According to a report of the Indian Express, Tata and Indian Oil are set to be directly included in the 2014-15 I-League.

The report suggests that those two corporates are guaranteed a spot even though the AIFF have invited bids for new teams next season. The bidding process is only a formality as per the news report.

AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta confirmed the interest of Tata and Indian Oil. He added cities that don’t have I-League clubs currently will get preference.

“Nobody has been selected as yet. Yes, Tata and Indian Oil have shown interest. The AIFF may give preference to entities who bid from cities which have no I-League teams,” Dutta said.

There seems to be a lot of interest in the I-League from corporates following the success of Bengaluru FC. The Indian Super League (ISL) has also played a key role as many of the parties that took up the ISL bid documents but didn’t eventually bid, could look to enter a team in the I-League.

Dutta also confirmed that the I-League licensing committee will have a meeting on May 21 to decide the fate of those clubs that don’t fulfil the AFC club licensing criteria.

“The I-League licensing committee will meet on May 21. There will be no extension to clubs who do not satisfy the norms. So we are planning to bring in new entrants,” he said.