stellar careerchhetri also led bengaluru fc to his and the clubs maiden durand cup triumphanother positive development was the decision taken by the new aiff dispensation to implement the already agreed roadmap of the ileague winning team of this season the winners will be promoted to the toptier indian super league next season without having to pay the participation feethe new officebearers also promised to start matchfee payment for the national team players both male and female and also decided to revive and revamp old tournaments such as the santosh trophy to give more competition to the players and increase the player poolit was also decided to hold the semifinals and final of the santosh trophy in saudi arabia for three years from this season onwards to motivate the domestic players and give them an international platformgokulam kerala became the first team to defend the title in the ileague era the gokulam kerala womens team also won the indian womens league but they were hit hard by the fifa ban of aiff as they were removed from the asian womens club championships held in uzbekistanmanisha kalyan joined cypriot club apollon ladies fc which featured in the uefa womens champions league qualification round dangmei grace signed up with uzbekistan super league side fc nasaf while soumya guguloth and jyoti chouhan joined croatias dinamo zagrebindia lost a few of the gems of yesteryears like 1956 olympics semifinalist team captain samar badru banerjee babu mani and narinder thapa among othersindia also withdrew its bid to host the 2027 asian cup declaring that hosting of bigticket events is not among its strategic priorities