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If chatter in Indian football circles and media reports are to be believed, then the Federation Cup will be played one last time in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2015 as it has no future due to the congestion in the Indian football calendar, besides costing the All India Football Federation too much money.
It would be a sad end to India's version of the FA Cup, which actually isn't played like a real cup competition as is the norm around the world, but rather like a congested short tournament which is putting a strain on the federation’s finances and the players due to no recovery time in-between matches.
But due to the above-mentioned reasons, does the Federation Cup have to be scrapped completely by the AIFF?
No! And I have an alternative plan to avoid completely scrapping the tournament. Over the years, I have mentioned a number of times to the AIFF and club officials to turn the Federation Cup into a real knockout cup competition and spread it out across the Indian football season.
It is the easiest and financially most viable option – make it a one-off game where the winner progresses to the next round with all the I-League clubs playing in the competition alongside the 2nd Division League teams and potential qualifiers from local state/city leagues.
The format and size of the competition can be discussed. In my opinion, it should be a minimum 16 team competition or ideally 24 to 32 teams taking part through qualifiers with smaller clubs getting a chance to play I-League teams with some of the bigger I-League teams getting a bye depending on where they finished in the league the previous season.
This way, I-League clubs would have to play a maximum of five matches spread over a few months through midweek fixtures and not six matches over less than a fortnight. And further, the AIFF should make the final of the Federation Cup the last match of the season, the closing match and a new highlight for Indian football.
It’s an option that the AIFF and the clubs should pursue rather than letting the Federation Cup die.
