ISL: AIFF not mandatory for OCI players, Indian forwards Football News
New Delhi: All India Football Federation (AIFF) clarifies contracting of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders for 2026-27 season indian premier league (ISL) is optional. If a club decides to bring in OCI players, they will be considered part of the foreigners quota.Clubs will be allowed to bring in six foreign players in the next ISL season, with a maximum of four players.AIFF deputy general secretary M Satyanarayanan said on Wednesday: “As of now, we are telling clubs that we encourage you, if you wish, to recruit OCI for the league. Apart from that, as of now, there is no change in the way they acquire players.”“They are six foreigners. They can let some OCI play. The AIFF will not interfere in telling clubs what to do. We just laid out the broad outlines. When the (Sports) Ministry gives any instructions, we will implement it,” he continued.On June 20, after the SGM, AIFF media issued this clarification stating, “It is further proposed and approved that in the Indian Super League (ISL) and the Indian Football League (IFL), clubs can field a starting eleven consisting of three foreign players and one OCI player.”Another issue that needs clarification relates to the Indian forwards. The same media report said, “…in order to ensure that the Indian forwards have adequate match exposure and development opportunities, an Indian forward must remain on the field for the entire 90 minutes of the match.”However, this is also optional for ISL clubs.“The club also realizes that one of our biggest Achilles’ heel is the lack of quality forwards. Hopefully they can help address that,” explained Satyanarayanan.“However, this is not something we can enforce. We cannot tell the club to play No. 9 because ultimately the team’s choices and tactics are the coach’s decision.”“Every game is different and sometimes the coach wants a win and in other games they might be content with a draw. So it is very difficult for us, even for the club, to carry out such a task.”“We don’t insist on that, but the club understands that one of our top priorities is to develop and develop quality forwards and we will continue to work on that,” he continued.
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