India has always had a huge fan base for football but primarily European football. However, ISL has managed to take football beyond couch viewing to giving hope and allowing young footballers to dream again of playing professionally and one day represent the national team. The league has also managed to popularize the game beyond North East.
As per today’s reports, AIFF wants to make ISL the top league in India instead of I-League. A roadmap for Indian football was drafted today in a meeting of the I-League and ISL clubs with the officials of the AIFF and the AFC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
As per the proposed roadmap in 2019-20 season, ISL will attain the status of premier league competition in Indian football in order to provide the best opportunity for Indian club football. Also, AFC will allow the winning ISL club to represent India in the AFC Champions League play-offs and the I-League winner will get to play the AFC Cup play-off.
One of the key recommendation by AFC: For 2024-25, it is agreed to fully implement promotion and relegation into the top league, and the abolition of two parallel leagues.
I personally think the consolidation of these two leagues in future will benefit both the leagues in terms of commercials and viewership. The leagues / clubs may not sustain commercially individually in the long run, more so the I-League which does not enjoy the same sponsorship, telecast and bollywood celebrity support as ISL.
