Indian Super League franchises to focus on young, fitter players

New Delhi: Indian Super League (ISL) franchises on Thursday said that they would bring young and fitter international players while also grooming Indian talent for second season of the cash rich football tournament.

"We will have much more younger international players this season (2015). We naturally need younger Indian players also because our eventual aim is to see Indian stars," Delhi Dynamos owner Sameer Manchanda said at the 3rd International Convention on Football Business.

The panel comprising ISL team owners, at the same time, said that the presence of marquee players was also crucial as it played a pivotal role in changing Indian players' mindsets.

"Last year, marquee players were important as it was the inaugural year and these top notch professional players helped in changing attitude of Indian players," Indranil Das Blah, COO, CAA-Kwan, which was involved with sponsorship deals with Mumbai City FC, said.

"Indian players were hugely benefited. The combination of 6:5 worked really well. But we can go on debating whether Robert Pires, Alessandro Del Piero will be brought back," FC Goa CEO P K Mukherjee said.

Team owners also hinted that Indian football fans may get the opportunity to see even bigger stars.

"Seeing the success of ISL there were interests from more significant and relevant players," Indranil Das Blah said.

"Ronaldinho is interested but we need to look at budget," North East United FC CEO Rahul Patil said.

Saying 'passionate marketing' along with 'professional touch' from the franchises and league worked perfectly in the first edition, owners said it will be a challenge to sustain the interest and intensity in the second season.

Speaking about the possible ways of sustaining interest in the ISL in the second season, team owners seemed to keep faith on the local talents.

"Our focus will be on younger and fitter players," said Patil, adding that only this way ISL can be taken forwarded.

"Besides social media, grassroot is key to reach to your fan and engage them," Patil said.

All India Football Federation's Secretary Kushal Das dismissed any comparison between ISL and I-League saying it was not appropriate to do so.

"Comparison between ISL and I-league is not appropriate.

The right comparison would be what I-league was three years back and what is now," Kushal Das said.