A billionaire, Bollywood & future of football
1/5
Football friendly?
In a country dominated by cricket, most other sports don’t have the space to grow, but over the past decade, football has seen a resurgence with Reliance’s Indian Super League (ISL) gaining prominence. But, all the growth could come crashing down.
2/5
Tug of war
Indian football, like most countries, has a governing body that makes the decisions on player development and most decisions related to the sport. But, with ISL - under the Ambanis’ guidance - going in a different direction, there’s major friction between the two sports entities.
3/5
Indian Super League
Reliance launched the league in 2014, in the hopes of attracting investment into Indian football and global sportsmen to India, in the mold of the Indian Premier League.
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4/5
Rising tensions
The private league is separate from India’s existing clubs and is an attraction for global players, which is a concern for India’s sports authority as they fear the development of Indian talent is being affected. Football Sports Development Limited (FDSL), the Reliance entity that manages the league however, feels that the presence of senior players will spur growth.
5/5
Profitability
All these issues could’ve been solved if not for the simple problem of revenue - while the league is earning enough to stay in the running, only one of the eight clubs have broken even in the past year, while stadium attendances have fallen to almost half and with COVID-19 the situation might not improve, raising major questions about the fate of Indian football.