The new structure for Indian football is expected to be made public by January 2017…
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) officials informed the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that the roadmap for Indian football would be finalised by January 2017.
It must be noted that a proposal for the roadmap for Indian football was shared by the stakeholders of Indian football back in May this year. It suggested that Indian football will have three leagues in its pyramid with the Indian Super League (ISL) being at the tip. Integration of new teams into the ISL would be done through a tendering process which would also allow I-League teams to make the cut. The process of integrating new teams was expected to be completed by the end of November 2016 which has now been postponed to January 2017.
However, some of the I-League clubs have expressed their displeasure with the proposed roadmap stating that the existing teams must be included in the top division on sporting merit.