Kolkata: Two new teams are set to be a part of the cash-rich Indian Super League from the next season, confirmed sources.
Former I-League club, Bengaluru FC, which is owned by the JSW group and a team by Tata Steel will be the latest inclusions in the eight-team tournament.
A tweet on the official Twitter handle of the ISL read, “OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Tata Steel and @TheJSWGroup win bids for two new Hero ISL teams!
#HeroISL #LetsFootball”.
Such a move was expected after the Football Sports Development Limited on the 12th of the last month had opened the, “Invitation to bid” document which assured that at least one to three new teams would be a part of the ISL from the fourth edition onwards.
After much consideration, Bengaluru FC and Tata Steel’s club have been given a green signal to participate in one of the popular Indian football tournaments.
Along with Bengaluru, Jamshedpur has made the cut after bids from 10 cities were invited for the tendering process the last date for which was 25th May. Cities like Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram missed the cut.
A fortnight of evaluation thus resulted in the outcome being presented by business consulting firm Ernst & Young.
The inclusion of these two sides from the next season of the ISL thus increases it’s matches in the league stages to 90, barring the five matches in the knockout stages (the two-legged semi-finals and one final). This is a huge rise in the number of matches from the earlier tally of 61 matches, that was regularly followed all throughout it’s three editions so far.
Also the duration of the league is also set to increase, from a three-month tournament to a six-seven month competition, which was very much needed in Indian football.
This announcement comes right after AIFF President Praful Patel’s declaration that the top four teams from the ISL would get a chance to compete in a tournament with the top four from the I-League, following which the winners and the runners-up will be awarded with an AFC Champions League berth and a AFC Cup slot respectively.
This would definitely boost the competition in the ISL and Bengaluru FC, the newest entrant into the competition would bring in all their I-League experience into play and would aim to make it big here also, after winning the I-League twice.