The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Monday held discussions with the club owners and officials of all the nine I-League clubs on the plans for the 2020-21 season. Several key points were discussed, including the implementation of the ‘3+1’ foreigners rule and the scheduling of the next transfer window.
Sources close to Goal have confirmed that all but two have agreed to AIFF’s plan to follow Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) 3+1 rule - three foreign players of any nationality + 1 foreign player from AFC member nation.
The plan, if implemented, will see the clubs being allowed to register just four foreign players (including an Asian) in their squads from the next season.
Goal understands that two of the clubs were not in support of the rule. While one of those clubs wanted four foreigners in the squad without any Asian player, another club suggested that they should be allowed to sign five foreigners including an Asian player.
The AIFF has listened to the opinions of all nine clubs and will further discuss the matter, possibly in the AIFF's Executive Committee meeting, before arriving to a conclusion.
"The discussion was to look into the aspect of changing the foreign player quota to conform with AFC norms. The federation has told us that they will get back to us once they have some clarity on the matter," said one of the club owners who attended the meeting.
But the I-League might see the rule implemented sooner than that, if the suggestions are approved.
As Goal had earlier revealed , the Indian FA are also planning to reschedule the summer transfer window which was originally scheduled to start on June 9 and end on August 31. In the dialogue with the I-League clubs, AIFF did discuss the possiblity of shifting the transfer window to August with the clubs.