Five changes that ISL needs to implement

Many Indian Super League teams are yet to take grassroots development programmes seriously.

India’s premier football tournament, the Indian Super League (ISL) is already halfway through its 2023-24 season. From witnessing some of the most spectacular goals to the churning up of controversies due to poor match officiating, the saga of the Indian top flight has gone through the uncertainties of the beautiful game.

This season has also seen the emerging youth of Indian football, be it Parthib Gogoi being the top scorer for NorthEast United, Konsam Phalguni Singh’s screamer against Mohun Bagan Super Giant or Yoihenba making it to the main stage from the academy of Kerala Blasters, it truly has been a wholesome experience so far.

Recently, in Khel Now TV’s latest episode of Inside Indian Football, show host Ashish Negi threw light upon some of the most profound aspects of Indian Football with one of them being the changes that need to be implemented into the current framework of the ISL.

Let’s take a look at the five necessary changes needed in the ISL framework:

League to be played on the weekend

The first change that needs to be made in the framework. The league matches should be only played on the weekend that is, only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It can be even scheduled from Thursday to Sunday with six games a week.

One on Thursday and Friday each and two on Saturday and Sunday each. This will equip the players with proper training and relaxation periods which will also reduce the chances of injuries which we often observe due to the league’s cramped schedules.

Organizing a Reserve League

The second change suggests the setting up of a reserve league which will be just like a longer version of the Indian Super League. The teams must ensure that the reserve team travels together with the main team and either a day before the matchday or on the same day should a play game too.

This will lead to an increase in the costs and expenses but will help in nurturing the young players when they move from the Reserve team to the main team.

Implementation of grassroots-level

There used to be a time when the ISL teams used to organize a grassroots program during the initial years of the tournament. The third change that should be done is its implementation in a more hardcore manner. Prominent instances can be Kerala Blasters and FC Goa who have cherished the fruit of them nurturing their youth teams, especially Kerala Blasters who have produced good players from their U-16 and U-19 youth teams.

One fine example is the debut of Yoihenba against Mohun Bagan Super Giant. On the contrary, Mohun Bagan Super Giant who have spent a huge sum of money on their team building should invest a bit more and contribute to player building at the youth level since they are missing out on that pipeline.

ISL Teams to take Asian Tournaments more seriously

Recently in the ISL, Odisha FC made it to the inter-zonal semi-finals of the AFC Cup under their Spanish tactician, Sergio Lobera. The ISL sides should take the Asian tournaments more seriously as this will help them increase their standards to a great extent when they play against international clubs.

Odisha FC might be traveling to the semi-finals following the conclusion of the ongoing AFC Cup round which is a great feat for an Indian side to play in Australia.

ISL Schedule to coordinate with the Asian tournaments

The final change is that, the ISL fixtures should be scheduled keeping in mind the Asian football tournaments hosted by the Asian Football Confederation, or the AFC.

This will provide the players with a proper and structural training period so that, a team that is playing either in the AFC Champions League or in the AFC Cup, will get a proper framework to carry out both campaigns without any shortcomings.

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