ISL set to be India's premier football league, a look at AIFF-proposed new Indian football calendar
Since the very inception of the Indian Super League (ISL), innumerable rumours had been doing rounds regarding the merger of the franchise-based football league, ISL with that of the traditional domestic football league, I-League until a couple of days back. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had organised a meeting on 17 May 2016, which was attended by over 50 representatives from various clubs all across the country.
The AIFF president, Praful Patel proposed a complete revamp of the Indian football calendar while giving the most importance to the Indian Super League. The new structure which is expected to be implemented at the start of the 2018-19 football season will witness three distinct divisions- Indian Super League (ISL), League 1 (currently known as I-League) and League 2 (presently known as I-League 2).
The Indian Super League which currently hosts eight teams (franchises) is set to induct a couple of more from the I-League via a tender process. For an initial couple of seasons, the revised format of the ISL wouldn’t witness the concept of relegation and promotion- like at present- due to AIFF’s contractual obligations with the existing franchises. However, both League 1 and League 2 will have the aforementioned concept (relegation and promotion) imbibed in them.
Also read: Indian football headed for trouble? I-League clubs furious about AIFF's new domestic structure
Having said that, it has been reported that while almost all the ISL franchises are vouching for the restructured version of the domestic football season, most of the I-League clubs except Bengaluru FC are pretty much apprehensive about the changes.
I-League teams not happy
Sporting Club de Goa President, Peter Vaz wasn’t quite happy with the proceedings of the meeting. “This is a basic knee-jerk reaction by the AIFF. Such impulsive decisions will take Indian football down. I request (the) AIFF to provide us with soft copies so that we can come back with our apprehensions. We were always promised that the I-league and ISL are of equal importance and this doesn't highlight that," he told the press.
When asked about the AIFF's proposed policy, the General Secretary of another Goa-based club, Salgaocar answered, “I would love to chat with you about it, but we need something good about the decision to talk about. If you want only negative output, then I'm not talking.”
It will be quite to see who will eventually come out on top in the battle between money and legacy. But that is for another day. Let’s take a look at the new Indian football calendar as proposed by the All India Football Federation for the time being:
| Tournament | Duration |
| Champions Cup | August |
| ISL, League 1 and League 2 | September to March |
| Women’s League | November to February |
| Super Cup | April to May |