Ozone FC’s bid of gaining a direct entry into this season’s I-League ended on a disappointing note with the All India Football Federation (AIFF), on Wednesday, announcing Kerala’s Gokulam FC as the only team to be inducted into the league through a tender process.
“From the bids submitted, the Bid Evaluation Committee has decided to award Sree Gokulam Group the right to field their team in Hero I-League season 2017-18 onwards,” a release form the AIFF stated.
Earlier in August, the AIFF had rejected bids from Gokulam FC (Kerala), Ozone Group (Bengaluru) and Crown Sports (Rajasthan) as they failed to meet the requirements as stated in the Request for Proposal (RFP). This prompted the federation to re-float the tender.
Though Ozone FC, along with Gokulam, once again went ahead with their bid, they failed to meet the financial criteria stated in the RFP. “They stumbled at the first hurdle,” Sunandho Dhar, Cheif Executive Officer, I-League told DH.
“We had specified a certain financial criteria for the teams. Since financial sustainability is the most important criterion, we didn’t look beyond that if a team failed on the financial front,” he added.
As per the financial criteria, a club has to provide a bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore.
Meanwhile, Ozone’s CEO Mohamed Rafik said that the club was disappointed to be turned down for the second time. “We are disappointed. We were really hopeful of getting into the I-League. Having said that, we will show our quality when we play in the I-League II and show our performance in that platform,” he said
Kerala back in the fold
Gokulam’s entry into the I-League fold means the State would see top-division football action after a gap of four years. Viva Kerala was the last team from Kerala to play in the I-League during the 2011-12 season.
With Gokulam, a Malappuram-based club, being inducted into the I-League fold, the top-division will see 10 teams vying for glory when the season kicks-off in November. They will play their home games in Calicut.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks