According to a report published in the Times of India, Imphal’s Neroca FC have registered their bid for direct participation in the 2017 I-League that’s to begin from 7 January. They will be the fourth club after Minerva Academy FC, FC Bardez Goa and Chennai City to do so.

The next round of bidding for teams’ participation ends on 8 December. The bid evaluation committee of the AIFF will meet following the same, in the second week of December. The previous round of bidding didn’t draw any positive results, with the teams not being able to fulfil the criteria set up by the committee.

The interested teams have requested the AIFF to re-consider the financial commitments expected from them, with talks ongoing about a potential merger of the ISL and I-League.