There is a dire need to have a unified league: Sunil Chhetri

“While I can keep handing out my opinion, which is very subjective, what everyone will agree with is that there is a dire need to have a unified league in the Indian football calendar. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Playing one tournament, juggling national team commitments and then playing a second league is not the ideal scenario for anyone — players, administrators and fans alike,” Chhetri wrote in his column for Sportstar Live.

This season, the I-League has been reduced to only nine teams, following the withdrawal of Pune FC, Royal Wahingdoh and Bharat FC, and for a nation as big as India that is a discouraging number.

Sunil Chhetri hoped that a 'pan-India' league is introduced soon, along with a more well-structured football calender.

“A pan-India league with more teams and a longer calendar would be something I personally would like to see. There have to be teams from all over the country involved. There is an evident increase of interest in Indian football and the numbers in stadiums and on social media support the claim. There is no better time to capitalise on this than now and I am certain the powers that be are working towards this,” he added.

The Bengaluru FC striker has urged everyone, involved in the sports in some form or the other, to come together for the betterment of football in this nation.

“Whatever the decisions, they have to be made with the growth of Indian football being the only motive behind them. India hovering around the 160s in the FIFA rankings troubles us players far more than you can imagine. But it’s going to take everyone who has anything to do with Indian football to come together and treat this like a mission and work towards it with great obsession and passion”.