It is a good time to be an Indian football fan. Not just the Indian team is performing better on the international stage -- the most recent being the 5-4 win on penalties against Kuwait in SAFF Championships final -- but there have been improvements at the grassroot levels as well. In the recent meeting of All India Football Federation (AIFF) on July 3, five new teams were inducted into the I-league. This is an attempt to bolster the I-league further and pave the way for budding footballers to get much-needed exposure.
Another major decision was taken in the meeting. Federation Cup football tournament will return after a massive gap of six years. From 2023-24, the premier competition will return. Bengaluru FC are the reigning champions of Federation Cup. It is being done to restore the legacy of competition as it will be the ultimate challenge for clubs in India. Similarly, last year, Durand Cup was revived as well.
The five new teams -
Only two clubs have been named so far -- FC Bengaluru United and Inter Kashi. The remaining three teams are from Punjab, Delhi and Haryana. This will mean that I-league will be a 16-team tournament.
How promotions work –
The winner of the I-league will be promoted to Indian Super League (ISL). The club won’t have to pay the franchise fee that is collected from clubs before the start of a season. This will be an added motivation for players to make I-league more competitive. However, the downside is that they will not get money from the central pool. But they will get a part of the prize pool from next season onwards.
For example, I-league 2022-23 winners RoundGlass Punjab have been promoted to ISL on the basis of merit. They are not liable to pay franchise fee before the start of ISL 2023-24. But they will not get a share from the 'Central pool revenue' due to several factors.
Conference system to save operational cost
Also a conference system is being put in place which will save money. According to the system, the teams will be divided into two conferences. Each of the two conferences will have teams from same geographical area. In doing so, their away games will not be expensive for clubs with low budget. The decrease in operational cost of the clubs will make it sustainable for smaller clubs who struggled to arrange for travel and accommodation of their players and support staff. The money saved in logistics will now be used in investing in players’ development.
The cons of new regime
With new setup being in place, ISL's reserve teams will not be allowed to participate in I-League's second and third divisions. This will affect players as they will get even lesser game to show their skills. In the previous season, six ISL reserve teams took part in I-League second division. It led to an addition six to eight games to their calendar.
Big budget
On July 4, AIFF also passed a budget of Rs 134 crore which is nearly more than Rs 50 crore than last year's. Earlier AIFF general secretary Shaji Prabhakaran had termed the Rs 87 crore budget as "meagre" considering the size of the nation.
Optimistic AIFF
AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey is impressed with India senior men's national team's performance and how the federation is being run now.
“Having reached the FIFA ranking of 100 after winning back-to-back tournaments in Imphal and Bhubaneswar, it is proved that Indian football is moving in the right direction," Chaubey said.
"Perhaps, never before has the federation been run with so much inner democracy, where everybody has the right to air their views and opinions."
Prabhakaran was of similar opinion as he said, "We had open discussions on Indian football agendas, especially the decision to inculcate five new clubs into the I-League, which is historic."
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
Former India star bowler, son narrowly escape horrific car accident in Meerut: Reports
