Parallel leagues detrimental for I-League

At the Asian Football Confederation meeting with Indian football stakeholders on June 7, it was decided that Alex Phillips (head of Asia-Europe Affairs Uefa/seconded from Uefa to AFC) would conduct research on both the Indian Super League and I-League for three months and submit a report by the end of August. The research was either eyewash or has been conducted in lightening speed.

Within three weeks, the AFC has agreed to the All India Football Federation’s suggestion that the ISL and I-League will run simultaneously and both should have slots in AFC’s continental competitions. The I-League champions will now play in the tougher AFC Champions League playoffs and if they lose they will get a guaranteed group stage slot in the AFC Cup.  

The ISL champions are now eligible for the AFC Cup via the playoffs. This means the ISL has now been granted legitimacy by the AFC and is no longer just a tournament.

So in November 2017, India will be in a unique position in world football, as there will be two national leagues running parallel to each other. Hopefully this is a temporary situation and gradually wiser heads will prevail and a unified national league will exist in the near future which will include the franchises and the legacy clubs.

A unified league could easily have been sorted for the current season out if the stakeholders had persuaded Atletico de Kolkata to abandon their insistence on the one club one city rule. The other stumbling block was the franchise fee on which a compromise could also have been reached. Unfortunately personal agendas and vindictive attitudes have prevailed that are leading Indian football into temporary chaos.

This arrangement will create several logistical problems for organisers and host broadcasters. Weekends are prime time for watching football. Will I-League matches or ISL matches be played during the weekend? Or will Saturday be reserved for I-League matches and Sundays for the ISL. Time slots for the matches will also create a problem.

Above all, the AFC’s decision is a triumph for the ISL. The ISL owners have deeper pockets and better marketing strategies and when both leagues are held simultaneously, the I-League will gradually get decimated in terms of importance. More spectators will watch the ISL as the better players will be playing for the 10 ISL franchises.

So this arrangement is probably a clever way of just relegating most of the I-League clubs to a second division in the future. There is already a division among I-League clubs. In the meeting with the AIFF on June 29, there was utter confusion. Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are using their financial power to poach players from other I-League clubs and demanding that I-League clubs should be allowed to register eight foreigners of which two should be of Asian origin and a maximum of five should be allowed to play.

Aizawl FC, Chennai City C and the promoted Neroca FC have vehemently opposed this move as their budgets do not permit such hefty payments.

The Football Players Association of India should oppose this demand as it will again lead to marginalisation of Indian players.