EXCLUSIVE: FIFA are very comfortable with the ISL – IMG vice-president Jefferson Slack

Ever since IMG-Reliance invited bids for the Indian Super League (ISL), the event has been constantly in the news with I-League clubs, IPL franchises, former cricketing legends and top Bollywood celebrities showing interest in bidding for eight city teams.

Even former and current Indian footballers, who were initially unsure about the project, have now come out and shown their support for the ISL. The same goes for fans with many changing their opinion and speaking in favour of the new city-based league on various social media platforms.

But what is the ISL going to be all about? To get a detailed insight, Sportskeeda caught up with IMG vice-president Jefferson Slack in an exclusive chat. The idea behind having this football’s version of the IPL is to take the beautiful game in India to the next level and Slack explained how.

“Firstly we are trying to create something that will be aspirational for young people in India. Football is very well followed in this country especially by the younger people. Of course they are mainly following the EPL or Barcelona and Real Madrid. But we want to create something where these young people and many more will feel that something big in football is happening in India, a league they can call of their own which makes them want to play, watch and understand football. We want to take the football to the masses.

“Secondly we want to bring the best practices in management and the approach to organisation of a sporting event. We are leveraging the strengths of all three partners who are focused on growing the game to national prominence. Reliance Industries is India’s largest business enterprise, Star India, the nation’s biggest TV network and entertainment conglomerate and IMG, a leader in sports management, have a storied tradition of innovation, competitiveness and institutional commitment.

“I think we want the clubs that will be created to become centres of excellence for football in the communities and that’s very important. Overall we want to create a world class action packed event and an eco-system where every stakeholder is part of the football development. Right now I think there isn’t a great buzz in Indian football so hopefully the ISL will change that,” Slack told Sportskeeda.

Slack believes the ISL could be one of the big solutions to Indian football’s non-popularity but the challenge will be to create a football culture. The first season is scheduled to start in September later this year and Slack assured that despite question marks from some quarters, the existence of two leagues in India isn’t objected by FIFA as both will be functioning under the aegis of AIFF.

“FIFA is fully aware of ISL and they are very comfortable with the project. This is not a rebel league and has been approved and allotted a separate window by the AIFF in their calendar. The schedule is not interfering with the I-League so there are no concerns at all and hopefully there will be an exchange of players (between the two leagues),” he clarified.

These two Arsenal legends have already been signed for the ISL

One of the main reasons why the ISL is set to catch the attention of the masses is because marquee players like Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Hernan Crespo have already been roped in while Kenny Dalglish, Peter Schmeichel and Marcel Desailly are among the signed managers. But was it easy to convince those big names to accept a football project in a country that is ranked 152nd in the world?

“Initially the challenge was that of credibility because of the earlier proposed tournament (Premier League Soccer) in Bengal which never happened. But we were actually quite surprised by the amount of interest the various marquee players and coaches showed to come to India. All these greats are eager to give something back to the game and if they were given a choice to pick one country where they would want to see the game develop it would be India,” answered Slack.

The announcement of those big names last year created a huge interest in the ISL but then the start of the tournament was postponed from January to September 2014 and the former Inter Milan CEO explained how the postponement turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I wouldn’t say the postponement was a setback because a lot of investment is being made in the project so the additional nine months will give everybody time to get everything in shape. It has now also opened the possibility of availability of more marquee players. Additionally many big names will retire this summer and could be available for the ISL,” he revealed.

Many obstacles have been overcome already by the organisers with the staggering response from potential bidders being a huge positive. As many as 30 parties have purchased the bid documents. However one major challenge that IMG-Reliance and their partners still face is to ensure adequate stadium facilities.

Former Inter Milan CEO Jefferson Slack (far right)

“Yes the facilities remain one of the biggest challenges. For the first season we will try to achieve the minimum like a good pitch, changing rooms, better in-stadia experience for the fans but with the Under-17 World Cup on the horizon, the stadiums will improve and eventually help Indian football in all aspects,” Slack stated.

A successful first ISL season could pave the way for a new and positive era in Indian football and Slack talked about his expectations.

“We want to create a great live viewing of football which hasn’t happened in India in the past. It won’t be Barcelona or Man United but it will be quality stuff and we have the best partners in Star India to deliver that. We also want to create a fun experience in the stadium for fans something which happens in the various US sports leagues. We want to create a buzz where people across the globe would take note of Indian football,” he said.

As a final word of advice, Slack wants potential franchise owners to be aggressive in their approach but at the same time have a long-term commitment towards community development and creating awareness about football. If all that happens, Indian football will certainly have a bright future to look forward to.