The chairperson of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), Indian Super League's (ISL) governing authority, Nita Ambani highlighted a landmark year for the league that has seen a huge growth in TV viewership and digital viewership among other significant developments.
She was speaking on the sidelines of an event where ISL announced a tie-up with Premier League to facilitate mutual co-operation on various avenues including development of Indian football.
"It has been a landmark year in ISL. We had so many big things. This Premier League tie-up. Mohun Bagan joining with ATK, City Football Group (CFG) investments in Mumbai City FC and now Goa making it to the ACL."
ISL have been mulling an increasing in the number of participating teams in order to comply with the AFC's roadmap for Indian football. However, Mrs.Ambani suggested that next season might be too soon for the aforementioned upheaval.
"We are rapidly growing with 10 teams. Our TV viewership has grown by almost 40 percent, viewership on digital has grown by 80 per cent. We are a six-year old league so we don't want to grow too quickly so that it becomes difficult to manage everything," she said.
She also congratulated Indian Super League (ISL) 2019-20 season's league stage winners FC Goa for becoming the first ever Indian club to qualify for the AFC Champions League group stage.
Expressing her delight over the Gaurs' achievement, Mrs. Ambani said, "We are delighted FC Goa created history by getting a slot to play in ACL. It is a dream to see India qualify for World Cup 26. As you know it will be a 48 teams World Cup with 8 slots for Asia. We are currently 19th and if we can make it to 12th within 2 years we have a good chance."
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