AFC award nomination for I-league no cause for celebration

NEW DELHI: India’s premier domestic football league, the I-league, was on Thursday named by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) among the top ten nominations for the ‘Best Developing Football League of the Year’ category of the annual SPIA Awards (Asia’s Sports Industry Awards), to be held in Bangkok on November 19-20.

While the league wasn’t nominated for the top prize — the ‘Best Inspiring Football League of the Year’ award - given India’s low standing in the sport, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) claimed in its press release that I-league was among the top three nominations made by AFC for the developing category. The league was indeed listed third among the nominations, behind the domestic leagues of Bhutan and Guam, but it was because the list had been compiled alphabetically. Nonetheless, shortly after the nominations were announced, AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said, “I would like to congratulate everyone who has been part of the League — FSDL (Football Sports Development Limited – a joint venture of Reliance and Star Sports and founder of the Indian Super League), the clubs, the sponsors, all other stakeholders and my colleagues in AIFF without whose support this wouldn’t have been possible.”

Sunando Dhar, CEO of the I-league, said, “We have been striving hard over the years and this nomination is only a motivation for us to do better.”

Given the current situation where the future of the I-league remains up in the air, both the nomination and the comments of Das and Dhar couldn’t be more ironic. It is no secret that it is only a matter of time before the ISL is turned into the top-flight of India’s league structure.

Last year, the-then I-league champions Aizawl FC and fellow top-flight clubs were faced with the prospect of being relegated to the second tier of a reformed league pyramid, which would have had ISL at the top. Following resistance from the club and a failure to come up with a new structure, India continued with two leagues.

Last season, the ISL and I-league were held simultaneously. With ISL, the future topflight, still a closed league and there being no sign of the dualleague impasse any time soon, nomination for a second-tier award isn’t quite a cause for celebration for the AIFF.