Sporting writes to FIFA against AIFF's plans of league merger

Unhappy with the proposed AIFF roadmap which wants the I-League to be merged with the cash-rich Indian Super League (ISL), Goan giants Sporting Clube de Goa has written to the world governing body FIFA seeking its intervention terming the move as "discriminatory".
As per proposed roadmap, the new league will have ISL as its top tier with no promotion and relegation while the traditional I-League clubs will be relegated to second division. This proposal has led to Clube and Salgaocar pulling out from the league.
Clube CEO Victor Fernandes in his letter to FIFA president Giovanni Infantino has written that by implementing the proposed roadmap, AIFF will be in breach of the world governing body's regulations on application of statutes (article 9) with regards to principles of promotion and relegation.

According to the regulation, "a club's entitlement to take part in a domestic league championship shall depend principally on sporting merit. A club shall qualify for a domestic league championship by remaining in a certain division or by being promoted or relegated to another at the end of the season," stated Fernandes.
Fernandes further stated that AIFF proposal is highly discriminatory against sporting merit and demotes I-League clubs by force, while ISL teams will be in the new top tier soley by virtue of having paid huge amount.
The club also said the AIFF ha defaulted in observance of Fifa statue 19 by allowing its marketing partners to have a stranglehold over the Indian football ecosystem.

After Salgaocar and Clube pulled out from the I-League, AIFF general secretary Kushal Das and I-League CEO Sunando Dhar came down to Goa and had a meeting along with the aggrieved clubs, including Dempo SC but failed to revert with a confirmed roadmap by July 31.
The Goan clubs said that AIFF's lack of response to their mails was telling and made it clear that the fate of Indian football is now being decided unilaterally.