All Stakeholders Need To Shun Egos And Work Together: Bhaichung Bhutia

Kolkata: The biggest challenge for Indian football is to get a structure in place, and for that to happen, all stakeholders need to shun their ‘egos’ and work together in a ‘give and take’ manner for the betterment of the sport, feels former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia.

The I-League clubs on Wednesday were told by All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel that he will request the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to allow the I-League and the Indian Super League (ISL) to continue simultaneously for the next three years.

Patel said that a three-year window will give the AIFF enough time to plan a roadmap as the two leagues running simultaneously was not the option for the long haul.

The longstanding feud between the I-League clubs and the AIFF took an ugly turn after reports were out that AIFF was obliged to make ISL the top league from this season under the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) signed in 2010 between the federation and its marketing partners. “The biggest challenge right now would be to keep egos down. It has to be give and take. Everything can’t be the way you want for I-League, ISL and the federation. So there has to be sacrifice from all parties,” Bhaichung Bhutia told IANS on the sidelines of Football Players’ Association of India’s (FPAI) puja ceremony at its plush new office here.

“That’s how the structure is going to be set. The biggest challenge for Indian football right now is to get the structure right. Now to get that right, all parties need to give and take,” said the iconic footballer.

“This has to be priority because everybody right now is looking at ‘my own club to survive my own league to do well my own federation’. So I think the interest has to come for the betterment of Indian football, there are challenges on all the parts, all the parties, but try and get the best solution out of it.

“I think it’s important to sit and discuss. I think the federation has put in a lot of initiative because we had FIFA delegates come and study the entire structure. The AFC came too. I think the suggestions have come forward. I was there as an advisor that time,” he elaborated, stopping short of saying whether he knows anything about the report and why it is not being shared with the clubs.

Bhutia stressed that the presence of traditional heavyweights — East Bengal and Mohun Bagan — will add more prestige to the top league of the country. IANS

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