Officials of the Asian Football Confederation are pushing for one league from next season and will submit their proposal for an unified league structure starting from 2018, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.
This report will be presented to the All India Football Federation by November and the federation are expected to go through the proposal and take a call on the same. The acceptance of the proposal may mean that the top tier will have up to 18 teams in a re-jigged top division and a second tier or more below it.
The AIFF has indicated that it will run both the Indian Super League and the ISL parallel to each other for this season, which starts after the Under-17 World Cup in October. The AFC, along with a delegation of officials from world football’s governing body, FIFA are also expected to visit all six venues of the World Cup this August-September and conduct workshops at all these venues before presenting it to the AIFF.
The AFC had earlier invited stakeholders from all I-League and ISL clubs to meet each other in Kuala Lumpur, where they had suggested a roadmap for Indian football. Earlier, the AIFF had suggested an alternative plan with 10 teams in a rejigged top tier but the proposal had not gone through, with several I-League clubs opposing the move.
The confederation’s pressure on AIFF may also stem from the fact that this may set an unwanted precedent for other AFC members to follow.