Mohammedan Sporting club has decided to stay away from this year’s Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament of the country, as the team does not stand to gain much financially, said the club’s football secretary Iqbal Ahmed.
Having failed to meet All India Football Federation’s club licensing criteria last season, Sporting will have to be content playing in local tournaments as the team will not be considered for the I-League Second Division if it does not fulfil the conditions.
“We will also not be figuring in the I-League Second Division as we feel that the All India Football Federation has unjustly denied us club licence. The case is sub judice and I cannot comment more on that,” said Ahmed, dispelling reports that the 123-year-old club is looking to fold up its football team.
“We have been managing the team on our own without a sponsor for some time but that does not mean we will wind up the team which has such a rich tradition. We will definitely play the local tournaments,” he added.
According to some officials, the club has released all its foreign players after the completion of the Calcutta Football League and is not paying salaries regularly to its local recruits fuelling speculations about its financial health.
Ahmed said the club declined the Durand Cup invitation because the tournament, to be played in Goa this year, is not offering much in participation fees. “We have sent a letter to the organisers conveying our decision to pull out because of this factor,” said Ahmed.
Mohammedan Sporting was pooled in Group C of the quarterfinal stage of Durand Cup, which is scheduled to get underway on October 29. The club president Sultan Ahmed could not be reached as his phone remained switched off.
