It's not massive but it shows that they have their head in the right place sort of. They're doing something and honestly not doing anything bad with these.
How they 'intend' to play in ACL and be 'on the verge' of playing in ACL? Do they know they are NOT allowed because they play in an unrecognized league? Or this is also part of the PR to the gullible audience which @goalkeeper had mentioned in another thread?
You do know that the ISL will probably become longer come just next season... 2017-18. ISL teams could be in the AFC Champions League come 2018 earliest.
It is not gullible, if anything it is promising that perhaps there is something going on behind the scenes and that there might be some intention to want to do well.
India needs to be 6th in East Asia MA Rankings of AFC to have atleast 1 direct spot in AFC Champions League. Currently we are 9th. for 2017 & 2018 editions, I-League clubs will be the one play in AFC Competitions and if they perform well and atleast 1 of them makes it to semis in both the editions, then we may rise to 6th. That means ISL clubs (if ISL becomes the official league) will get their 1st chance in AFC CL in 2019 and it will be because of hard work of I-League clubs.
Fat chance of that happening..apart from BFC nobody has the appetite or the intent to happening themselves as the top league closed to everyone else. Please remember that AFC unlike the circus is a proper football tournament with restrictions on foreign players. With 0 investment in any kind of youth setups (yes I forgot about the legendary RelianceYF paid weekend tamasha whose products India awaits with baited breath to lead to WC glory) . I hate to break it to the circus faithfulls here but weekend camps for rich kids don't qualify as elite academy. & week long stints don't produce ACL champions
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It is not gullible, if anything it is promising that perhaps there is something going on behind the scenes and that there might be some intention to want to do well.