The Indian Super League owners in September 2014.
Well here it is. The news we’ve all been waiting for since Mohammed Rafique scored the winning goal in the ISL final back in December has now arrived and with both positive and negative reactions.
Yesterday, the Indian Super League organizers, Football Sports Development Ltd., revealed the new roster restrictions for the 2015 season. These restrictions include the introduction of a salary cap of 20 crore ($3,200,000), a minimum roster requirement of 22 players, 8 of which can be foreign, and an introduction of a players auction. It was also announced that each team would be allowed to retain five foreigners from last season and six domestic Indian players. Both the auction and the player retention idea both stem from the Indian Premier League, the Twenty20 cricket competition of India.
Now this news has come as good news for those in the Indian football fandom but also creates some questions. For one, the player auction is said to only include players from the India national team who did not participate in the last ISL. However, currently only eight of the players selected in the recent 26-man squad that will face Nepal in the World Cup qualifiers on Thursday have not played in the ISL. The recent news release said that at least 12 players will be available for the auction but where will the other four players come from?
Another question posed here is whether the salary given to the marquee players will count towards the overall salary cap. The salary cap of the ISL will be less than the one in Major League Soccer but higher than the one in the A-League of Australia but a marquee player could take up at least 25% of that cap. Last season, marquee players such as Alessandro Del Piero and Robert Pires earned $1,700,000 and $700,000 respectively. If these numbers are included in the salary cap then there will be less money for teams to play with for the other 21 players and thus the talent on the field could suffer.
Alessandro Del Piero was the most expensive player during last seasons ISL, earning $1,700,000 for his 2 month stay in India.
As well as that, you also got to question the fact that in the release it was revealed that each team must include two developmental players. Last season a developmental player was an Indian under the age of 23. Most players by that age are past the stage of development so those developmental spots would be most likely better serve players under-21 but so far there is no indication that there is a change in what a developmental player is.
But while these questions are being posed, you also got to congratulate the organizers. Unlike last season, we now have clear roster rules for the league. Last season no one outside of the league knew what the rules where. We had no idea if there was a salary cap, how many foreigners were allowed on each team etc. Now we know and it should make for better debate between ISL fans. Also, now that we know that there is a salary cap we can confirm that the organizers are focused on long-term stability rather than just cashing in quickly on the league.
This gives hope to those who were hoping for further developments down the line. Currently there is hope that the organizers are invested in the Indian Super League in the long run and that eventually we can see more work being done with grassroots and the community which can eventually lead to India becoming a strong contender internationally in the future.
So far this is a good start for the 2015 Indian Super League and I am pretty sure there is more news to come. Last week former Dempo coach Armando Colaco hinted at the possibility of Atletico de Kolkata starting a youth team in the Calcutta Football League and there is also rumors of ownership changes in NorthEast United. Stayed tuned because this off-season is only just getting started.
DesiBall 