A roadmap for the roadmap: AFC's advice to Indian football stakeholders on how to merge I-League and ISL

THE AFC HAS broken down the roadmap for re-structuring the Indian football league system into three distinct target sections in its proposal to AIFF, I-League clubs and ISL representatives.

In a presentation they made at the all-stakeholder meeting held at Kuala Lumpur, the AFC representatives defined three sets of objectives. And they set out a timeline to achieve each one of them; a de-facto roadmap to come up with a roadmap.

The 'short term' objective is to come up with a league structure for the next season. This includes whether or not ISL and I-League will be unified in the 2017-18 season or held separately, and if it's the latter, whether they'll be held one after another or simultaneously. The contentious issue of Asian slot allocation - or rather whether ISL will get an AFC Cup playoff spot or not, or whether there will be a Super Cup played between the top teams from I-League and ISL with the winner getting a ticket to Asia - also falls under this objective. AFC has advised AIFF to call for another meeting on 12th June on Monday to make a decision on this matter. Even if a final decision does not emerge on that day, this process is likely to be done with by the end of this month, as player signings and the pre-season preparations of every club and franchise is currently on hold because of indecision on this front and that deadlock has to be broken.

For the subsequent 2-3 seasons, there is a 'medium term' objective, which will likely serve as a transition phase as the stakeholders work towards achieving the ultimate structure for Indian football that will last for years to come, defined by AFC as the 'long term' objective.

AFC General Secretary Dato Windsor has advised AIFF and its stakeholders to merge I-League and ISL, as a unified league would be best suited to fuel growth of club football in the country. The official press release from the continental body regarding this read,

"In the meeting, it was agreed that the history, commitment and contributions made for more than 100 years as well as the new skills, investments and marketing and promotional skills required respect."

The nod is towards a unified league where old and new I-League clubs as well as ISL franchises get to play. But to make that happen a lot of details have to be finalised. Whether or not the new league will have promotion-relegation, how many foreigners will be there per squad, will there be a player draft or they will adopt an open market policy like the rest of the world, allocation of stadiums and the nationwide spread of the league, whether or not there will be franchise fees and bidding process to induct new teams, will there be new national licensing terms... all these are issues debated heatedly amongst stakeholders and need careful contemplation before a final decision is taken.

Hints of the 'mid term' transition can be already seen in Indian football. Recently, the ISL decided to abolish its mandatory marquee player rule, reduced the number of foreigners in teams and got rid of post-league playoffs in order to come one step closer towards complying with the regulations and formats AFC prescribes fo leagues around the continent. This has lessened the gap between ISL and I-League in terms of team budget and structure already, and chances are this transition will go on.

But how to go about taking this process to its conclusion should be decided after thorough consultation and research with Indian football stakeholders at all levels, according to the AFC. Their presentation listed the time between June and August 2017 as the period for talking to clubs, academies, players, sponsors and other various stakeholders in Indian football, and collect data on what they believe is the best way to go forward about the process. To do this, AFC prescribes forming a 'task force', much like the Joint Task Force that was formed last year to try and merge I-League with ISL by 2017. The presentation describes this task force thus,

"External/neutral party (e.g. AFC, external consultants - or mix of both) to co-ordinate -- possible to create 'Task Force' to oversee..."

Once the consultation and research is done, AFC prescribes September 2017 to be an analysis period where all the information collected will be looked at by qualified individuals, described as "external/neutral party to manage/co-ordinate" in the presentation. In October 2017, the whole process should be evaluated by AIFF and all Indian football stakeholders, according to AFC.

Then comes the turn to make decisions; something that Indian football fans have desperately wanted for the last couple of years, and the people in charge have either stalled or produced fruitless meetings on. AFC says this should happen "as soon as possible following the FIFA World Cup U-17." 

Now, the FIFA U-17 WC ends on 28th October 2017, and the 2017-18 national domestic club football season kicks off mid-November. Obviously by "as soon as possible" AFC wants it to be done before the season gets underway but they have not specified any timeline, so how far that last part will be stretched is anyone's guess.

But hopefully the end result after all this lengthy laborous process will be a top division league that will have a place for every club with the merit to compete for the title of the Champion of India, and finally put to rest the split-system crisis due to the existence of I-League and ISL as separate leagues.

It remains to be seen how much of AFC's well-structured advices will be accepted and implemented by the AIFF.

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