Guwahati, Nov. 22: After the I-League, it is time for the clubs of the region to lace up for the North East Premier League (NEPL), an AlFF initiative set for a tentative launch by March next year.

It is time for the aspiring clubs in the region to vie for the top honours in the state-level leagues and qualify for this cash-rich league. However, before winning the state league, the clubs will have to fulfil the I-League criterion of a commercial entity football club, which is also the basic criterion for the NEPL.

Elaborating on the proposed league, Calcutta-based Celebrity Management Group managing director Bhaskar Goswami said: “It is going to be nine-week affair involving eight teams — the champions of all the seven states of the region and one from among the runners-up — in 61 matches in the home and away format.”

“The runners-up team will qualify from a tournament to be held among the runners-up of all the seven states,” he said.

The Celebrity Management Group has been engaged by the AIFF to host the tournament on the lines of the Indian Premier League football and the European leagues.

Apart from a huge prize money of around Rs 1 crore, the participating clubs will be beneficiaries of the central revenue like television rights sales, sponsorship and so on.

He said the league was designed in such a way that it would bolster infrastructure development in the region as the governments would be prompted by their respective clubs to do so.

“As far as spectators are concerned, we will target them on the lines of the IPL. The league will be positioned in such a way that it will be sports-cum-entertainment with target offbeat spectators like the women and children,” he said.

AIFF vice-president Ankur Dutta introduced the league as one aimed at promoting club football like the European nations.