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New Delhi: A day after All India Football Federation (AIFF) appointed Wim Koevermans as the national coach, a section of the I-League clubs said they were against the idea of releasing players for national camps of longer durations.
Representatives of 10 I-League clubs, who met in Goa on Saturday to officially form the I-League Professional Football Clubs Association (IPFCA), said they would only release the footballers as per the Fifa guidelines.
Koevermans’ first assignment would be the Nehru Cup beginning August 23 in Delhi and AIFF has scheduled a three-week national camp for the six-team meet. There is likely to be another three-week camp before the AFC Challenge Cup in March next year.
“We don’t agree with the calendar drawn up by the AIFF,” said a club official. “The federation never consulted us before drawing up the schedule,” he added.
The Fifa guidelines say that clubs should release their players for national duty two weeks before an official competition. For all other international matches, a player can be released only four to five days before the tie.
The clubs also said they would continue to pursue their demand to make I-League a separate entity. They have also asked the AIFF and its marketing partners to share the television revenue earned from the I-League with the clubs.
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