Good news for all the football fans across the country, India will now host two national leagues from 2017-2018 as Indian Super League has been granted official recognition from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The league didn’t have AFC recognition in its first three editions. However, it has been trying to get recognition for a while.
And finally, on Wednesday, AFC gave its consent to the All India Football Federation’s proposal through a letter signed by general secretary Dato Windsor John. For now, the winner of the I-league will participate in the AFC Champions League qualifiers, whereas the next ISL champion will be eligible for an AFC Cup qualifier.
Bengaluru FC, who was the runner-up last year has made the zonal semi-finals this time and will play North Korea’s 4.25 SC in the home league in August and away league in September. in August and September respectively. The champions of the 10-team ISL that will run for five months beginning November will get a place in AFC Cup qualifying slot, which was given to the winner od the Federation Cup till 2016-17.