ISL overtook I-League as the top-tier football competition in India in October 2019. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the officials of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) met in Kuala Lumpur and formulated a roadmap for league football in India.
The new roadmap handed ISL the status of the top division of Indian football, while I-League was considered the second division.
The promotion-Relegation process in Indian Football will start this season
As mentioned in the Roadmap, the promotion-relegation process will start from the 2022-23 season, which means the upcoming season. The winner of the I-League 2022-23 season will be promoted to ISL and play in the 2023-23 season, however, they won’t receive a share of the central revenue which is distributed to other franchises.
According to the roadmap, no team will be relegated from the ISL for the first 2 seasons after the promotion-relegation process starts, ie, in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. However, it is still not clear if the proposed relegation process will be followed or not.
Just to clarify, the promotion procedure will begin from the next season and the relegation process too will happen as per the roadmap
— Dipak Kumar Singh (@dipaklamb) June 23, 2022
As reported, FIFA and AFC have officially confirmed today that the promotion-relegation process will start from this season itself, as already agreed in the roadmap. The new Indian Football calendar from the 2022-23 season will also be around 9 months which will help the players.
This is a good step for Indian football as a robust league structure is essentially required to develop the standard of football in the country. India has a massive talent pool because of its huge population. So, now a clear roadmap is required to take Indian Football to new heights.
Read: I-League second division set to have promotion from 2022/23 season
