AIFF have made major changes to the Indian football from 2017-18 season. The whole football structure is changed into three professional league formats. Indian Super League (ISL) will be nation's top tier league for football. Meanwhile, I-league and the second division of I-league will be 2nd and 3rd tier respectively.
AIFF officials have confirmed the news after their meeting regarding the restructuring of Indian football concluded at the headquarters in New Delhi.
TIER 1: Indian Super League (ISL)
ISL is set to become India's top most league for football. Major changes have been made as the league will feature more than eight teams from the 2017-18 season. The tender for additional teams will be invited. The duration of ISL is also extended from three months to seven months, starting from September to March. However, there will be no relegation or promotion from ISL.
TIER 2: LEAGUE 1
I-league will be renamed as league 1 and the league will consist of ten teams instead of nine. League 1 will be played side by side to ISL and it will be also played for seven months. AIFF have confirmed that there will financial boost for the newly named league 1. There will be relegation from league 1.
TIER 3: LEAGUE 2
The second devision of I-league will be renamed as league 2. The structure of League 2 will be as same as league 1. Albeit, special attention will be given to this league with the idea of promoting young talents. Monetary support will be provided to the teams. AIFF is looking forward to encourage teams from UP and Bihar who have never participated in the domestic leagues. There will be promotion to League 1 for the winners of league 2.
CLUB LICENSING CRITERIA:
ISL and League 1 teams are required to follow licensing criteria as mentioned by AIFF which is as per the guidelines of AFC license stipulations. League 2 teams will also follow the same criteria upto a certain extent.
RESTRUCTURING OF CUP COMPETITION:
Federation Cup will be named as Super Cup from 2018, as teams from all the three tiers will participate. The cup will have 16 teams out of which the 8 will be from ISL, 4 teams will be the top 4 of league 1 and the remaining four spots will be contested through a playoff between the remaining teams in the league hierarchy in a playoff format.
AIFF have also revamped Nehru Cup which features international teams as it be called champions' cup from 2018 and India will compete against the countries who are ranked between 120 to 140.
Besides this, a women league will also run parallel to all the three tiers.
Indian football Calender:
August : Champions Cup
September – March : ISL, League 1 and League 2 [November – February : Women’s League]
April – May : Super Cup
AIFF officials have confirmed the news after their meeting regarding the restructuring of Indian football concluded at the headquarters in New Delhi.
TIER 1: Indian Super League (ISL)
ISL is set to become India's top most league for football. Major changes have been made as the league will feature more than eight teams from the 2017-18 season. The tender for additional teams will be invited. The duration of ISL is also extended from three months to seven months, starting from September to March. However, there will be no relegation or promotion from ISL.
TIER 2: LEAGUE 1
I-league will be renamed as league 1 and the league will consist of ten teams instead of nine. League 1 will be played side by side to ISL and it will be also played for seven months. AIFF have confirmed that there will financial boost for the newly named league 1. There will be relegation from league 1.
TIER 3: LEAGUE 2
The second devision of I-league will be renamed as league 2. The structure of League 2 will be as same as league 1. Albeit, special attention will be given to this league with the idea of promoting young talents. Monetary support will be provided to the teams. AIFF is looking forward to encourage teams from UP and Bihar who have never participated in the domestic leagues. There will be promotion to League 1 for the winners of league 2.
CLUB LICENSING CRITERIA:
ISL and League 1 teams are required to follow licensing criteria as mentioned by AIFF which is as per the guidelines of AFC license stipulations. League 2 teams will also follow the same criteria upto a certain extent.
RESTRUCTURING OF CUP COMPETITION:
Federation Cup will be named as Super Cup from 2018, as teams from all the three tiers will participate. The cup will have 16 teams out of which the 8 will be from ISL, 4 teams will be the top 4 of league 1 and the remaining four spots will be contested through a playoff between the remaining teams in the league hierarchy in a playoff format.
AIFF have also revamped Nehru Cup which features international teams as it be called champions' cup from 2018 and India will compete against the countries who are ranked between 120 to 140.
Besides this, a women league will also run parallel to all the three tiers.
Indian football Calender:
August : Champions Cup
September – March : ISL, League 1 and League 2 [November – February : Women’s League]
April – May : Super Cup