Federation Cup to return in 2016?
The I-league executive committee meeting happened today evening and news is trickling out that Federation Cup will be revived in 2016. A PTI report quotes sources inside AIFF in a report confirming this development.
“It has informally decided that AIFF is likely re-start the Federation Cup from May, 2016 after the conclusion of the I-league. It has been decided that Federation Cup will be a month-long affair rather than being a 10-day thing which has been the norm. It will be held in home and away knock-out basis,” says an unidentified AIFF official in the PTI report.
The logic behind this quick reversal of ideas is attributed to the fact that I-league will only be a nine-team affair after Royal Wahindoh’s pull out.
“Look, if it is a 9-team I-League, then each team will play only 16 I-League matches. That is an insufficient number. Now to play the qualifying rounds of the AFC Champions League, a club needs to play a minimum of 18 matches in a year,” the source said.
“So Federation Cup will be an 8-team affair. So at least 8 teams will get a chance to play 18 matches. The 9th team of I-League in any case will be relegated. The decision to have a one-month Federation Cup was taken on AIFF Academy Director Scott Odonell’s recommendation. It was seconded by senior vice-president Subrata Dutta,” said the official to PTI.
Read the PTI report here.