ISL : A new hope or another lost cause ?

2017 U-17 World Cup is scheduled to be held in India

As the host for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017, an eye must also be kept on growing the talent from a much younger age . Currently ranked 145 in the FIFA rankings, India’s bid to climb up the ladder has never really kicked off for all practical purposes. This new experiment has the required corporate backing from numerous large conglomerates, but the question remains whether they use their financial muscle to build the infrastructure to make a difference or will look at this purely as a business venture and cash in on the momentary interest of the football enthusiasts in the country.

Unfortunate timings

Planned for a few weeks around September, right around the middle of various popular leagues it is highly doubted whether the ISL be able to deliver football of the same level to the fans of the game. The lure of being marquee players in a new revolutionary league while flashy, might actually appeal only to a few popular retired players taking a break before moving onto other pastures like MLS . Even financially, the ISL might not be comparable to the pay packets offered to even the mediocre talent in top European leagues.

The rules of the format do mandate the presence of 4 under-23 players in each team. But the bad news for the organizers is that the planned timing of the league coincides with the Asian Games at Incheon (planned from September 19 to October 4). This would naturally mean that the best of the country’s younger talent pool would be showcasing their skills at the Asiad rather than ISL. This will deplete the already scarce set of players from which the teams have to make a pick. It remains to be seen whether the organizers will think of rescheduling the dates given this piece of information.

Not all bad news

A lot of questions can be raised and discussed about the ISL, but the picture can definitely only looks like the poor state of the game right now. We have earlier seen retired world class footballers spark off interest in the game in other parts of the world (Pele in the US and Zico in Japan), the same cannot be ruled out if the right set of players are brought in through the ISL to India. With the backing of international clubs like Atletico Madrid, the possibility of loan arrangements for talent from and also into their academy might also spell for the better of the game.

If the execution and implementation of this league turns out to be any different from numerous predecessors, then its success will definitely mean football turning a new page in the country. We will now have to wait patiently till the more popular IPL goes off the headlines to watch how the wheels for this league get into motion and how far they take the game along with it.