Indian football is undergoing a revolutionary phase with rumors of a proposed merger between Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League on the cards. Many footballing experts believe this will be a game-changer for Indian football and one of them is none other than the Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri himself.
Sunil Chhetri said on Tuesday that a merged league will give every player a fair chance at representing the Indian national team in international matches.
Sunil said, "I want to play all 13 Fifa dates in a year. We need that. That's where the unified league is going to come in handy. We should prioritise that, and ensure the national team gets a chance to play more games. Hope we play bigger opponents and away from home as we have done really poorly as a nation away from home. Win or lose, that will at least give us a chance to improve as a footballing nation."
#Indianfootball - @chetrisunil11 bats for unified leaguehttps://t.co/RN1DhXlTnP pic.twitter.com/lMGfyh0JQ0
Speaking on the merger, Chhetri said, "Who would not like to see a merger. One league with more teams, more months is what we all wish for. There are few technicalities and I am sure they are looking into it. Eventually we will see one league. A unified league."
Sunil Chhetri represented India, Bengaluru FC and Mumbai City FC at three different levels this season. This year, Sunil was part of the Indian team that won the SAFF Championship this year. Not only that, Chhetri was also part of the Bengaluru FC team who reached the Semi Finals of the Asian Football Championship this year. Sunil was also part of Mumbai City FC team which managed to reach the ISL semi finals.
On the year gone by, Chhetri said, "You can say that 2016 was my finest. It went well for the national team, started by winning the SAFF Cup, we reached the finals of AFC Cup, we reached the semis of ISL. I think it was a fruitful season."
#SunilChhetri Promises Fans 2017 Will be Even Better
By @TheHrehaan https://t.co/StM0mzT2Ee@chetrisunil11 @bengalurufc pic.twitter.com/2jIiNJSWNK
Speaking on his next target, Sunil said, "I have very small time targets, say 10 days, one week. I am only thinking about the Lajong (I-league) game, we are playing them at home. That's my target."
Chhetri was also asked if Indian players should aim to play club football abroad, to which he said,"If the players have reached a certain level and he thinks he can improve more, then he should go. Not only in India it's everywhere. Gurpreet has done it very nicely, I have seen him grow up."
On reiterating Praful Patel's dream for India to qualify for 2022 World Cup, he said, "I think we have to come in the first 10 in Asia first. To come to 10 is going to be so, so difficult. Thailand was with us but now they are playing in the last qualifying round though they are getting hammered by some teams. We have to qualify for theAsia Cupand stay there, try to get 15th, 16th position in Asia and then think about the final journey."
Chhetri was also asked if Indian football should take inspiration from Bengaluru FC,Chhetri
said, "We are doing the right things, trying our best, all of us are in sync, from owner Sajjan
Jindal to the ball boy."
Indian football has come a long way in the past 4 years and we can already see the positive signs on what lies, in the future.