New Delhi: The Asian Football Federation (AFC), on Wednesday, agreed to All India Football Federation (AIFF)'s request to have two national leagues in India on a temporary basis.

"The federation had requested the AFC to recognise the Indian Super League (ISL) and allow its champions to play the AFC Cup. It has been accepted by AFC. The I-League champions will now play the AFC Champions League," a federation official said.

While welcoming the AFC move, a senior AIFF official said the two leagues to be played simultaneously from November could, however, pose huge problems in selecting the venues.

"In at least three centres, there could be a tussle between the ISL franchises and I-League clubs over the venues, mainly in Calcutta, Pune and Chennai," the official said.

"In Calcutta, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Atletico de Kolkata can stake their claims for the Salt Lake Stadium after the under-17 World Cup is over.

"But we don't expect any problem in Calcutta since there are other venues available. But Chennai and Pune are basically single-stadium cities. We don't know how the clubs and franchises are going to tackle this problem," he said.

Pune is represented by FC Pune City in the ISL and DSK Shivajians in the I-League and both play at the Balewadi Sports Complex. I

• Chennai, ISL franchise Chennaiyin FC and I-League club Chennai FC use Nehru Stadium as their home ground.

The problem doesn't end here. There is strong possibility that I-League champions Aizawl FC would play their AFC Cup matches at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati, which is also the home ground of NorthEast United FC in ISL. If approved as an AFC venue, the continental body would certainly object to the ISL branding within the stadium.

Interestingly, the issue is unlikely to come up for discussion in Thursday's meeting between the AIFF and the I-League clubs as the federation think the problem should be sorted out by the clubs on their own.

The meeting in the capital is likely to remain confined to the demands of the clubs over more prize money, increased payments towards organization of matches and extra money for promotional activities. Though the AIFF is unlikely to agree to all the demands, the clubs would definitely receive more benefits than the last season.

The clubs are unlikely to object to the draft system in the ISL as they feel confident about matching the offers of the ISL franchises in the transfer market.