New Delhi: FIFA has urged the agitating I-League clubs to work closely with the national federation, acknowledging that "complex issues" facing the sport here require a "prudent and measured approach". Six I-League clubs, led by former I-League champions Minerva Punjab, had questioned the All India Football Federation's move to award the top league status to the privately-run Indian Super League (ISL).

Backing AIFF president Praful Patel's short-term roadmap for Indian football, FIFA wrote in a letter to Minerva Punjab FC, also marked to AIFF and the Asian Football Confederation, "The review performed in 2018 did indeed identify a number of complex issues which require a prudent and measured approach, encompassing the positions of all relevant stakeholders, in order to be appropriately addressed." Reacting to the FIFA letter, Minerva owner Ranjit Bajaj said if the world body does not intervene in the situation, the I-League clubs will to appraoch the Indian courts as well as the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Switzerland. "... the I-League clubs will have to approach the Indian courts for any legal recourse available to us and shall also consider moving to the CAS for relief," he wrote. "I am surprised to find FIFA turning a blind eye to the clear and obvious violation of FIFA statutes and principles by the AIFF which would not be acceptable anywhere in the world," Bajaj wrote to FIFA in reply.