AIFF to present Indian football roadmap to ISL, I-League clubs

The meeting will take place in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on October 14.

The AIFF has recently sent out invites to all the teams involved in both the ISL and the I-League, in order to disclose their roadmap for the campaigns ahead. On Thursday, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das wrote to all of the teams involved in both competitions, to inform them of the meeting to be conducted at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on 14th of October at 10am.

In an interview with TOI, Das said, “All doubts will be cleared on October 14. We have come up with a roadmap which will be presented to all the stakeholders in Malaysia. It will be premature to say anything more at the moment."

Although, this does seem like it will come as good news for Indian football in general, there’s a possibility that the I-League teams aren’t going to be very happy with the outcome of the said meeting. It has been suggested that the roadmap, developed with reference to the AFC guidelines, will put an end to all the questions surrounding Indian football at the moment.

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The AIFF seem to be standing their ground to ensure that the ISL remains India’s premier footballing club competition and this has made the I-League clubs hesitant to cooperate. Although. a plan to give the I-League the AFC Cup slot was developed, it fell through at the initial stages itself due to the sheer lack of acceptance.

The AIFF are said to be working very closely with the AFC in order to find a solution to the problem, while keeping members of both Indian leagues happy as well. Though, AIFF haven’t ruled out a slight restructuring of the leagues, they are still said to be working towards a special arrangement with the AFC for the next few years.

AIFF President Praful Patel met with AFC General Secretary Windsor John in Mumbai last month in this regard with Das in attendance too. The pair then went on conduct further meetings with AFC chiefs in Kuala Lumpur.

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Until last season, India’s spot in the AFC Champions League playoffs was reserved for the winner of the I-League with the winner of the ISL being granted access into the AFC Cup - effectively the second tier of Asian football. But now, the AIFF, in accordance with the AFC, seem to have changed their minds about which one is India’s top tier of football.

It has been announced that the slots have been reversed, which effectively means that the newer, more exciting, Indian Super League has now become India’s premier club competition. Discussions in this regard actually began all the way back in the summer of 2017 and although multiple meetings have been conducted, an explicit solution has not been found.

At the end of the day, its Indian football that’s hurting from all this uncertainty and the quicker we’re able to find answers, the better the state of the game will be.