PANAJI: Dempo Sports Club team manager Mr Custodio Almeida wants the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to have a re-look on its decision to reduce the number of foreigners to two for this year’s Federation Cup.

"All three foreigners should be allowed to play in the Federation Cup," stated Almeida while speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’. The Dempo manager isn’t amused either by the federation’s decision to withhold players for a lengthy period of eight months for national camp for preparing them for international assignments - a unique case observed no where in the globe except in India.

"Dempo has eight players doing national duty and when the Federation Cup is held at the year end, we will be deprived of their services. And, under such circumstances, how are we also going to operate in the I-League and be competitive,"
argued Almeida.

"This rule is proving detrimental to Dempo’s cause or for that matter any club who has the cream of their players being asked to report to AIFF and remain with them until their national duties are over, irrespective of how much the club as a whole suffers," lamented Almeida.

"Remember Dempo is the champion club of India and we will not be able to field our top players in I-League or Federation Cup in the new season, leave alone the rule of playing only with two foreigners. This is absurd. Our preparations for AFC Cup next year could also be hampered without Indian players as we ought to field our best team at the Federation Cup," bemoaned Almeida.

"All three foreigners plus one Asian origin player should be allowed to be played," he asserted. His views were also attested by coach Armando Colaco, who argued that such rules should be relaxed by the federation considering that it is the club that spends heavily to build the team in view of its seasonal commitments.

Meanwhile, Armando disclo-sed that Dempo SC will begin preparation for the forthcoming season on July 15, when the pre-season training camp gets underway. He confirmed that Subashish Roy Chowdhury (goalkeeper), Godwin Franco and Debrata Roy have signed for Dempo. Armando accepted that the prime target for the new season was the AFC Cup in 2011, which Dempo have qualified for by virtue of their I-League winning effort and that they would love to make an impression in the prestigious tournament after missing a berth in the 2010 edition.