© ISLAll India Football Federation president Praful Patel hopes that the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) will kick-start a new era in Indian football.Speaking at an event attended by representatives of the various ISL stakeholders, including cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood star John Abraham, who are team owners of the Kochi and Guwahati clubs respectively, and Nita Ambani and Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, the AIFF chief said,“FIFA’s motto says the game needs to be commercialized. I am keenly looking forward to the ISL which I believe will bring in a commercial value to the sport in the country.”It was under Patel’s leadership that India successfully bid to host the 2017 under-17 FIFA World Cup. He reiterated that this forward momentum needs to be maintained for Indian football to grow even further.“Keeping it in mind, we are now bidding for the two successive editions of the Club World Cup in 2017 and 2018. If we are successful, the respective I-League champions of the two editions will get a chance to rub shoulders with the best of the world,” he stated. “I sincerely hope and stay confident that all the initiatives will take Indian football to newer heights and open the doors of world football to India, at the same time providing the impetus which we require to be a dominant force,” he said.
