Indian football: Top flight football in India is set to be extended to nine months from the 2022/23 season. Furthermore, the duration of the calendar will be from August to May, which would be in line with most top leagues across the world.
Hyderabad FC Head Coach Manolo Marquez and Indian international Sahal Abdul Samad welcomed the change.
“I think that a longer season with three competitions like Durand Cup, ISL, and Super cup and in our case four – qualification for AFC Cup will be fantastic for Indian Football. It’s impossible to get good development if you don’t train and if you don’t play. Six-seven months of offseason can be very long. There are better Indian players emerging after every season. They will appear more, which will increase the quality of the national team too.
“Supporters in the stadiums will be another amazing thing. We could see it in the ISL Final and in the Santosh Trophy for example. We know these factors will increase the level of Indian Football. These kinds of things take time, but hundred percent India will grow in the next years,” said Marquez.
“I think it will only help the players to improve as professional footballers. That’s what a player needs – more game time, more matches, and keeping the rhythm of playing football for a long time. It also cuts down the break which in India was very long. The gap between the seasons was too long so I think this will really help the players to be focused and be fit for the matches,” said the midfielder.
“As they get more playing time and more matches, the players will be fit enough. When the breaks are less, the players can really focus on football because that’s what we do, that’s our livelihood so we can be more focused on that. I really think it will help me as a player to be more focused on football. And help me grow as a professional footballer,” Sahal added.
