New Delhi: The COVID-19 pandemic hit 2019-20 I-League has ‘concluded’ with Mohun Bagan being the champions, the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) declared on Saturday.

Four rounds of matches were yet to be played when the coronavirus-enforced lockdown brought the country’s football activities to halt in March.

As a result of the forced conclusion, there would be no relegation for the season.

The AIFF’s league committee held a video conference and recognised the Covid-19 global crisis as a “force majeure event of unique and unprecedented circumstances”.

The committee took note of the grim sporting scenario in the country due to the global health crisis and recommended the following to AIFF’s executive committee, which is expected to endorse them in its entirety.

“The committee recommended that the 2019-20 season be deemed to be concluded. That Mohun Bagan be declared as the Hero I-League champion for the 2019-20 season as they stand atop current standings in the Hero I-League until the point of suspension on March 14, 2020,” the AIFF said in a statement.

Mohun Bagan had already accumulated an insurmountable 39 points from 16 matches. Second-placed East Bengal, third positioned Punjab FC (both 23 points) and Real Kashmir (22 points from 15 matches) were locked in a three-way battle for the runners-up spot.

East Bengal had written to the AIFF with the intention of halting the process to declare Mohun Bagan as champions and even wanted them to be declared runners-up with the hope of securing greater prize money.

But the league committee has recommended the remaining prize money (apart from the champion’s prize money) to be equally divided among the remaining 10 participating clubs.

“We took the opinion of participating clubs. Almost all clubs were in favour of giving the title to Bagan. Hence we didn’t think twice before declaring Bagan champions,” an AIFF official told Sports Lounge.

Barring East Bengal, eight I-League clubs – Chennai City, Punjab FC, Churchill Brothers, Gokulam Kerala FC, NEROCA FC, TRAU FC, Aizawl FC, Real Kashmir FC – all acknowledged Bagan as the champion.

The AIFF is now exploring the idea of organising a shorter duration tournament for the second division I-League teams next season for qualification for the 2020-21 I-League season.

The second division I-League was halted in its tracks midway due to the nationwide lockdown. The governing body is now seeking the help of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as to how to conduct the proposed qualifying tournament.

All youth leagues, with over 500 matches yet to be played, were concluded for the current season and extended the deadline for sumission of documents for academy accreditation until the revocation of the ongoing lockdown.

“Each and every decision going further will depend on when the lockdown is lifted and how quickly normalcy is restored,” the official added.