NEW DELHI:
AIFF
president
Praful Patel
made it clear on Tuesday that there will be no merger between the
I-League
and the
Indian Super League (
ISL
) this year and the two football leagues will continue to co-exist in their respective formats.
Making a statement that might seem music to the ears of the I-League clubs and come as a shocker for the ISL clubs, he even went ahead and termed the I-League as the future of Indian football and said it will be the ISL which will have to merge into the I-League.
“There will not be a merger of the ISL this year. I-League will continue. Why create this conflict about ISL and I-League? ILeague is very much there. Why do we talk about the merger of the I-League and ISL. Why not say that the ISL is going to be merged into the I-League? Why look at it the other way? The I-League will be the future. If at all there is an ISL, it has to merge the reverse way . Not the other way round. There can only be one national league. You call it whatever. Name is not important,“ Patel replied to TOI's query regarding the scheduling of the proposed league , considering the U-17 World Cup is scheduled to be held in October.
When reminded that a number of clubs have already quit the I-League, he took a veiled dig at some of the `former' clubs. “Many are coming in as well right! The traditional clubs are not investing in football. I am not satisfied with the way the traditional clubs are being run. I am not blaming them but I wish that they too change. The clubs which are going out are not investing, that's why they are going out. They blame other reasons. But the actual reason is they don't have the bandwidth to continue. Why are others coming in?“ Patel said the clubs can take a leaf from Bengaluru FC's book. “One of the reasons why Benglauru FC was brought into the I-League was with the expectation that our footballing culture and traditional mindset has to change. People have to invest. I do not want to blame anybody . I understand they have had a lot of hardships. It's a chicken and egg scenario...what comes first. Somebody has to invest in sport. If they invest, the results will be visible down the line. If you have good games, there will be more spectators. There will be more value created for the team, a brand will be created. I see thousands of BFC jerseys in the stands during their match,“ he said.
Talking about the U-17 team's disappointing show in Russia, he said, “We have been continuously sending them on tours. This is the highest level of exposure we have tried to give to any team so far. I am going to meet the team and the coach this evening. We are not talking about winning the U-17 World Cup but at least we should be recognized as a good team.“
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