AIFF to continue strengthening I-League despite success of ISL and talk of merging tournaments

Despite the Indian Super League grabbing more eyeballs, the CEO of the I-League Sunando Dhar insists that India’s premier football competition’s 2014-15 season surpassed many expectations, as indicated by higher TRPs and increased crowd attendance.

“The TRP ratings went up by 13 per cent, the reach increased four times and crowd attendance everywhere, except Goa, increased. The quality of competition was good, there were some nice foreign players and we have plenty to look forward to in the next edition,” Dhar was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Dhar also talked up the previous season, which Mohun Bagan won by two points on the last day of the league, and called it ’the best ever'.

“Even if I were to handle the script, I could not have written a better ending. The title race and the relegation battle were both not decided until a few minutes before the end,” he added.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel recently said that India could eventually have just one league rather than two (ISL and I-League) and there have been discussions in the media of the two merging in the future.

“Patel said that in a few years from now, whether three, four or five years, India will eventually have just one league. This means that there will be a merger between the I-League and the ISL (Indian Super League) although the technicalities aren’t clear for now. He also stated that when the talks begin to combine the two leagues, the interests of the I-League clubs will also be taken into account instead of just announcing a one-sided decision,” an I-League club official was quoted as saying by Goal.com .

This has obviously created some tension in I-League clubs, institutions which have been around for decades. The ISL’s power to pull stars like Roberto Carlos, Marco Materazzi, Elano and Nicolas Anelka (among others) has also put Indian football on the global map.

Dhar informed that the AIFF has managed to get FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) backing for the I-League.

“We have also initiated a dialogue with FIFA to see if they can help us with better marketing of the league. FIFA are willing to help,” he said.

This help will also come through AFC’s Kick Off programme, which aids the development of clubs and leagues. 16 countries are already part of the programme and India could certainly come under it very soon.

Click here to read the full Times of India article.