Prize money for city soccer up, Leagues to be merged

Kolkata, Oct 1 (UNI) The Indian Football Association (IFA), Bengal supreme soccer body, has decided to club the Super Division and Premier Division League next season and play a one-leg competition with seventeen teams.

General secretary Utpal Ganguli today said the IFA's governing body at a meeting yesterday decided such merger to avoid clashing it with national league.

He said fixtures of the domestic league would be drawn after looking at the I-league schedules.

The AIFF this year had deferred kick off of the 2nd I-League for three weeks due to IFA's domestic league, that ended on September 13.

The IFA also announced that clubs would get greater share of the television and sponsorship money.

Prize money in the leagues will now be Rs 21 lakh, Rs six lakh more than the present rate.

Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting will get Rs 20.5 lakh each and United SC Rs 10 lakh.

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