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According to reports, the Indian Super League and the more traditional I-League are to be consolidated into a single league, which shall be the premier football league of the country.
The ISL now ranks among the top most attended professional sports leagues from all around the world. The razzmatazz of Bollywood star owners turning up to cheer for the teams, coupled with stars from European leagues(albeit being past their primes) turning out for Indian provinces, has brought a whole new section of the Indian football fan flocking to stadiums.
The competition, which runs from Oct. 12 - Dec. 20 features former greats such as Robert Pires and Alessandro del Piero -- World Cup winners with France and Italy respectively.
However, it is the pre-existing domestic championship, the I-League, that has since taken some damage. The regular Indian football fan has been complaining about the increased ticket prices; age-old traditional clubs have begrudged releasing their players for the ISL, and in some cases have come close to shutting shop.
Its 2013-14 season ran from September to April, but the following campaign was delayed until January 2015 to avoid clashing with the ISL.
New league to feature 14-16 teams
Kushal Das, All India Football Federation general secretary, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai that the rival leagues would merge into a single competition. "Probably 14-16 teams pan-India going on for seven to eight months. That's the vision," said Das.
"The ISL and I-League are a means to an end. The end is the development of Indian football," added Das, who said it would take "at least six to seven years" for the ISL to become profitable. "For the club owners, it's an entry into Indian football, which has huge potential -- they are looking at creating a valuable asset," he said.
"The players didn't have much time together to begin with and then the huge travelling and schedule was tiring them out," said Das
India, currently ranked 159th in the world, aim to break into FIFA's top 100 by 2020 and qualify for the 2026 World Cup, he added.
