AIFF rejects 3 bids from clubs aspiring to be in I-League

All India Football Federation on Frtiday rejected the bids of three corporate-backed clubs for the upcoming I-League season and decided to re-float tenders to admit new teams.

The bid documents of Gokulam FC (Kerala), Ozone Group (Bengaluru) and Crown Sports (Rajasthan) could not meet the requirements of the Request for Proposal (RFP) when evaluated by reputed auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The decision was taken at a meeting of bid evaluation committee which took place at the AIFF headquarters under the chairmanship of Subrata Dutta.

"Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were also present to give their report regarding the evaluation of the bids. Documents related to three bids from three different organisations were placed in front of the committee viz Gokulam FC (Kerala), Ozone Group (Bengaluru) and Crown Sports (Rajasthan)," the AIFF said in a statement.

"It was informed to the house by the representatives of PwC that none of the bidders could meet the requirements of the RFP. Hence, the Committee decided to call a re-tender for inclusion of corporate teams in the ensuing Hero I-League season," it added.

The AIFF will give ten working days to the bidders to submit their bids. The next meeting of the committee to evaluate the fresh bids will take place in the second week on September.