Since Indian Super League debut season last year, there has been news that All India Football Federation that is AIFF have some major plans in store for Indian Super League (ISL) and their baby project I-League.
After some minor changes over the past year, the I-League this took a big step this ISL season and allowed few of its major players to play for the league and loaned out many of their players.
Now moving towards even bigger targets AIFF general secretary Kushal Das made the announcement that the Indian Super League (ISL) and the I-League football tournaments would be merged in the next two to three years and work towards a bigger picture of developing Indian football not only on the international level but at the Grass root level as well.
Das who was attending Mohun Bagan’s 125th year celebrations at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on 22 August’ 2015 had also told the reporters at that time “We will have only one league in the next two to three years, but how to merge these two together is being planned out.” He then further added that “It’s been long that there’s been no change in football here, it needs a shake up, we have roadmap and even all stakeholders have the same view of having just one league.”
While Indian Super League has grabbed more eyeballs than I-league, the latter has got the backing from international federations like AFC and FIFA, but the fact that I-league has not been able to generate much interest among the Indian fans as ISL did and the fact that many of their clubs are in financial crisis means that AIFFA now has to take some drastic step and either wrap up the Premier League or merge it with Indian Super League.
Opting for the second option till now, it looks like AIFF would be keeping a serious eye on this year’s Indian Super League and I-League seasons as the merger remains the only viable option till now.
So far there are 19 teams in both Leagues combined. Those are:
Teams in I –League:
Bengaluru FC, Bharat FC, Dempo, East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mumbai, Pune FC, Royal Wahingdoh, Salgaocar, Shillong Lajong, Sporting Goa
Teams in ISL:
Atlético de Kolkata, Chennaiyin, Delhi Dynamos, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City, NorthEast United, FC Pune City
The second edition of Indian Super League will commence on October 3, 2015, following which the I-League will begin early next year in 2016.
