East Bengal’s sporting rights issues have placed a doubt on the contract conditions of new players signed by the club during the summer.

Quess Corp previously held the club’s sporting rights, but the sponsors have reportedly pulled out of the partnership with the club.

Without the sporting rights transferred back to the club, East Bengal won’t be able to participate in the I-League or any other football competition in India.

Meanwhile, the club had set rolling plans to play in the India Super League for the 2020-21 season, but the lack of investors has put that into serious doubt.

However, the club and Quess have been in talks to renew the deal, a situation which, if not sorted, will affect the contract terms of newly signed players.

Nevertheless, the players have been assured that their contracts will be adapted to new ownership conditions once an investor has been secured.

This means that the players will, for the sake of formality, will resign their contracts under the name of the new investors.

According to Goal, the following players have been signed by the Red and Golds: Milan Singh, Mohammed Rafique, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rino Anto, CK Vineeth, Vikas Saini, Pritam Singh, Anil Chavan, Girik Khosla, Sankar Roy, Keegan Pereira, Mohammed Irshad, Bikash Jairu, Cavin Lobo, Sehnaj Singh, Loken Meitei, Rafique Ali Sardar, Angousana Luwang, Gurtej Singh, Novin Gurung, Lalram Chullova and Balwant Singh as well as retaining the services of goalkeeper Mirshad Michu.

East Bengal’s rivals Mohun Bagan have merged with ISL Champions,  Atletico De Kolkota and will play in the India Super League from next season. Since then East Bengal have also been reported to be making plans of featuring in the ISL from next season.

Football and Sports generally in India have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic which has led to a lockdown in the country

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu