AIFF to halt Super Cup from ongoing season
As revealed by Goal, AIFF is all set to drop the Super Cup, a competition that featured sides from ISL and I-League. It is expected that the tournament will be reintroduced once the promotion and relegation system is adopted in the ISL.
According to the Indian football roadmap published in October, the promotion system for the top-league will not be implemented before the 2022 season. In such a scenario, the Super Cup will remain suspended for three seasons at least.
ISL league stage winners to be awarded AFC Champions League group stage spot
Also, ISL league stage winners will be awarded direct entry to the AFC Champions League group stage, Asia's premier club tournament. This comes along with a confirmed AFC Cup group stage slot to the I-League winners and another spot to the ISL league stage runners-up. However, the system is expected to be a temporary structure until the roadmap comes into effect.
When the promotion and relegation system is introduced in the ISL and the Super Cup is restarted, I-League's AFC Cup spot will be transferred to the Cup competition champions. However, the new structure alone does not assure the reintroduction of the Super Cup and comes without a reward for the ISL Cup winners.
The Super Cup had been played for two seasons and won by Bengaluru FC and FC Goa. The top six teams of both the leagues were handed direct qualification into the tournament, while the remaining sides had to feature in a qualification round. The 2019 Super Cup saw a lot of controversies when seven I-League clubs withdrew from the tournament, mentioning unfair treatment to I-League clubs by the AIFF.
India's representatives in the upcoming AFC 2020 competitions will be I-League champions Chennai City (AFC Champions League preliminary stage) and ISL champions Bengaluru FC (AFC Cup preliminary qualifying round).
Also Read: AFC Champions League and AFC Cup 2020 draws: Chennai City FC and Bengaluru FC learn preliminary round opponents