ISL is a baby league and needs time to establish, asserts Iain Hume
Iain Hume feels that the Indian Super League is a baby compared to other leagues compared to others in the world and needs time to establish itself. The Canadian was awarded the Hero of the league in the first edition of the ISL, back in 2014, and was part of ATK's league winning side in 2016.
Kerala Blasters FC roped in Iain Hume in the inaugural season of the Indian Super League in 2014 and he was an instant hit, having guided his team to a runner-up finish. Following which the forward played for other teams like ATK and Pune City FC, but was not part of the ISL last season. Throwing light on the situation of Indian Football and the ISL, Hume admitted that the league is a ‘baby’ compared to other leagues in the world and needs time to establish itself.
"I keep getting asked if India would make it to the World Cup, whether they would win the Asia Cup or not. I think that Indian football with ISL is a baby. In terms of football, you look around the world at the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga; they are 100 years old,” said Iain Hume, during a chat with Sportskeeda.
"Those leagues took a long time to establish, and Indian football has been on a competitive stage for the last 10-15 years. It's a baby in terms of infrastructure, in the levels of coaching, they have only started to earn their A License and their pro licenses in the last 6-7 years,” added the footballer.
Apart from being awarded the most valuable player of the ISL, in 2014, the former Leicester City footballer won the Indian Super League with ATK in 2016. Hume does feel that the league has helped Indian football a lot and admitted that the current bunch of players in the Indian team have more quality than their predecessors.
"For Reliance to start up everything with ISL, as a football fan, look at where Indian football was 9 years ago, and you tell me the impact the ISL has had. If you ask national team players who played for India 5-10 years ago and ask them whether they would be able to compete with the national team players today and if they say yes, they would be lying,” concluded Hume.
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