ISL and I-League: Promotion-Relegation process in Indian Football will start this season

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.

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