AIFF president Praful Patel says he is 'happy' with Asian Football Confederation's roadmap for club football in India

Mumbai: All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel on Saturday expressed happiness that a “broadly acceptable consensus” has been reached on Indian football’s roadmap. “I am happy that a sustainable, comprehensive and broadly acceptable consensus roadmap has now been established which will do Indian football a lot of good in the future. Broadly a good solution has been found for club football in India,” Patel told reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_7592151” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AFC Senior Vice President Praful Patel during the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. AFP[/caption] He was speaking after the official Emblem of the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup was launched in the presence of Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. “I feel genuinely happy that a broad consensus has been built on a ticklish issue which has been nagging the entire football fraternity. What will happen to Indian Super League (ISL), what will happen to I league, what will happen to future of clubs, these kind of very important questions were always keeping us engaged,” added Patel. The ISL will now replace the I-League as the top-tier competition in the country after the stakeholders agreed to a proposal of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), ending the long-drawn and contentious restructuring process. As per the roadmap, ISL will be the top league in the country from this season itself, while the I-League will continue as the second-tier league. Patel said there were issues between ISL and I-League clubs, which needed to be resolved. “There was a meeting and workshop held in Kuala Lumpur under the aegis of AFC where I-League and ISL clubs were invited. AIFF was represented there and also we had Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) — our commercial partners.