ISL 2018 | Five ISL clubs fail to secure AFC club-licensing criteria for 2018-19 season

Ahead of tomorrow’s ISL opener between ATK and Kerala Blasters FC, fresh reports on Goal have revealed that a total of five ISL clubs have been denied domestic and AFC license for the upcoming season. Reigning ISL champions, Chennaiyin FC, and runners-up Bengaluru FC are part of the five clubs to have met the required criteria for the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Club Licensing Criteria, Goal.com confirmed.

But ISL clubs - Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City FC, FC Pune City, Delhi Dynamos and Jamshedpur FC - are the five clubs to have failed the inspection conducted by AIFF officials and hence, have not been awarded the national or the AFC license for the 2018-19 season. Due to their failure to clear inspection, the five Indian outfits will now have to request an exemption from the AIFF in order to take part in the upcoming ISL. As per reports, it is being said that they will be granted an exemption for a year but the clubs will have to pay a hefty fine. 

Meanwhile, FC Goa, ATK and NorthEast United have all cleared the inspection and met the five criteria of the committee and have been awarded an AFC and a National license. 

The 2018-19 season of the ISL is set to kick-start on Saturday when Kerala Blasters take on ATK at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata. With the opening game just a day away, the Kochi-based side will now be forced to send a written request to allow them to take part in the game. 

The fact that five clubs have failed to secure an AFC license came as a shocker as they had all invested crores of money into their respective projects in addition to that, all the clubs were assisted in the licensing process and a deadline was informed well in advance. Licensing workshops were also conducted at all the Indian ISL clubs. Except for Jamshedpur FC, the rest of the clubs that were denied a license have been in existence for over four years.