MUMBAI: The Hero Indian Super League promises to revolutionise the country’s football scene like never before but the All India Football Federation on Thursday maintained that its poorer and older cousin, I-League, continues to be the mainstay of the sport.
“There’s a lot of excitement as we embark on a new adventure. This is the first tournament of this nature approved by Fifa (world governing body of football) anywhere in the world. I-League is there and will continue to be the mainstay of Indian football but this (ISL) is a unique product,” said AIFF president Praful Patel at the logo launch.
ISL, an IPL-style tournament involving eight city-based franchise teams – some of which are co-owned by retired cricket greats like Tendulkar and Ganguly and stars like Abhishek Bachchan who was on Thursday unveiled as co-owner of the new Chennai franchise, is set to kick off on October 12.
The tournament has been floated jointly by IMG-Reliance and Star India and is fully backed by AIFF. I-League, all the leading clubs of the country take part, is more than a decade and doubts have been raised about its existence and relevance with the launching of the cash-rich ISL.(PTI)