Bengaluru FC and a team owned by Tata Steel will be the two new entrants in the expanded Indian Super League (ISL) for the 2017-18 season of Indian football, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced on Monday. The 10-team league will run for five months.
Tata Steel won the bid to participate in the ISL from Jamshedpur and the JSW Group, which owns BFC, from Bengaluru city. With this, the ISL will expand to 10 cities.
East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will remain in the I-League, with both leagues being staged concurrently from November, after the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in India.
Monday's announcement is significant given that Bengaluru have won two of the past four I-League titles and are held up as a model club, run on professional lines and with heavy fan engagement. And the addition of the Tatas -- arguably India's most respected business house -- will be a boost for the newbie ISL. More so given the Tatas' long connection with grassroots football.
"We're glad that our bid to be part of the ISL has been okayed," BFC CEO Parth Jindal said following the announcement. "A lot of time and thought has gone into our decision of wanting to be part of the league. The biggest factor has been the interest of the long-term future of Indian football. A longer league is the right road ahead. Being part of the ISL will improve our commercial viability that then lets us do a lot more with our youth academy... A key aspect is we still get to chase our quest for the AFC Cup."
Sunil Bhaskaran, vice-president, corporate services, Tata Steel, said: "This is a momentous occasion for Tata Steel, which has always been a pioneer in the development of sports in the country, especially football. Our entry into the coveted Indian Super League reinforces our commitment to provide a fillip to the development of football in the country. We are extremely excited to have won the bid for our hometown Jamshedpur and will provide the best of facilities for football to prosper in the eastern part of our country."
One sticking point will be the participation in AFC competitions. Next year's entrants from India are already confirmed: I-League champions Aizawl FC will get to play in the AFC Champions League playoff in January 2018, while Bengaluru, the Federation Cup champions, will represent India in the AFC Cup's preliminary stages.
However, ESPN understands that the biggest concern for Mohun Bagan and East Bengal is whether the I-League will retain the status of the official league -- whose winners play in the Champions League -- once the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and AIFF unveil their long-term plans for restructuring Indian football after October this year. Both clubs could then revisit their stance to stay away from the ISL, which might then occupy top billing as the officially recognised Indian domestic league, in keeping with the road map first unveiled by the AIFF and their marketing and commercial partners IMG-Reliance in May 2016.
To this end, the two clubs have asked the AIFF to confirm in writing that I-League clubs will be provided an opportunity to qualify for AFC competition through a proposed Super Cup, a tournament pitting the best teams of the ISL against the top I-League teams, from the 2017-18 season itself. They have also asked for a written commitment that the I-League will get equal promotion in terms of broadcast quality and marketing as the ISL does. It is understood these assurances were given verbally to officials from the two clubs in a meeting with AIFF officials in New Delhi on Saturday.