Hit by fund crunch, I-League champion Aizawl FC has found an alternative to tide over its financial crisis. Aizawl FC has forayed into construction business and enlisted itself with the Mizoram government and also bagged a contract for road construction. Probably, it is the first football club in the country to make such a move.
Aizawl FC, the first club from the northeastern region to win the I-League last year, has learnt a lesson after its star left winger H Lalmuankima has made a dream move to the Indian Super League club FC Goa.
Lalmuankima’s contract with the defending I-League champion Aizawl FC expired in December and the club could not meet his demand for a raised salary. So the winger was cleared by Aizawl FC club officials.
The 26-year old footballer from Mizoram was part of the historic Aizawl FC squad which won the 2016-17 I-League season, trumping big clubs like Bengaluru FC, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
“There were several rounds of negotiations to extend his contract. But as said, if a player wants to go elsewhere, we respect his decisions and ambitions,” Robert Romawia Royte, owner of Aizawl FC told Northeast Now.
It is not that the club is not getting any sponsor. On the contrary, it is getting many sponsors but most of them are liquor brands. Since the state is plagued by the problem of alcoholism and drugs, so the club management feels it to avoid such sponsors as part of their social responsibility.