[2] For the 1998 edition, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) decided to increase the number of entries to justify the tournament as that "for champion clubs" on the back of two decades of "[failure] to achieve its propagated aims and objectives.
"[3] Accordingly, on 16 July 1998, the President of AIFF, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, announced that the edition would have 48 teams competing.
[4] Salgaocar, East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan, Border Security Force, Indian Telephone Industries, Dempo and Churchill Brothers were announced as the eight seeded teams.
A then newly formed club, Bengal Mumbai, was not allowed to enter the competition from the West Zone as, according to the AIFF, "the team would have to come through the state league and prove themselves.
United Breweries Group sponsored the tournament and announced a prize money of ₹2 million for the winning team.