Dinesh jain
Member
- Joined
- 3 Feb 2014
- Messages
- 1,552
- Reaction score
- 988
the future sustainability of the I–League, it is all
set to take off from 17 January 2015 in
Bengaluru and will be telecast on Ten Sports.
The official broadcaster, which will air 75 out of
the total 110 matches live on the channel, is
optimistic about it. Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi
says, “We have had a long-standing partnership
with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and
the I-League. We have seen this property grow
leaps and bounds on our network in terms of
audience interest and viewership numbers.”
He goes on to say that the network values the
primary national league on its platform and is
looking forward to an exciting new season of the
tournament from January 2015 as well as the
Federation Cup, which will commence from
December 2014.
While some sports experts feel that the ongoing
Hero Indian Super League (ISL) would cause
sustainability problems for the league, the
announcement comes as a welcome move.
Sports columnist Hemant Kenkre says, “The I-
League was introduced in India as a professional
football league. While India may have a low
ranking in terms of world football standings,
foreign leagues like the EPL are popular in the
country. The I-League together with the Indian
Super League can co-exist together, as a large
number of football leagues will provide not just
an opportunity for youngsters to play but also
give international exposure for the game.”
The decision on the dates for the league, were
taken at the recent I-League and Federation Cup
committee meeting. It was also decided that the
inaugural edition of the AIFF U-15 tournament for
I-league clubs will be held in the next calendar
year and will consist of 16 teams wherein
besides the 10 league clubs, four other
academies and two AIFF academies will be a
part of the final round.
“With the new clubs in the league giving more
importance to infrastructure and grassroots
development programmes, and with AIFF’s
initiatives for new tournaments in the junior
categories, it is definitely going to impact the
quality of youngsters in the game in India and I
am confident that these initiatives will bear fruit
in the Indian teams performances and results in
the U-17 World Cup,” adds Sethi.
While coming up with the fixture of the
championship, the schedule of school
examinations will be kept in mind, and only post
discussions with sponsors like Coca Cola and
AIFF marketing partners IMG-Reliance, will
intimate the clubs. It has also been decided that
the registration of players would be done
centrally through the state associations and all
ID cards would be issued by AIFF. No club would
be allowed to register a player after the
completion of the 11th round of I-League.
As per the release of players for the AFC U-22
Qualifiers, slated to be held from 23 to 31 March
2015, the clubs have agreed to get back to the
governing body over the same. Meanwhile, the
second division league would take place in two
venues which are to be finalised post inspection
by AIFF. The eight participating Clubs are Aizawl
FC, Chanmari FC, United Sports Club,
Mohammedan Sporting, PIFA Sports, Kenkre
Sports, Hindustan FC and Lonestar Kashmir FC.
The U-19 I-League will kick-off in the second
week of December.
I -League set to return on 17 January 2015 | Indian Television Dot Com
set to take off from 17 January 2015 in
Bengaluru and will be telecast on Ten Sports.
The official broadcaster, which will air 75 out of
the total 110 matches live on the channel, is
optimistic about it. Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi
says, “We have had a long-standing partnership
with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and
the I-League. We have seen this property grow
leaps and bounds on our network in terms of
audience interest and viewership numbers.”
He goes on to say that the network values the
primary national league on its platform and is
looking forward to an exciting new season of the
tournament from January 2015 as well as the
Federation Cup, which will commence from
December 2014.
While some sports experts feel that the ongoing
Hero Indian Super League (ISL) would cause
sustainability problems for the league, the
announcement comes as a welcome move.
Sports columnist Hemant Kenkre says, “The I-
League was introduced in India as a professional
football league. While India may have a low
ranking in terms of world football standings,
foreign leagues like the EPL are popular in the
country. The I-League together with the Indian
Super League can co-exist together, as a large
number of football leagues will provide not just
an opportunity for youngsters to play but also
give international exposure for the game.”
The decision on the dates for the league, were
taken at the recent I-League and Federation Cup
committee meeting. It was also decided that the
inaugural edition of the AIFF U-15 tournament for
I-league clubs will be held in the next calendar
year and will consist of 16 teams wherein
besides the 10 league clubs, four other
academies and two AIFF academies will be a
part of the final round.
“With the new clubs in the league giving more
importance to infrastructure and grassroots
development programmes, and with AIFF’s
initiatives for new tournaments in the junior
categories, it is definitely going to impact the
quality of youngsters in the game in India and I
am confident that these initiatives will bear fruit
in the Indian teams performances and results in
the U-17 World Cup,” adds Sethi.
While coming up with the fixture of the
championship, the schedule of school
examinations will be kept in mind, and only post
discussions with sponsors like Coca Cola and
AIFF marketing partners IMG-Reliance, will
intimate the clubs. It has also been decided that
the registration of players would be done
centrally through the state associations and all
ID cards would be issued by AIFF. No club would
be allowed to register a player after the
completion of the 11th round of I-League.
As per the release of players for the AFC U-22
Qualifiers, slated to be held from 23 to 31 March
2015, the clubs have agreed to get back to the
governing body over the same. Meanwhile, the
second division league would take place in two
venues which are to be finalised post inspection
by AIFF. The eight participating Clubs are Aizawl
FC, Chanmari FC, United Sports Club,
Mohammedan Sporting, PIFA Sports, Kenkre
Sports, Hindustan FC and Lonestar Kashmir FC.
The U-19 I-League will kick-off in the second
week of December.
I -League set to return on 17 January 2015 | Indian Television Dot Com
