Four new teams in I-League next season: AIFF

Mumbai: In a bid to increase competition and give "better incentives" to the players, the All India Football Federation plans to add four more teams to the existing 14 in the I-League next season.

"The I-League as it stands today, we are going to add four new teams. We were thinking of two new teams but by the time the entire process goes through, we will be adding four new teams in the coming season," AIFF President Praful Patel said at a Football Players Association of India event here last night. "It is good that the players would have some competition as it gives them better incentives and reward," he added. AIFF has already issued a tender notice inviting bids for new clubs to be a part of the I-League. Meanwhile, Patel is also confident of the country winning the bid to host the under-17 World Cup in 2017. "In the next couple of years lot of big things are going to happen in Indian football. We are bidding for the World Cup for under-17 in 2017, which I am sure we will be getting somewhere in the later part of this year," he said. Patel said the AIFF is trying to popularise the game in the country. "The fact is that we have had an overdose of just one game in this country and I am sure we need to broadbase it. Almost 70 percent of youngsters are following some football league, which shows that the game itself is popular and we have to go on to make it even more popular," he said. PTI