I-League and ISL merger is not yet ruled out

All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Das has not eliminated the possibility of the merger between franchise based Indian Super League (ISL) and Club Centric I-League in a bid to follow the concept of ‘one country, one league’. While speaking to the media at the launching ceremony of I-League, Das admitted that AIFF has been hosting two ‘national league’ competitions leading to the issues of tight scheduling and player stress factor.

Scheduling has been one of the most crucial factors in case of both ISL and I-League as because there is a problem for the venues. AIFF is working with the endeavour to merge ISL and I-League which might materialize in future, although Kushal Das refrained from giving any firm comments on the matter. India is hosting two national level leagues unlike the global practice of each country having one league.

AIFF President Praful Patel, despite the popularity of Indian Super League, has mentioned in the launching ceremony of ISL that I-League will always remain the premium tournament of the country. The eight-team franchise ISL had been played over two months on a home – away basis followed by double leg semi finals and the final which led some players to complain on the hectic schedules which they had faced along with too much of travelling, insufficient recovery time between matches.

Stephen Constantine is the Head Coach of Indian Team will be a change in the strategy of the AIFF planning. Constantine had held a position of the coach of Indian Team during the tenure 2002 – 2005. Praful Patel profile has been quite strong in this regard as he has been constantly trying to professionalize football and Constantine has done wonders with the Indian team helping it to improve to the position of 120. “We are focusing to come closer to 100 or so in FIFA Rankng in the next two years and qualify for the Asian Cup. Now the format has changed as there will be 24 teams. So we should be able to qualify for Asia cup in 2019.”

The technical committee of AIFF had taken this decision as they felt it was very important to have a person who is familiar with Indian football, who understands the problems and constraints of Indian football. India has big commitments like eight World Cup qualifiers, Asia Cup qualifiers in 2015 and 2016. Stephen Constantine will be the ideal person who would be working with better experience with the Indian Team.

AIFF is also stressing the need of playing more and more friendlies as this would be able to make the relation of the Indian Team easier with their global counterparts. It is expected that Indian Football will grow both in terms of quality and quantity which will help the organization take both a holistic and scientific approach towards the game.