ISL 2017: Super Cup to reportedly replace Federation Cup, will include ISL and I-League teams

What’s the story?

In what could be a historic development for Indian football, a Super Cup is slated to replace the erstwhile Federation Cup as the de facto League Cup of India.

This new tournament, which will have teams from both the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League, will supposedly start from the last week of March next year, according to sources.

In case you didn’t know

The Federation Cup started in the 1977-78 season and until the I-League was started in 1997 (then called NFL), it was the most prestigious national level club football tournament in India. Bengaluru FC had won the tournament last year, beating Mohun Bagan in the final.

The heart of the matter

The Super Cup is likely to be named as the ‘Hero Super Cup’ due to sponsorship reasons. It will feature a total of eight teams and the top four sides from the ISL and I-league will enter the competition.

As it stands, the I-league winner gets to participate in the AFC Champions League play-off whereas the Super Cup winner will get to feature in the play-offs of the second-tier continental competition, AFC Cup. However, that isn’t going to happen this very season as it has already been decided that the 2017-18 ISL champions will get that chance.

Also, there is talk of the ISL and I-league getting merged from next season so in that case, it has to be seen what happens to the composition of Super Cup.

What’s next?

All these possibilities are being reported so far. Sportskeeda tried to reach out to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for a confirmation but they are yet to respond.

Author’s take

In case the ISL and I-League continue to be held in parallel land Federation Cup is replaced by the Super Cup, then that would be a very interesting competition for the fans who can watch teams for both leagues going head to head against each other. This, in turn, will result in the best team qualifying for the AFC Cup play-off.