Kolkata: Representatives of the I-League clubs met with the AIFF officials in New Delhi and agreed to the idea of both the I-League and the ISL running simultaneously. The meeting which was attended by Subrata Dutta, Chairman of the League Committee, Kushal Das, General Secretary of the AIFF and Sunando Dhar, CEO of the I-League.
The meeting, was held for discussing the future of Indian football in the 2017-2018 season till the mid-term and long-term future is decided with the help of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The I-League clubs agreed to the concurrent running of the I-League and ISL in the upcoming season but said that all their matches should be telecasted on Star Sports with proper marketing, promotions and the scheduling of the games. Also, they suggested that a task force be set up which would regularly review the I-League.
They further said that the travel rates should be subsidised and a proper budget should be allocated for the promotion of the I-League in the 2017-2018 season by the AIFF.
Also, they put forward a demand of registering right foreign players out of which two should be of Asian origin. They said that a maximum of five overseas players should be allowed on the field with one of them from an Asian origin.
Subrata Dutta, who chaired the meeting said that all these recommendations and demands of the clubs will be put forward before the League Committee in a meeting on the 5th of July. The clubs would be informed about the final decisions that are taken by the Committee.
The AFC has also communicated it’s happiness to the AIFF that it’s Executive Committee has approved the project for the determination of the roadmap of Indian club football on a mid-term and long-term basis. The AFC in this regard, would soon send a draft project plan.
The AFC also has agreed to the decision of the I-League and ISL running together as it feels that this is a temporary short term, ‘bridging solution’.
The FIFA has also reviewed and agreed to this special system.
Kushal Das, the AIFF Secretary was thankful to the AFC for their continued guidance and support in Indian football.
He said, “The growth of Indian Football is our primary objective and we will take every step necessary to ensure positive results. We look forward to working with AFC and the other stakeholders to determine the most suitable medium to long term road map for Indian Football.”
1 comment
Its unfair for Tata and Jindal’s Bengaluru FC….
AFC’s recent decision to officially recognise ISL as the League-2 of India instead of League-1 may hurt the brand aspirations of the 2 new ISL clubs owned by Tata Steel and Jindal Steel.I believe before proposal submission , representatives of Tata Steel and Jindal Steel
were informed by AIFF/IMGR that ISL is going to become the League-1 of India from this year itself.
Till last year ISL was an unofficial event and was no doubt the most glamorous football event in India. So , there could have been no comparison with the official I-League.However, from now on both the two Leagues are official and AFC has officially assigned Rank-1 to I-League.
This can seriously hurt the brand image of Tata Steel and Jindal Steel. Both these two companies have an international business model and its very important for them to be associated with Top entities , officially as well as public opinion wise. In the world of Indian movies if ISL is now the
glamorous Filmfare Award then the I-League is the National Movie Award. No doubt the later one is theoretically much more prestigious.
It would be fair if AIFF-IMGR now provides an option to these 2 clubs to join the I-League instead of ISL. AFC has made it clear that within possibly 1 year AIFF need to consolidate the two leagues. AIFF-IMGR had initially thought that they can easily dispose the I-League and crown ISL as the formal League-1 of India.After AFC’s recent mandate, probably from next year the ISL clubs would join the I-League and the new league would either get a new brand name or else AIFF would retain the brand name I-league,
So, it makes sense for AIFF/IMGR to provide an option to these two steel clubs to join the I-League this season and then continue in the Consolidated League from next year onwards. In that way, on pen and paper , Tata Steel and Jindal Steel would not get formally associated with the 2nd division league of India and that too after paying 15 crore INR