Interview with Sunando Dhar (I-League CEO)

I have had the chance to speak to I-League CEO Sunando Dhar about the I-League, the current scenario and its future besides the problems the league is facing especially with the club forming their own Indian Professional Football Clubs Association.


First of all congratulations for your contract extension! What would you name as your biggest achievements as I-League CEO in the more then two years you have been in the job?

Thank you so much. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciations to the Executive Committee of AIFF, specially Mr. Patel and Mr. Das for having the faith in me and extending my contract. I would also appreciate the efforts put in by all my colleagues in the Football House for the past 2½ years.

One of the biggest thing that we have been able to achieve is implementation of the AFC Club Licensing Criteria, something that would help all the clubs to set up a professionally managed unit which will be beneficial to each of them in the long run. We have been able to set up the I-League department at the Football House which has worked tirelessly throughout the year towards the smooth conduct of the League.

I would also like to thank the AFC for the role they played in helping India to take the first few steps forwards being a professionally managed unit involving AIFF and I-League to be part of the elite Pro League Committee, which helped us to learn and adapt from all the best practices used in Asia.

One of the first thing, we wanted to do was to come out with the full I-League Fixture which helped the club to plan properly and also helped us immensely as far as the logistics were concerned. With all my colleagues at AIFF, we have been able to finalize the calendar for the 2012-13 season well in advance so that everyone associated with football in the country would have the details in regard to the tournaments and their exact dates. Few small steps have been taken but I am sure with continued support from everyone we can achieve a lot more.


The fifth season of the I-League concluded earlier this month, but there is a lot of confusion about the future of the I-League. Baichung Bhutia spoke over the weekend about a league expansion from 14 to 16 teams. Is this on the cards?

We definitely plan to extend the League from the existing 14 clubs and make it ultimately a 20 team I-League. But as of now there are no plans to change the format for the 2012-13 season which would consist of 14 teams like last year.


Also everyone is looking forward to the long awaited plans from IMG-Reliance. What do you as the league's CEO expect from the IMG-Reliance plans?

IMG-Reliance came on board little more then a year back and we have had some discussions in regard to making the I-League a bigger and a better property. We are awaiting the final plan from IMG-Reliance which would be discussed in the near future and once approved by the AIFF, we would take it to the clubs. One of the areas of concern as far as the I-League is concerned, has been with the League being restricted in few pockets only. Obviously one of the plans that we are working on is to see how we can expend the game and take it to different parts of the country and give it a more national feeling. It would not be right for me to say anything more at this point as IMGR as well as AIFF is working very closely on a master plan which would be shared with everyone at the earliest.


The clubs have formed their own organisation in the Indian Professional Football Clubs Association. They say their interests aren't taken care off, they spend crores on their teams but can't recoup most of their money. What do you say? What needs to change?

I have been given to understand that the I-League clubs have formed an association but they have always maintained that the same has been done with an aim to work closely with the AIFF for the overall development of Indian football. Both the clubs as well as Federation and IMG-Reliance are a part of the big football family in India and I have no doubt that we all need to work together closely if we need take Indian football forward. The clubs form an integral part of the football fraternity in any country and definitely their contribution is second to none. We all have our problems and shortcomings but the secret of a happy family is to work together and help each other overcome these shortcomings so that the family can become shorter.

I sincerely hope that this new association would work closely with AIFF, I-League and IMGR to take Indian Football forward!


The overall budget of organising the I-League has gone-up considerably over the last few years. Where does it stand now and with what budget are you calculating next season?

The overall budget of everything in India is going up and so is that of the I-League too. We had obviously increased the daily allowance along with the prize money for the teams last season which increased our overall budget appreciably from around Rs. 12,5 to Rs. 15 Crores. A major chunk of the budget goes towards the cost towards airline tickets. Hence the budget for the season 2012-13 would surely go up by another 10-15%.