Less than 24 hours after the 2016 Indian Super League drew to a close, Kushal Das, General Secretary of the AIFF (All India Football Federation), spoke about the future of the league and the status of the merger between the ISL and I-League.
“We’re trying to restructure Indian football where the Indian Super League will be longer. There will be league 1 and league 2. Next year, the tournament will start after the U-17 football World Cup. If everything works according to plan,” he said.
Das was at an event to announce the Bank of Baroda as the first Indian company to sign up as national supporters of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
When plans to create one definitive league in the country was announced, it garnered mixed reactions from different I-League clubs including Sporting Clube de Goa, who openly raised their grievances. Das said that they have sought external help to solve the situation.
“We have also formed a task force with the AFC (Asian Football Federation) to help us and guide us in this matter. It is definitely complicated. There are the legacy clubs who have been around for a long time.”
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“The problem is there are certain parts of the ISL which needs to be followed. The spectator attendance for the ISL clubs has been fantastic. Unfortunately, some of the I-League clubs haven’t been able to create the fan base. It’s a fact,” he explained.
Das also revealed that for the initial few years, the newly formed Indian Super League will be a closed league.
“But we’re allowing them to participate in the next league and make a sustainable model for them. So that they can create a fan base and then come up. For some time, there won’t be any promotion or relegation in the league. In due course, we will be an open league.”
“It’s a very difficult task. There will be a lot of pain and heartbreak and rightly so. The legacy clubs would rightly feel that they have been unjustifiably taken out of the top league. This is something that we have to do for Indian Football,” he continued.
Asked if the AIFF have enough time to arrive at a consensus, Das said, “We’re trying our best to get this off the ground next season but complications are there.”
“That’s why we set up a task force with AFC and FIFA. These instances are there in other countries also. We would like to finalize something by February or March,” he signed off.
