BENGALURU FC HAVE moved away from the I-League to join the Indian Super League, as a new franchise along with a team owned by Tata Steel.
BFC, who have won the I-League and the Federation Cup twice each over the 4 years since they were established, have been the most successful club in India in recent times, both domestically and internationally in AFC Cup. Within a short time they earned a reputation for their professional team management, deep grassroot work, infrastructure development and ambition that set them apart in Indian football.
But with the ISL and I-League set to be held simultaneously in 2017-18 and an AFC Cup playoff spot being offered to the ISL winner, the Blues have decided to jump ship to the cash-rich league operated by IMG-Reliance. Club CEO Parth Jindal said in a press release,
"We're glad that our bid to be part of the ISL has been okayed. A lot of time and thought has gone into our decision of wanting to be part of the league. The biggest factor has been the interest of the long-term future of Indian football. A longer league is the right road ahead... being part of the ISL will improve our commercial viability that then lets us do a lot more with our youth academy. We are excited to create new rivalries and keep old ones going should the new format allow us to come up against each other. A key aspect is we still get to chase our quest for the AFC Cup."
The other new team to be introduced in ISL 2017-18 is a Tata-owned franchise. With the Tata Football Academy as its backbone, the new club will benefit from Tata's widespread grassroot work all over the country; and the centres of excellence they have set up in association with multiple states. The Tata-owned team is set to bring a lot of value to the ISL as a club with a built-in connection with the soil.
Unless IMG-Reliance retrospectively seeks to add more teams, the 4th edition of ISL will see 10 teams participate, and a tentative start date has been set on 15th November 2017, roughly 2 weeks after the FIFA U-17 World Cup rounds up.
I-League, which will remain the top division league of the country, will begin around the same time.