East Bengal, Mohun Bagan likely to attend June 7 AFC meeting

In what would be a sharp U-turn from their previous stance, city football giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are likely to attend the June 7 meeting at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur involving all stakeholders to discuss the future roadmap of Indian football.

Both the clubs had joined hands in their tirade against Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), organisers of the Indian Super League (ISL), and threatened to disrupt the cash-rich league if their demands of franchise fee waiver and money from the central pool were not met.

The traditional football heavyweights of the country had also threatened to boycott the June 7 meeting, if All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel turned down their proposal.

But on Wednesday, after getting no reply from Patel regarding another round of deliberations, both the outfits looked to budge from their hard stance.

"As of now we are attending the June 7 meeting. Talks are on and we have got an invitation from the AFC as well regarding the same. I don't know whether another meeting with Patel will happen or not. So we may attend the meeting," East Bengal's assistant general secretary Shanti Ranjan Dasgupta told IANS.

Mohun Bagan, on the other hand, said a final call will be taken on Saturday whether to attend the meeting or not but they are likely to travel to Kuala Lumpur.

"We are likely to attend the meeting. The final decision will be taken on Saturday," Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra said.

The meeting, which will be chaired by the AFC general secretary, will be attended by the appropriate AFC directors. Invitations have also been extended to senior representatives from FIFA, as well as senior representatives from the Indian sports ministry.

--IANS

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