In an announcement that will come as a relief to the dozen clubs that compete in the I-League, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed on Saturday that the winners in the upcoming season of the country’s second-tier competition will be promoted to the top division, as decided three years ago.
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To be eligible for a spot in the Indian Super League (ISL), however, the I-League winners will have to fulfil the Premier 1 licensing criteria, a strict set of rules that a club must comply with to be eligible to compete in tournaments conducted by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) along with the ISL. These minimum requirements fall across sporting, infrastructure, administrative, legal and financial categories.
This could be a potential banana skin for I-League clubs aspiring to play in the ISL. The second division teams are required to meet Premier 2 licensing criteria. While many points in Premier 1 and 2 criteria are the same, those seeking the latter are shown leniency in areas such as grassroots programmes, first team staff, security measures, in-stadia facilities for match officials, spectators and VIPs attending a match as well as presence of medical personnel at the stadium during a match.
According to the Roadmap between AIFF and AFC, starting with the 2022-23 season, the winners of the Hero I-League will stand a chance to be promoted to the Hero ISL season 2023-24 basis fulfilling sporting merit and clearing the Premier 1 Licensing criteria.@IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/jwbKWAWdzW
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— Kalyan Chaubey (@kalyanchaubey) November 5, 2022
For I-League clubs, some of whom struggle to meet the basic licensing rules for paucity of resources, to meet stringent Premier 1 regulations will be a challenge. Even some ISL sides, despite having deep pockets, have not been able to fulfil some requirements.
Last year, Kerala Blasters, East Bengal and Hyderabad FC failed to obtain Premier 1 licences but were able to compete in the ISL because of exemptions.
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Cash-strapped I-League teams will have until the middle of next year, when the annual process begins, to get their house in order vis a vis the licensing requirements. For now, the clubs have received the assurance they had been seeking for months.
Long overdue
In 2019, when the ISL was officially declared the top division, I-League sides – who were left battling for survival – were promised that from the 2022-23 season, the winners would stand a chance to be promoted to the ISL. And, unlike the ISL teams who pay Rs 15 crore on an average as franchise fee to Football Sport Development Limited (FSDL), the body responsible for holding the ISL, I-League teams will not have to shell out that amount. At the same time, they won’t be eligible for revenue from the central pool that ISL clubs receive. It was also decided that 2024-25 season onwards, a promotion-relegation system will be introduced between the top two tiers.
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After months of back and forth, on Saturday, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey and secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran confirmed that the agreed roadmap will be implemented.
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“According to roadmap between AIFF and AFC, starting with 2022-23 season, the winners of Hero I-League will stand a chance to be promoted to Hero ISL season 2023-24 basis fulfilling sporting merit and clearing Premier 1 Licensing criteria,” Chaubey tweeted.
Prabhakaran said the AIFF was supposed to make the announcement during a press conference on Friday, where the broadcasters for the new I-League season starting November 12 were announced. However, they were waiting for the go-ahead from their legal team.
“Our legal team could not complete work yesterday. But they have completed it today and we have got the legal go-ahead now,” Prabhakaran was quoted as saying by PTI. “Since it was in the roadmap agreed earlier, there is no need for the executive council of the AIFF to approve it again. This decision (to promote I-League winner to ISL) is final.”
