5 things which ISL must improve for next season

The inaugral season of the Indian Super League has whizzed by and a lot has happened during its course. A decent average overall attendance with highlights such as Kerala’s fantastic support and a lukewarm response in Delhi, along with a better-than-ever camera quality of football coverage in India, have been one of the high points of the league.An excellent TRP inside India and coverage in countries like South Africa and Australia meant that the quality of the product was respectable in its first season. Before it goes into its second, we look at what must be done to take it to an even better place.

#5 More Kolkata-Madrid like tie-ups

Atletico de Kolkata and Atletico Madrid formed a successful partnership

Some time after the bids were accepted for the 8 franchises, the different owners announced their respective tie-ups with some respectable European club.

The most notable was definitely the one involving Atletico Madrid and the Kolkata franchise. Unlike others, Atletico Madrid have actively been involved with their Indian franchise and it’s been showing since the day the Atletico De Kolkata players were revealed in Vicente Caldero before the ISL started.

There has been little/negligible news of others in this aspect which hasn’t come as a shock in a country where the European club hardly do anything except trying to make headlines. Most of the tie-ups were supposed to result in technical and tactical assistance from the ‘bigger’ club but there was hardly any tangibility in terms of support.

Just like Zico set the standard in the type of the managers this league requires, Atletico Madrid has been the same in terms of the European tie-ups which would help take this newly formed league to higher standards.

#4 More coaches/managers with diverse experiences

The ISL needs more coaches with the experience that Zico has

Even though this was a short tournament, the managerial acumen and the intensity in this aspect touched new grounds in India. Even with substandard training facilities in comparison to their previous countries of work, most of the managers never used that as an excuse when their teams lost. The experience one gains while plying their trade in relegation battles across Europe is still a million miles ahead of the ones currently serving Indian football.

However, the presence of Zico in the inaugural season should also mean that the ISL can attract other managers with a relatively more global experience like his. It will be highly beneficial for a new league to grow if the gaffers have previously played a part in tangible football growth in another country and this must apply to the whole backroom staff as well. It’s worth noticing that Antonio Habas and Trevor Morgan have sizeable experiences in different countries and their contribution towards their respective teams was indispensible.

#3 Synchronization with the official FIFA/AFC calendar

Indian football team celebrating after winning the SAFF Championship in 2011

The current status of the Indian national football team has been completely ignored since the so-called ‘birth’ of the game in this country (ISL), while the Blue Tigers sit on an all-time-low ranking of 170 in the international arena.

The national team’s last game was played in October which was a 3-2 home loss against Palestine and the absence of any other games in this time has been only depreciating the few FIFA points which India had gathered prior to that point.

The poor positioning of the ISL in the AIFF calendar this year has been one of its biggest criticism by the ardent followers of the sport in India after the casual approach towards the Federation cup was clearly visible when the draw was made. Devaluing the existing miniscule structure to satisfy the stakeholders cannot produce any real football winners in the long term.

#2 More Teams

The ISL only had 8 teams in its inaugural edition

The idea of having only eight teams for the inaugural season was not the worst, but a 3-month league should just be a stepping stone to a better and a more conventional league. The merging of the ISL with the I-league would be good but a thought out plan is a must in order to protect the interest of all the stakeholders.

For a sustainable football league model with a respectable fan following, there should be more league matches than 14 for each team and preferably on the weekends, but only a gradual increase in this aspect might work. Making it a longer league will also keep the players with a single club for the whole season which makes more sense. A longer season will also mean that all the players get more game time at a higher level to prove themselves.

#1 Infrastructure

David James has been vocal in his displeasure at the lack of investment in infrastructure in the ISL

Indian football has been clearly lacking in this department since the early days and continuous failures have never helped the cause. Even though a lot of work was done on the pitches for some of the stadiums for a few months but poor training facilities and pitches, and the use of cricket pitches has been an embarrassing aspect of the inaugural season.

Kerala Blasters’ David James also expressed his disappointment about the low percentage of the total investments allocated to infrastructure when he was talking to the press before the final. An elongated period of poor planning and knee-jerk decisions stimulating from horrible results in the international arena only ended a few years back when the AIFF invested in their national academies.

To revolutionize a sport and to produce quality players on a regular basis, huge investment in marketing and marquee players might be futile if important things like training facilities are not up to the mark.