2006 by the All Manipur Football Association under the Vision India program with guidance from the AFC and the AIFF.

And Manipur has been the only real success story of the Vision Asia program in India so far, actually it is said to be one of the best across the Asian continent. Manipur has the talent, but not the financial resources to compete against the best in India, still the small North-eastern state has tried to fulfil the criteria set down by the AFC under the program. Be it by forming a state league, in youth development, women's football, coaches education, referees and even with infrastructure.

While projects in Delhi and Tamil Nadu had to be closed down due to the administration not being able to push through necessary changes and take steps to develop the game in their states, Manipur has been doing its bit over the last four years. Now Vision India projects in Goa and Kerala will hopefully also bring positive results for Indian football.

Coming back to the Manipur State League. The league is a 12 team affair which is played on a home-and-away format over a period of six to eight months. The duration of the league depends on factors like weather and political stability in the state. NISA from Thangmeiband are the defending champions, they have actually won the league in the last three years; while the first edition had been won by Tiddim Road Athletic Union. The champions get a chance to represent Manipur in the Federation Cup qualifiers, while the last two teams are relegated each year and two new teams are inducted in their place. This year Youth Development Organisation and All Irengband Football Association are the new boys in the MSL.

The 12 participating teams are Youth Welfare Club, Thambalkhong; Tiddim Road Athletic Union; Eastern Sporting Union, Wangkhei; Manipur Police SC; United Sporting Association, Khurai; Anouba Imagi Mangal; Southern Sporting Union, Singjamei; North Imphal Sporting Association, Thangmeiband; North Eastern Re-Organising and Cultural Association, Laipham Khunou; Tiddim Road Unique Gamy Players’ Union, Nambol; Youth Development Organisation, Kwakeithel Konjeng Leikai; and All Irengband Football Association, Kakching.

Another interesting season is ahead of the Manipuri clubs. And some clubs have voiced their ambitions to copy what Shillong Lajong FC has been able to do on the national stage, but before being able to get to that level the clubs will have to try and be the best in their state. Champions NISA with the experience in the Federation Cup and I-League Division 2 surely has a headway ahead of the other clubs, who all have to work hard to put their budgets together.

The sky is the limit and why not have a team from Manipur in the I-League. Their players are already regulars across all premier division clubs, across local leagues and even in the national teams.

Vision Asia - Delhi, Tamil Nadu scrapped

The Asian Football Confederation at a meeting of the Vision Asia Committee at the AFC Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday decided about the future of the Vision Asia programme across the continent. The AFC decided to launch 16 new projects in five countries while dropping non-performing projects in several countries sadly amongst them are Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam said Vision Asia could not operate in isolation and needed proactive support from the stakeholders. "Vision Asia cannot work independently and needs to have commitments from MAs and city or provincial FAs for its success. If the MAs are not willing to change their statutes and meet the demands of modern football, we have no option but to drop these projects."


Delhi

For Delhi it was a long time coming, but now it is official that Vision Delhi is at least for the moment history. For the AFC is doesn't mean much except closing down a chapter of a continent wide development program, while for Delhi football it means embarrassment and losing the chance to get help in developing football in the capital.

The Delhi Soccer Association blamed it mainly on the fact that the association wasn't able to amend its constitution to bring it in line with the AFC guidelines, but the real fact is the inaction of the association wanting to change for good.


Tamil Nadu

The southern Indian state being part of the programme surprised many initially, but it was clear from the onset that former Tamil Nadu FA president and AIFF Executive Committee member C.R. Viswanathan was able to get the programme for his home state. But the TNFA wasn't able to use the chance that it was given and it was now simply scrapped.


Vision India

The Vision Asia programme was originally launched with the Asian continent split into six zones with China and India being own zones due to their sheer size. Vision India was launched in 2004 with the launch states being Delhi and Manipur. While Manipur calmly and quietly has been doing its work to fulfil its part to be one of the best Vision Asia projects, Delhi's never really got of the ground.

While Delhi's failure has often been highlighted, the success in Manipur hasn't made big headline news. The small Northeastern state has now successfully been running a 12 team state league on a home-&-away format even in difficult political conditions in the state. The All Manipur FA runs leagues in cities & districts, for juniors and women.

A couple of years ago Kerala and Tamil Nadu were added to the programme, while Goa was added last year and West Bengal is the next state waiting to join the programme.