AIFF puts U Mumba FC’s I League dream on hold, Trials postponed indefinitely

by Chittu Shetty June 16, 2019

Reports suggest that senior officials from the federations have asked the Mumbai based clubs to hold on to their upcoming trials for the time being.

A week ago, U Mumba FC had expressed their desire to play in I League which was confirmed by AIFF, who were ready to bring in a new club from the India’s financial capital. The club was aiming to give Mumbai talents a national stage to get noticed and had already shown its willingness to fill the roaster with majority Mumbai footballers.

With AIFF on-board with the idea and prepared to open fresh bids, U Mumba FC went ahead and announced open trials for all the interested footballers who had played at least MDFA Elite Division for a chance to showcase their skills and get selected. The Club received over 3,500 applicants for the trials and lot of Elite division players were looking forward to this opportunities. The trials were supposed to undergo from June 18 on wards, however recent development has put the club in a predicament and forced them to postpone their scheduled trials.

According to a reports, AIFF has been forced by its marketing partners to take certain decision including halting the process of opening bids for new clubs. The reports suggests that the six I-League clubs which refused to take part in the Super Cup will now be forced to cough up a much bigger penalty for their rebellious stand. Apart from restricting new additions to I league, the reports also suggest stoppage of I League telecasts for the new seasons. The latest development is believed to be a move on making the Indian Super League (ISL) – the top tier football league of the country.

Established just a year ago, U Mumba FC had an excellent maiden season, where they reached semi-finals of MDFA Elite Division. With no I League club in the city since the shutdown of Mumbai FC two years ago, the announcement of U Mumba FC entering the I-league had generated quite a positive interest among the Mumbai football fraternity.

However, the recent move from the federation has put a dent on that interest, if the board goes back on its word and U Mumba is denied I league entry, then it begs to question how much is the board getting strong-armed into these decisions and how long will it go on.