New Delhi: In a huge setback for the Indian Football Association (IFA) backed Premier League Soccer (PLS), All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Thursday advised Fifa to temporarily suspend the six PLS clubs from Transfer Matching System (TMS), which allows a club to recruit foreign players.
Under the Fifa rule, no club in the world can recruit a professional foreign footballer, whether registered or unregistered with another club, without going through the TMS system.
Once certified by the national association as a genuine organisation, Fifa provides each club a separate password to enter into the TMS system.
According to AIFF sources, the passwords, which were earlier provided to the six PLS clubs, were withdrawn after IFA failed to submit necessary documents related to the affiliation of these clubs with the Bengal body.
The AIFF, sources said, was directed by Fifa to send them all these documents.
The PLS clubs, who have already pledged big money for fielding famous names like Fabio Cannavaro, Hernan Crespo, Robbie Fowler, Jay-Jay Okocha and Juan Pablo Sorin, would now be in no position to finalise contracts with these players.
What has put the league in a spot of more bother is the change of names of clubs as per the wishes of the franchisee partners. Fifa is believed to have asked the AIFF to enquire how the names of registered clubs could be changed overnight.
“However, suspension of the PLS clubs from the TMS system would immediately be revoked if IFA submits documents substantiating affiliation of these clubs,” an AIFF official said.
“A few days back, we had written to IFA secretary Utpal Ganguli requesting him to send the documents but till date we have received nothing.”
Initially, all the six clubs, then named by the IFA as FC Kolkata, Barasat United, Howrah Wizards, Haldia Heroes, FC South Bengal and North Bengal United on January 6, were provided with international transfer passwords by the AIFF. They were even allowed to take part in the TMS seminar in New Delhi on January 12 on verbal assurance from IFA.
Crespo is the tournament’s costliest footballer having been bought by the Barasat franchise for a whopping sum of $840,000. Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro went for $830,000 to Siliguri, Robert Pires of France fetched $800,000 from Howrah, Nigerian Jay Jay Okocha got $550,000 from Durgapur and Robbie Fowler of England was sold to Kolkata for $530,000.
The winning team of the league, to be played from March 24 to May 6, will take home Rs 1.5 crore, out of the total prize amount of Rs 2 crore. The runners-up will get the remaining amount.
