East Bengal, Mohun Bagan to meet AIFF chief over ISL issue

City giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan along with Indian Football Association (IFA) Secretary Utpal Ganguli will meet All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel on Saturday to discuss their participation in the Indian Super League (ISL).

Both outfits picked up ISL bid documents, but did not submit them in protest against the franchise fee of Rs 15 crore being asked from them.

The pair have also demanded share from the central revenue pool and want to play their home matches in Kolkata.

"Both the clubs and we (IFA) will be meeting the president of AIFF on Saturday. There will be only the three of us," Ganguli, who heads the state's top football body, told IANS.

There was a first round of meeting on May 7 where Patel had said that the I-League will remain the "official" league of the country but later changed from his stance, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan officials had claimed.

The two clubs even threatened to boycott the all stakeholders' meeting hosted by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week only to make a U-turn and attend the roundtable conference on Wednesday.

From what transpired in the AIFF executive meeting held in Mumbai on Thursday, ISL and I-League could be played simultaneously, a move both clubs had strongly refused stating there will be no takers for I-League then.

"Praful Patel got a call from Mr. Ganguli this morning and he was requested to meet the two clubs once to address the issue. Mr. Patel wanted to meet them as early as tomorrow (Friday) but it was not feasible. So Saturday has been fixed," an AIFF official said.

--IANS

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