Pan Indian I League
Editing my earlier post with this new one. These following things have been discussed on the forum quite often.Give your feedback/modifications on this . i had posted this to AIFF email id. god knows if they atleast read this. the following teams mentioned are just cited for reference..
I have drafted a plan to expand the I-league and also to bring in more interaction between State associations and the AIFF.
According to my plan a team from pune say for eg deccan XI can aim and hope to play in the I-league in 2-3 years by qualifying up the ladder.
Here is an idea which if implemented can attract sponsors and make the state associations more responisble .This can also be used to atrract major sponsors considering the depth and interconnection of this format.
First of all The Corporate team likeONGC,OIL,Dempo,SBT,Mahindra,Churchill,Air India,BEML should be asked to associate themselves with a city say for example Mahindra Nasik,Margoa Dempo,OIL Dulijan United,ONGC kanpur Eagles. The people will feel the connectivity if their city is associated.Take a leaf out of PFC.i am proud PFC fan but i woudnt have been a Peninsula FC fan(Peninsula the prime sponsors of PFC),forget watching Peninsule FC games<div> 1) So currently we have 14 teams playing in the I-League top divison .The currently called i-League would be called I-League Prime division
i just assume that air india and Mumbai FC are the drop outs from div 1 and united Sikkim,Wahingdoh, qualify are there in i league 1st div(Prime division)
2) So we have around 18 teams which compets in the I-league 2nd div namely; ONGC,Denzong Boys,SBT,Amity unted,Golden threads,New delhi hereos,Mumbai united,Indian National,Vasco,Mohd sporting,OIL India,Chandni,BEML,Simla youngs,titanium travancore,Sesa FC,SBT,BMFC and 2 teams Air india and Mumbai FC which were relegated.
3)Divide these 20 teams into 2 groups and play in round robin this can be done in sept. (9 matches for each team)..Note these teams need to be modified ,but i am felling lazy to modify the whole 18 team list. Now the first 5 teams of both groups total 10 form I-league 1st division for the year 2012-20131.
the bottom 5 teams of each group form I-league 2nd divsion I-league 1st division for the year 2012-2013
4) So we have I-league Prime division (14) teams,I-league 1st division(10) teams I-league 2nd divsion(10) teams which would be playing from september-May in Home -Away format in 2010-2011
5) Now till we have 20 teams in the 3 divisions,the good old rule of 4 qualifying to the next level and 2 dropping out will continue.Now the obvious question where will the 2nd divison get the teams supply. Here the state associations come in to play.
6) i assume out of 28 states and 7 union terrotaries we can have atleast 20 states which are rich enough to organise a league
Say there are 20 states divide the 20 states in to 4 conference like the
Western State Conference(Maharashtra,Gujarat,Goa,Rajastan,Madhya pradesh) 8 matches(home and away) each to qualify for the 2nd division of the same year.
Eastern state Conference(Bengal,Sikkim,Manipur,Meghalaya,Assam)
Northern State conference(Punjab,Haryana,Delhi,J&k,Uttar Pradesh)
Southern state conference(Karnataka,Tamilnadu,Kerala,Andhra Pradesh,Orissa)
Dividing the teams would save the travelling expenditure.India is a large country.
Now each year we would be having the I-League state conference tournament(Home and away) for the winners of the respective state leagues.
The individual winner from the the above 4 conference would qualify for the I-league 2nd divsion.so here each year we would be getting 4 teams to 2nd division.
7) Now to qualify for the conference ,a team must win the respective state league.
8) Here the state wise I-league comes into picture.We have a respective state league going on .So we may rechristened it to say
Maha I-League(maharashtra I-league),Punjabi I-league,Rajasthani I-league,Kerala I-league.
9) Say for eg in Maha i-league (home and away affair) 2 teams each from Mumbai,Pune,Kolhpur,nagpur are playing and DeccanXI from Pune wins the Maha I-league in 2009-2010 .so Deccan XI will represent maharashtra in the Western state conference2010-2011,and if it wins it has a chance to go to I-league 2nd division2010-2011.
10)Now a state association should decide which cities from their state can play in thier state I-League.No more than 2 teams from a city should be allowed to play .
11) So now we also have a city I-league. Now say in case of Deccan XI of Pune,It should win the Pune Football league in order to be able to qualify to reprsent the city in the state league. City league should be played before the State league.
12) So we can have Pune city league,nagpur city league,Kolhapur city league,Mumbai city league prior to the state(Maha I-league) and the respective city champions will qualify for the state(Maha I-league).
So as you can see we already have connected a local city club to the Prime division of Indian football. 6 divsions of Indian football interconnected to each other.
13)Now for promotion and relegation
Stage Winners go to (Promotion) Losers go to (Relegation)
I-league Prime Div AFC champions League,AFC cup I-league 1st division
I-league 1st Div I-league Prime Div I-League 2nd division.
I-League 2nd Div I-League 1st Div State I-league
Conference(4 teams) I-League 2nd divison City league
State I-League Conference City League
City league State I-League City League.</div>
I have drafted a plan to expand the I-league and also to bring in more interaction between State associations and the AIFF.
According to my plan a team from pune say for eg deccan XI can aim and hope to play in the I-league in 2-3 years by qualifying up the ladder.
Here is an idea which if implemented can attract sponsors and make the state associations more responisble .This can also be used to atrract major sponsors considering the depth and interconnection of this format.
First of all The Corporate team likeONGC,OIL,Dempo,SBT,Mahindra,Churchill,Air India,BEML should be asked to associate themselves with a city say for example Mahindra Nasik,Margoa Dempo,OIL Dulijan United,ONGC kanpur Eagles. The people will feel the connectivity if their city is associated.Take a leaf out of PFC.i am proud PFC fan but i woudnt have been a Peninsula FC fan(Peninsula the prime sponsors of PFC),forget watching Peninsule FC games<div> 1) So currently we have 14 teams playing in the I-League top divison .The currently called i-League would be called I-League Prime division
i just assume that air india and Mumbai FC are the drop outs from div 1 and united Sikkim,Wahingdoh, qualify are there in i league 1st div(Prime division)
2) So we have around 18 teams which compets in the I-league 2nd div namely; ONGC,Denzong Boys,SBT,Amity unted,Golden threads,New delhi hereos,Mumbai united,Indian National,Vasco,Mohd sporting,OIL India,Chandni,BEML,Simla youngs,titanium travancore,Sesa FC,SBT,BMFC and 2 teams Air india and Mumbai FC which were relegated.
3)Divide these 20 teams into 2 groups and play in round robin this can be done in sept. (9 matches for each team)..Note these teams need to be modified ,but i am felling lazy to modify the whole 18 team list. Now the first 5 teams of both groups total 10 form I-league 1st division for the year 2012-20131.
the bottom 5 teams of each group form I-league 2nd divsion I-league 1st division for the year 2012-2013
4) So we have I-league Prime division (14) teams,I-league 1st division(10) teams I-league 2nd divsion(10) teams which would be playing from september-May in Home -Away format in 2010-2011
5) Now till we have 20 teams in the 3 divisions,the good old rule of 4 qualifying to the next level and 2 dropping out will continue.Now the obvious question where will the 2nd divison get the teams supply. Here the state associations come in to play.
6) i assume out of 28 states and 7 union terrotaries we can have atleast 20 states which are rich enough to organise a league
Say there are 20 states divide the 20 states in to 4 conference like the
Western State Conference(Maharashtra,Gujarat,Goa,Rajastan,Madhya pradesh) 8 matches(home and away) each to qualify for the 2nd division of the same year.
Eastern state Conference(Bengal,Sikkim,Manipur,Meghalaya,Assam)
Northern State conference(Punjab,Haryana,Delhi,J&k,Uttar Pradesh)
Southern state conference(Karnataka,Tamilnadu,Kerala,Andhra Pradesh,Orissa)
Dividing the teams would save the travelling expenditure.India is a large country.
Now each year we would be having the I-League state conference tournament(Home and away) for the winners of the respective state leagues.
The individual winner from the the above 4 conference would qualify for the I-league 2nd divsion.so here each year we would be getting 4 teams to 2nd division.
7) Now to qualify for the conference ,a team must win the respective state league.
8) Here the state wise I-league comes into picture.We have a respective state league going on .So we may rechristened it to say
Maha I-League(maharashtra I-league),Punjabi I-league,Rajasthani I-league,Kerala I-league.
9) Say for eg in Maha i-league (home and away affair) 2 teams each from Mumbai,Pune,Kolhpur,nagpur are playing and DeccanXI from Pune wins the Maha I-league in 2009-2010 .so Deccan XI will represent maharashtra in the Western state conference2010-2011,and if it wins it has a chance to go to I-league 2nd division2010-2011.
10)Now a state association should decide which cities from their state can play in thier state I-League.No more than 2 teams from a city should be allowed to play .
11) So now we also have a city I-league. Now say in case of Deccan XI of Pune,It should win the Pune Football league in order to be able to qualify to reprsent the city in the state league. City league should be played before the State league.
12) So we can have Pune city league,nagpur city league,Kolhapur city league,Mumbai city league prior to the state(Maha I-league) and the respective city champions will qualify for the state(Maha I-league).
So as you can see we already have connected a local city club to the Prime division of Indian football. 6 divsions of Indian football interconnected to each other.
13)Now for promotion and relegation
Stage Winners go to (Promotion) Losers go to (Relegation)
I-league Prime Div AFC champions League,AFC cup I-league 1st division
I-league 1st Div I-league Prime Div I-League 2nd division.
I-League 2nd Div I-League 1st Div State I-league
Conference(4 teams) I-League 2nd divison City league
State I-League Conference City League
City league State I-League City League.</div>
Comments
Secondly, getting Navi Mumbai FC, Chennai FC or the likes of it would not add any value and does not guarantee sponsors and fans. The way the teams are chosen as of now is fair. Until a certain Navi Mumbai FC comes up with big names in world football, I do not see why we should include them. Competence should be the only criterion. If you start applying quota, you are depriving the merit
this wont affect the competence level of the league and also give us with more pan indian look
Right now I think this coming summer the AIFF needs to have a lot of meetings and decide on what the 2013-14 I-League season will look like. We can't do anything with the 2012-13 I-League but we can plan for the 2013-14 I-League. Anyway we should first announce Air India as the title sponsor of the I-League so we can rename the league the Air India I-League.
Then we should focus on the teams based off specific criteria which involves many different requirements but mainly how much money the owner has, how much they want to spend on there team, look at TV ratings and must have a viable stadium.
Based off these requirements these look to be the teams in a 10 team league...
1) East Bengal
2) Mohun Bagan
3) Dempo SC
4) Sporting Clube de Goa
5) United Sikkim FC
6) Royal Wahingdoh FC
7) Shillong Lajong FC
8) Pune FC
9) Mumbai FC
10) Bangalore United FC (They are a club in the Bangalore 3rd Division with a look at a bright future plus if the Barcelona game goes great in Bangalore then this club could get financial backing.
And this should be it. 10 Teams because all franchise leagues should start small and build up. 16 teams is way to risky and will in India fail. Then every 2 seasons or 4 seasons at the beginning we should expand the league by 2 teams each time to either Kerala, Chennai, Punjab, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi again, Kerala again, Bihar, and Kashmir. Of course if these areas follow the criteria. NO RELEGATION because what if a good financially stable club i relegated and the only clubs that can be promoted are on the brink of financial disbanding. We can't have that in a franchise league. Plus the owners won't want to invest all that money into there team only to see them get relegated. Wont work. Expansion is the way forward.
Then we should focus on stadiums because teams can't live without sponsors and we don't want sponsors to be in the team names so the instead of have company names for teams have company names for stadiums...
1) Salt Lake Stadium - United Breweries Stadium
2) Dempo Stadium (when it opens)
3) Fatorda Stadium - Sponsor Stadium (who ever wants it)
4) Paljor Stadium - (who ever wanted naming rights)
5) Polo Grounds - Airtel Park
6) Cooperage Ground - Air India Stadium
7) Balewadi Stadium - Peninsula Stadium
8) Bangalore Stadium - (who ever wants naming rights)
This will not only bring in revenue for the teams and leagues, it will also bring in revenue for the sponsors themselves. After Emirates took over the Arsenal Stadium Emirates flights in London have doubled.
Also bring in 1 national sponsor and start regional broadcasting. So have 1 game nationally broadcasted per week with the other 4 games being broadcasted by that teams regional channel. Note every team can only be on national television 10 times and the rest of there games are regionally done. Also note that the season would have to be 27 games long. The first 18 games are home and away and the venue of the last 9 remaining games will be decided by who is ahead in the table. This is what we need.</div>
i will cite one example of promotion and relegation:
Relegation: Now assuming Air india will be relegated to I-League 1st div(currenly called as 2nd division)
So Air india if playing in I-league 1st divison(2010-11) finish in the bottom 2 it will fall to 2nd division the next year.ie i-League 2nd Div(2011-12)
No again if it finishes bottom of i-League 2nd Div it would not play conference but the state I-league in the year(2012-13).
Air india would be considered one of the Mumbai representatives for the state I-league.
Here if they win the state I-league they become eligible to play the conference.
if they also win the conference they can play I-league 2nd div(2013-14)
But if they finish at the bottom of the state League they would be playing the city league(2014-15)
So winning the state I-league guarentees a place in the conference ,which in turns guarentees a place in 2nd division if won.
However apart from the 4 teams who win the west,south,east,north conference rest all would return back to play state league the next year.
Some rules which can also help are :
1) Foreigners allowed only in Prime 1st Division,2nd divsion
2) 3 foreigners for 2nd and 1st division and only 2 foreigners for the Prime divsion allowed.
3) No I-league (Prime div,1st div,2nd div) player allowd to play in the conference,state or the city league.
4)i-league prime division teams can field their u-19 teams in the 2nd division,but the team will have to qualify to play for it.
suppose Dempo margoa wants their U-19 team to play in second div. They will have to play the city league,state league ,conference to qualify for that.
Dempo Margoa u-19 team cant qualify for the I-league 1st div.the max they can stay is in 2nd div.
5) I-league 1st div teams can play thier u-19 teams in the state league. they cant qualify for the conference.
6) Federation cup can be played in a knockout format with teams from Prime div,1st divsion,2nd divison and the Conference teams participating in it.
7) The Conference tournament is like the Santosh Trophy.
Norms shuold be set for a team to become a I-league Prime,1st,2nd div,state,city team differenlty, the top agenda should be crowd support,stadium,Management,Coaching licenes.Sponsorship,
8) we can follow 4 promotions and 2 relegations to each division till we get 20 teams in Prime,1st and 2nd division.
After that we can follow 3 team rule.
Soccermaniacs what do you feel.. i feel its possible with a little bit of risk and giving identity to the state associations .NEPL is a god example to start with :angelic-sun
Either way though your idea is a good one and should have been read by the AIFF.</div>
<div>Nice One mate!!! But isnt the 4th and 5th points are followed in South Africa. SAFA League??
I sincerely hope this is implemented (completely or partially or with some changes, if required). This will help even reserves team and U-19 team to get exposure without having any different U-19 league and Reserve league. And the same time have promotion and relegation structure to it,thus maintaining its competitiveness.</div>
<div>Ya but its still all about the AIFFs word. They want the Franchise league while still having the England Football Format of promotion/relegation, millions of teams in 1 city etc</div>