Calcutta: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has stepped down as director and chairman of Mohun Bagan in order to meet the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) club licensing criteria before the December 31 deadline.

Mallya was holding the post of director in both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, which was not permitted under the AFC licensing criteria.

“Vijay Mallya has resigned from his post as a director and chairman of the board of directors of United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt Ltd. His resignation has been accepted…

“Sidhartha V Mallya has been appointed as an additional director of the company,” the club said in a media release.

Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are sponsored by two different subsidiaries, McDowell and Kingfisher, respectively, of the Vijay Mallya-owned United Breweries Group.

As per the AFC club licensing criteria no individual or a company would be allowed to own 50 per cent or more stakes in more than one club at a time.

Rule 5 (f) of the club licensing criteria says, “cross-ownership of the clubs is not allowed” in the professional league.

UB Group, that owns Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, has 50 per cent stake each in both the clubs.

Meanwhile, Mohun Bagan are likely to rope in ONGC’s Sujit Chakraborty, who is an AFC A licence holder, as their coach. Subhas Bhowmick is the technical director of the team.