East Bengal given one week by the IFA to decide their CFL future

As reported by the Telegraph first, East Bengal has been given a week's time to decide their future on the upcoming Calcutta Football League. The club has been engaged in a tussle with their investor Shree Cement since the ISL was over. The club has been warned by the IFA and given a one-week deadline to inform the Indian Football Association (IFA) if they would be taking part in the Calcutta Football League Premier Division Group A.

"We have given them seven days to inform us. If they fail, the league will go ahead with 13 teams," IFA secretary Joydeep Mukherjee said on Monday after a meeting with the 13 participating teams.

"For the interest of Bengal football, we want all the clubs to play. From our side, there will be no problem, IFA is ready to negotiate but they must come to us,"

"Initially, we had decided to do away with relegation this season but if competitions happen in all divisions, then there will be a relegation and the team which pulls out will be at the lower division next season," Mukherjee added.

No representatives from SC East Bengal were present at the meeting.

The Bridge has earlier reported that East Bengal might not be a part of the upcoming Calcutta Football League. The participating clubs and the IFA do not want to cancel the league for a second successive year, and hence are looking to have a different format. The format will see the clubs dividing into two groups, and face each member in the group in a round-robin format. The top four from every group will qualify for the playoffs, which will be the knockout phase of the tournament.

SCEB's problems with their investors Shree Cements have also put their participation in the Indian Super League at a risk. If they do decide to pull out of the CFL this season, they might suffer the consequence of getting relegated from the CFL.

Both parties should be aiming to sort out the problems so that the club and its fans can look forward to the upcoming season.