Mumbai: Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia believes merging the Indian Super League (ISL) with I-League to create one competition will not be a good decision at this point of time.
The 38-year-old, who has 40 international goals to his name, opined that the focus should be to improve the standard of the I-League, so that it may match the “high class” level of ISL. “A decision could then be taken about merging the two leagues but not before that,” he said. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has expressed a desire to merge the two leagues in the future.
“To have one league is very important, but at the moment it is not right to merge ISL with I-League and I don’t it should happen also. Two to three years down the line it can be thought and be implemented but currently it should not be done,” Bhutia said on Tuesday.
“I think the inaugural ISL season was really successful, top foreign players are coming to India and the Indian players are getting to learn a lot from them. Last year players like Alessandro Del Piero came and now Roberto Carlos and Lucio are coming in,” he said.
AIFF recently held a meeting with all I-League club officials and chief promoters of the ISL to discuss the road map about how to merge the two leagues. AIFF president Praful Patel decided to form a working group to work out the way to unite the two in the future.
“To make it one league, we really need to wait and watch. At the moment I think ISL has done a lot for India and it should not be merged. I think I-League should be taken to a standard where ISL is at the moment and then think about merging. The ISL has set a high standard and its level should not be pulled down. First standard of I-League should be upgraded and the merging should be thought about,” he said.
The Arjuna Award winner also stressed that it is disappointing to see I-League matches being held in empty stadiums while ISL matches have packed stands.
“It is just because of the ISL that Indian football fans have started watching football. It is really sad when you see I-League matches being played in almost empty stadiums, and when ISL is happening in the same place, thousands of people turning up,” he said. (IANS)
