AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran suggests restructuring of I-League to ensure survival of smaller clubs

All India Football Federation AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran personally feels that the ILeague needs restructuring so that smaller clubs can survive by cutting down their players travel and accommodation costILeague is a professional menrsquos football tournament Its inaugural edition was held in 2007 with the aim of popularising the sport of football in the countryPrabhakaran said he will propose a dialogue between the top brass and other stakeholders regarding the restructuringAcoording to him if the money spent on logistics is reduced clubs with low budgets will survive and that will also help in the ILeague having more teams across the countryILeague is increasingly reaching to new geography and we need to capture new clubs besides the old ones The clubs should not put 80 per cent of their money to logistics Currently its only 20 per cent which is going to football the remaining is going for logistics It cant be like this Prabhakaran told PTIWe have to see how we can reduce the cost of operation of clubs The idea is not to reduce the budget but that budget should not be used as cost for flying and for hotel It could be used for the ground to create a better productHe said the AIFF should be careful not to take steps that would increase the cost of running clubs and instead work to reduce their burdenThe clubs are putting a lot of money in the system to manage a club is not easy They are paying the players and their cost is only increasing We should not do any such things that cost of running clubs is increasing but the return is drying up If that happens they will be forced to move out of the systemOn the other hand if we make it easier for the clubs to run themselves by reducing cost their number will be increased We have to do things which leads to the clubs spending less for things not related to footballPrabhakaran however said no formal discussion has started on a possible restructuring of the ILeague and it was his personal thought at this stageThis is not official yet I can put this up to the league committee at the right time But we should have a meeting with the clubs first We will leave it to clubs league committee and executive committee We will have open discussionWe are spending Rs 15 to 18 crore in ILeague So we have to ask Is this the right format Is this the right value the clubs the players and other stakeholders are gettingIf ILeague grows in value it will be easier for us to get broadcasters Today we have to beg It will motivate more clubs to participate in ILeagueAIFFs spending on Super Cup in Kerala in April went down the drainPrabhakaran also made a candid assessment of the Super Cup held in Kerala in April which saw lukewarm response from the local crowdThe competition committee also deliberated on this We got reports from the ground that the teams were not interested in playing some of the games Some of the teams came with 13 players It was like they clubs have to be there so they were thereCup competition has a value We need to bring that old value in the Cup competition Prabhakaran said referring to the earlier Federation Cup competitionHe said the AIFF spent Rs 35 crore to conduct the Super Cup and wondered if the tournament was worth the moneyPersonally this is not the way we should do particularly as we are working in a crunch situation with small budget Putting this much of money for a competition which has no fans and where competitiveness is missing So we have to seriously look whether we are utilising this money for the better or notWe have to discuss that internally as well as with our partners We can restructure this tournament which will really be value to football fans and to the participating teams Otherwise this money we have put it to drainPrabhakaran stated that the AIFF will announce the schedule of ILeague and Indian Womens League in July so that the clubs can plan their activities in advanceWe want to announce ILeague schedule by July All the stakeholders will know the schedule the teams can go to market themselves and we can get the right broadcaster We have the league committee meeting this week and we will discuss a few thingsIWL is a focus competition for us and this coming season we have already eight teams and with their concurrence want to have the schedule We will have a meeting in JulyAsked about the recent announcement of players in the IWL having a minimum salary Prabhakaran said Ten players in a team should have a minimum salary of Rs 32 lakh that is the decision of the executive committee Whether it minimum salary is for existing or new players we will leave it to the clubsHe also revealed that AIFF will announce something big and exceptional by July which can change womens football in the countryWith PTI inputsAlso Read Kerala Blasters temporarily shut down womens football team after mens team fined for ISL walkout