New Delhi: Syed Rahim Nabi has decided not to sign for any I-League club in the coming season. Instead, he has inked a contract to play in the eight-team city-based league, to be organised by the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) marketing partners early next year.
According to sources, Nabi, along with a dozen more leading footballers, have signed contracts to play the new league, which will be held from January 15 to March 30. They will play in the I-League only if they are released on loan by the organisers of the new league.
“I have signed a contract to play in the IMG-R league,” Nabi told The Telegraph on Saturday. “While the payment is quite impressive, they might also allow me to go on loan to an I-League club of my choice,” added the AIFF’s Player of the Year awardee in 2012.
Sources, however, said that the new league organisers would derive benefit by loaning out their signed footballers to I-League clubs. “Every player, who would go on loan to an I-League club, would have to pay 50 per cent of the payment to his original employer,” claimed an official.
“But, overall, the combined earning of all front-ranking footballers would still be more than what they received the previous season… That’s the catch,” added the official.
Apart from Nabi, other leading players like Sanju Pradhan, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Sushil Kumar Singh, Ishfaq Ahmed, Gourmangi Singh and Nirmal Chetri have also reportedly signed up to play in the new league.
However, the new league is unlikely to recruit the Pailan Arrows players as the AIFF might run the developmental side for one more year. On Saturday, the team sponsors had a meeting with federation officials and suggested the name of Sanjay Sen as the new coach.
To add to the glamour of the new league, former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia and Renedy Singh are also expected to don the jersey of a city team in the 10-week competition.
Sensing danger, the clubs are trying to put up a united front to stop the footballers from deserting the I-League clubs. While the two Calcutta majors have already said they would not release their players for the new league, Dempo have included a similar clause in their contract form for players.
