A new roadmap for the future of All India Football Federation
Khevna.P.Shah, INN/Bangalore
@Shahkhevna1, @Infodeaofficial
Recently All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced new regulations that stated, from 2024-25 season, there will be promotion with relegation happening at the Indian Super League, and the winners of I-League shall be placed in the Indian Super League, and the bottom-placed team in ISL will be put down to the I-League.
AIFF along with the Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) refurbished the roadmap for upcoming years of Indian football in 2020. This plan states that the domestic structure for the next five years will merge these two leagues and help the players play and showcase their quality in more matches. It states that the new league will have 20 participants.
The plan in brief
The plan is laid out for 4 seasons up till the year 2024-2025
2020-21 season- Two I-League clubs will be included in Indian Super League.
2021-22 season- A new league format shall be introduced, and the name of the league will be changed as per the All Indian Football Federation.
2022-23 season- The winner of the I-League will stand a chance to be promoted to the Indian Super League with no participation fee, a basis for fulfilling sporting merit, and the national club licensing criteria is set out by the All Indian Football Federation and this time there shall be no relegation in the Hero Indian Super League.
2023-24 season- Will be the same as 2022-23.
2024-25 season- Introduction of only one league, with promotion and relegation, and one knockout cup by All Indian Football Federation.
The Indian Super League will become the top-tier of Indian football and will be open for I-League winners from the 2022/23 season onwards. And The All Indian Football Federation will also organize one knockout tournament from the 2024-25 season.
Four clubs are being promoted to the Indian Super League in the next four years, which has already seen Mohun Bagan’s Bengal giants and East Bengal switch sides in this edition. And
the owner of Minerva Punjab, Ranjit Bajaj said, “I consider this as a victory even at the cost of losing the AFC Champions League spot.”
“We have been fighting for a long time for a proper roadmap of Indian football, and today we are successful. After five years, there will be one league with promotion and relegation, and the I-League winners can play without franchise fee from the fourth year, it’s the most significant achievement for Indian football,” quoted by Mohun Bagan’s secretary Debashish Dutta
This new project might be beneficial for some and a downside for others! This plan was laid out solely for the purpose of the development and growth of Indian Football. But will this decision make the clubs financially unstable? And what will the AIFF have an answer for this?
And now considering the two situations, that is one from I-League and the other from ISL
The situation for Minerva Punjab got worse, even after winning the I-League, which resulted in selling their stakes to RoundGlass. “One of the main reasons behind selling Punjab FC was, of course, the AIFF. There will be no promotion and relegation in the next three seasons to play in the ISL. Even if we win the league, I believe the AFC slot will be given to an ISL club like the way it happened this time. Hence I felt it would be sensible if I invest the money on youth.” was stated by Mr.Bajaj
The other case is when The Hindu stated in one of their articles that, “I think they (the league and club owners) are not happy.
