Thats not going to happen... not in a million years. We need to be realistic.
First of all, again, we need to focus on the stability of the current eight teams. After that we should expand slowly... maybe two new teams every four-six years. Within 12-16 years we should be at 16 teams and within 20 years we can hit 20 teams and who knows after that, India is a massive country, we can support a 28-30 team first-tier league but I am getting ahead of myself.
The key to expansion though will be location... where will the team be? Who are the owners? Do they have money? Are they serious about football? Most I-League clubs can not even imagine paying an ISL budget and as the league improves/gets longer that will become even more true.
Bengaluru FC is ideally set to be the next team. I personally think Hyderabad should be the next location after that. Then we should focus on the north of India and place a team in Noida, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, or Gurgaon.
Keep in mind also, it is kinda hard to make these "Idea of what we should do next" when we don't even know the economics of the league.
How does the Indian Super League operate exactly? How is revenue shared/distributed? Where does the money come from? Does STAR Sports pay anything or do we pay them?
Until we know how all this works we can not say when or how the league should expand.
@preetam. Are u serious about SCG in that league. Dont think they can compete with ISL teams on their own. One team in goa should suffice. But one more may be accomodated to handle Salgaocar or they can be given stakes in FC goa if the brothers agree.
To conclude, i think ur comment is hypothetical. Very difficult to achive what you wrote. Why will ISL allow these teams in??? Why will ATK kill themselves by agreeing to this???
@preetam, this is crazy, wishful thinking and without a touch of ground reality.
Why would Mumbai FC 'merge' with Mumbai City FC (or vice versa)? Just because they have similar names? Why not merge Bharat FC and Hindustan FC? Can you really force Essel Group combine with Reliance?
Who will control the new Pune team, the Peninsular Group or the other side (PCFC owners)?
Why would United and MSC come along to be taken over by ADK?
Why Kerala Blaster name be changed? because some people do not like it? Tendulkar likes the name and he is one of the owners. I don't like the name 'Chennaiyin FC'; so what?
Why SCG?
NE United have ownership issues; why would RW associate with them?
JCT and Delhi merging? hahaha ... Why should a club from Delhi and Punjab unite? Who will control the new entity?
And Tatas are not interested to form a club; how do you force them to float a club?
well kushal das himself told that they will try to merge isl and i-league. so don't you think there will be increase in teams...wats the point of merging if no. of teams stays 8? if 8 teams re there where is merging then? and earlier we saw 14 teams in i-league so i just pass an idea ...little ambitious..got carried away ..i know its very hard
Yeah ... I understand. Also, while busting a few myths (India not a football playing country, only cricket viable here, India won't be able to host a big ticket event, Nobody will sponsor football in India, Football is only in pockets in India, and so on), ISL has given lot more problems than solutions.
Coming days will be difficult for Indian football ...
AFC has a restriction on the number of foreign players in clubs. So, the scenario of ISL merging with I league may not be possible with 6 foreign players in ISL.
Maybe, once the ISL and AIFF gets rich, we can bully the AFC to modify rules to suit us just like BCCI does with ICC. Lol!!
We have to play on FIFA match days if we have any interest in improving our rankings.
Newer stadiums will come. Isn't ATK all set to build a new football stadium in Rajatgarh, Kolkatta? I read so in the news. Mr.Dempo was also talking about a higher capacity stadium in Goa during the Semifinals. Kerala already have 2 good athletic track free 50000+ stadiums. And isn't Bengaluru FC redeveloping their old football stadium?
I'd say we wait till Russia 2018 before we take any decision on merging ISL and I league. However, I do believe in the addition of Bengaluru and Hyderabad in ISL and an increase in the number of I league teams.
As far as I know, AFC Rule is only for AFC Competitions i.e. the cup and champions league. In the league, its the organizing body that decides the no. of foreigners. So, its totally under AIFF to do the needful.
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To conclude, i think ur comment is hypothetical. Very difficult to achive what you wrote. Why will ISL allow these teams in??? Why will ATK kill themselves by agreeing to this???
Maybe, once the ISL and AIFF gets rich, we can bully the AFC to modify rules to suit us just like BCCI does with ICC.
We have to play on FIFA match days if we have any interest in improving our rankings.
Newer stadiums will come. Isn't ATK all set to build a new football stadium in Rajatgarh, Kolkatta? I read so in the news. Mr.Dempo was also talking about a higher capacity stadium in Goa during the Semifinals. Kerala already have 2 good athletic track free 50000+ stadiums. And isn't Bengaluru FC redeveloping their old football stadium?
I'd say we wait till Russia 2018 before we take any decision on merging ISL and I league. However, I do believe in the addition of Bengaluru and Hyderabad in ISL and an increase in the number of I league teams.