AFC inspection leaves AI, ONGC worried

When the six-member team of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) conducts an inspection at the offices of the three city-based I-League clubs on Monday, they will be looking to find answers to some very tricky situations.

The team, led by AFC’s director of competitions Tokuaki Suzuki, will meet the officials of Air India, ONGC and Mumbai FC. The inspection is in accordance with the Confederation’s effort to professionalise the club football set-up in the country and will visit all the I-League clubs in the country before submitting a report at a workshop in New Delhi on November 2.

While Mumbai FC looks set to get the clearance in terms of meeting the criteria set by AFC, the concern will be about Air India and ONGC.

The AFC club licensing criteria demand that a club should have a licensed coach, their own ground or at least on lease, and should have a junior programme. One of the most important norms is that it should be a commercial entity. This was the reason why the now-disbanded Mahindra United changed itself from Mahindra & Mahindra in 2000.

However, both Air India and ONGC fail to meet this norm.
I-League CEO Sunando Dhar has made it clear that the teams who fail to meet the December 31 deadline to fulfil the AFC guidelines will not be allowed to compete next season.

But will any action be taken against these two sides? It is doubtful, considering that ONGC is the title sponsor of the I-League, while Air India is likely to get the backing of AIFF president and civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

ONGC’s football and games in-charge Vivek Bhowmick hopes for some leniency. “We fulfil most of the other criteria and our coach is one of the few who possesses the AFC ‘A’ license. For a Public Sector Undertaking, it is difficult (to become commercial entity) and the process takes time. I hope our hard work in promoting football is noticed. We will request them to give us grace period to become a commercial entity,” Bhowmick said.

Sources in AIFF say it is unlikely that any stringent action will be taken against them. “The clubs will be given suggestions by AFC during the November 2 workshop. We all know for a fact that these two teams will not be able to register as a commercial entity by December 31. But no action is likely to be taken against them,” said the source.