All India Football Federation President Praful Patel said that the "much talked about merger" of the Indian Super League and I-League "may not happen next year," according to Dhiman Sarkar of the HINDUSTAN TIMES. Patel said, "We would have liked it to happen in 2017, we still do, but it looks unlikely." He added that the "main area of contention is the lack of clarity on which teams from Kolkata and Goa would take part in the amalgamated competition that is supposed to be India’s official football league." According to a proposal mooted by the AIFF and IMG-Reliance, the federation’s commercial partners, earlier this year, the league "would be called the ISL and run for six to eight months," beginning after the '17 U17 World Cup. But while Bengaluru FC’s participation "was a given," since it is the reigning I-League champion and there is no ISL franchise from that city, "it seems there is no consensus yet as to who from Kolkata and Goa would participate." While FC Goa represents the state in the ISL, it "also has teams such as Salgaocar, Dempo and Sporting Clube de Goa in the I-League." Kolkata has Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in the I-League and Atletico de Kolkata in the ISL (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 11/8).
