With two more teams added to the Indian Super League’s roster of teams, the popular franchise league is all set to get a massive facelift ahead of its upcoming season.
Bengaluru FC and a team owned by Tata Steel are set to become the new ISL entrants in the coming season after they were declared to have come through the bidding process with flying colours earlier today. With the two new clubs entering the ISL scene, a sense of intrigue is pervading the entire Indian football scene and the new changes will lend a new lease of life to the sport in the country as a whole.
With more teams, it is expected that the ISL will undergo a slew of changes and here are a few that will be a novelty in the 2017–18 season of the franchise league.
#1 More number of teams, more matches
This comes as a football fan’s delight as two more teams will lead to 34 more matches in the ISL next season. With all the ten teams set to play home and away in the first stage of the tournament before heading to the semi-finals and final, the ISL will be held over an extended period of time, going away from its earlier three-month model.
To add to that, the league in 2017–18 will be staged for a period of five months instead of three, and this will stand to change in the subsequent seasons. It is expected that the ISL will run for seven months from 2018-19.
#2 New rivalries
Being only three years old, it seems acceptable that no big rivalry in the ISL has shaped up so far. There was one between Zico’s FC Goa and Marco Materazzi’s Chennaiyin FC in ISL-2, but that bubble has also burst now with both managers no longer around and the clubs undergoing upheavals.
In that regard, the arrival of Bengaluru FC into the scene will add spice to the already thriving South Indian tussles between Kerala Blasters and Chennaiyin, lending a new angle to the scheme of things. With the Maharashtra derby between underachievers Mumbai City and Pune City being nothing more than drab affairs, the injection of new clubs means the ISL will not be the same anymore.
#3 More Indian players
Although more teams in the ISL will encourage clubs to sign more Indian players, it remains to be seen whether there are that many quality player available to fill each teams squad to the maximum allowable limit. According to the new rules, each club can sign up to 17 Indian players next season, a number that has gone up from 14.
Furthermore, to allow for a more level playing field, clubs can retain only two Indian players next season which will lead to a widespread reshuffle in the personnel at the franchises.
#4 Less foreign players, marquee player scrapped
In another development concerning the ISL, the number of foreign players playing at various clubs will reduce considerably next season owing to the rule changes. Instead of six foreigners, each club will now be able to field only five non-Indian players in their starting XI next season, another move aimed at helping the Indian players’ cause.
Furthermore, the marquee player acquisition has now been made optional. Clubs can still sign a marquee player, but his wages will not be part of the salary cap in the event of the ISL approving the player’s status as a marquee signing.
#5 More than a silverware to play for
With the ISL all but guaranteed an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup spot, teams in the cash-rich league will have more than a silverware and monetary gains to play for. A continental spot is always a matter of prestige, no matter how big or small a club is, and ISL clubs fighting for a place in the AFC Cup will add more bite to the league and consequently, add more substance to the contests.
As ISL clubs have deeper pockets than their I-League counterparts, having them play in AFC competitions will also stand to benefit India’s AFC Member Association (AFC MA) ranking in the future. India is currently 15th in the current AFC MA rankings.
