Reviving thread. I don't really have a specific suggestion but I would like to start a "Proposal discussion" on how we believe the club structure in India should be like and how we can go about starting an actual "FA Cup" type league in the future.
This is something I have given a lot of thought on and in my opinion we can not progress as a footballing nation without a proper club system.
To me, we can separate the club system into three categories: 1) The Indian Super League/I-League clubs. 2) The state league and other region clubs. 3) The youth clubs.
The Indian Super League/I-League club system is one that needs sorting out within the next 3-5 years. We need to figure out what is the top tier league and how can we progress forward with it.
With the state league and other clubs I believe we need to start creating a new state league system. Almost like the NPL in Australia. Select 5 states to start state leagues with specific restrictions and build from there with a long-term plan (similar to Japan's 100 year plan).
And with youth clubs you can work it out with the ISL/I-League and state league clubs to create a proper league and tournaments (using the BC Roy and Santosh etc to our advantage).
@bida 25, Manipur has a well managed and well developed state league ... started as a FIFA project. I remember Kerala and Delhi state leagues also was started subsequently with FIFA project, Kerala never started due to mismanagement and Delhi was halted because of corruption.
And that is the point of perhaps starting something like this. We need to develop a proper state and regional system and personally I feel that can only be done within the long-term (as in launching in a few years after a lot of planning).
@arsenalfan700, your 3-tiered club system is fine. But what is the relationship between tiers? Would a club get promotion from lower to higher tiers (and opposite), or they are discrete? Alternatively, if clubs don't move up or down, the players can. That would give us a very good self-sustaining pyramid of players.
Challenges are many. Firstly, there aren't enough training pitches (or even, match-fit grounds) for the lower tiers. You need investment (and political maneuvering) for that. Secondly, most state associations do not have the management capacity to conduct the leagues. Thirdly, financing the lower tiers will be difficult. You won't get any sponsors (or get very little of it), particularly at the lowest level.However, if AIFF have a concrete proposal, then FIFA might get interested.
Starting in a limited scale and scaling up gradually may be an option,
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