India’s club football system "was thrown into turmoil" on Friday after former champion Salgaocar and fellow Goan side Sporting Clube de Goa withdrew from the next edition of the I-League, citing the All India Football Federation and IMG-Reliance’s proposed structure for the new domestic season next year onward as the reason, according to Mihir Vasavda of the INDIAN EXPRESS. Another former champion, Dempo, too has hinted that it will "withdraw from I-League." Salgaocar and Sporting Clube called AIFF’s decision to have no promotion and relegation in the new format "shocking and disheartening." They further added there "has been no response from the AIFF to the suggestions sent by them 'over a month ago.'" The fact that they cannot be a part of the top division "simply because they can not handle the financial aspect" of being in the ISL "is what irks Salgaocar and Sporting Clube." In their statement, the clubs said that "there was no incentive for them to be a part of the ‘pay to play’ franchise model, which is skewed heavily in favour of ISL teams." The new league "was to be launched in November 2017." East Bengal Secretary Kalyan Majumdar "trained his gun" at AIFF President Praful Patel, saying that "the president and his entourage should play now." Majumdar said, "It’s another nail in the coffin. What’s left to play in the I-League now? The president and his entourage should play" (INDIAN EXPRESS, 6/25).
