I-league 22-23 champions to get promoted to ISL 23-24

Ravish Narvekar

The promotion will be subject to fulfilling sporting merit and clearing the Premier One licensing criteria.

The President of the All India Football Federation, Kalyan Chaubey announced that the winner of the I-League 2022-23 will be promoted to next season’s Indian Super League. The same has been confirmed by AIFF Secretary General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran to Press Trus of India.

The I-League is scheduled to begin on 12th November with defending champions Gokulam Kerala hosting last season’s runners-up Mohammedan Sporting at Manjeri.

“According to the roadmap between AIFF and AFC, starting with the 2022-23 season, the winners of the Hero I-League will stand a chance to be promoted to the Hero ISL season 2023-24 basis fulfilling sporting merit and clearing the Premier 1 Licensing criteria,” Chaubey announced through his tweet.

“They (I-League winners) will not give any (participation) fee. Since all the club playing in the ISL will have to fulfil Premier One licensing criteria, they (I-League winners) also will have to fulfil the criteria.” AIFF Secretary General Dr. Prabhakaran said.

As per the roadmap approved in 2019 by all the stakeholders in presence of the Asian Football Confederation, the I-League winners of this season and next season will get direct entry into the top-tier league of the country. “The decision is as per the roadmap which was agreed earlier. We have just continued with the roadmap. This will end all the speculation and will take Indian football forward. The I-League clubs will welcome this decision.” He added.

The announcement was supposed to come in the press conference held by AIFF on Friday but they did not get approval from their legal team. “Our legal team could not complete work yesterday. But they have completed it today and we have got go ahead now.” Dr. Prabhakaran said.

He further added saying “Since it was in the roadmap agreed earlier, there is no need for the executive council of the AIFF to approve it again. This decision (to promote I-League winners to ISL) is final.”

The AIFF Secretary-General announced in the press conference on Friday that the 2022-23 season of the I-League will be broadcasted live on two different television channels for the first time. Eurosports and Doordarshan Sports will telecast the league, while it will be live-streamed on Discovery+.

“The Hero I-League is getting to a better situation, and we would like to thank our marketing partners FSDL (Football Sports Development Limited) and others who have made this decision encouraging in terms of broadcasting and production quality. The fact that we will have the Hero I-League on two channels and on Discovery+ is an encouraging sign for Indian Football and for the clubs, who will be getting better visibility.” Said Dr. Prabhakaran in a press conference.

The AIFF League Committee led by Lalnghinglova Hmar met online and discussed about the Hero I-League along with The Hero Indian Women’s League, Hero 2nd Division League and Youth Leagues. The committee has extended the deadline for the nomination of IWL. The Women’s top-tier league which will begin on 15th January will have 18 teams this season.

The committee has also recommended that the states that have not conducted their leagues nominate their respective clubs, which are to play a qualification tournament at their own cost, with the winners qualifying for the league proper. The Hero ISL reserve sides will also play in the zonal qualification rounds.