Former India national football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia and former player Renedy Singh "stressed the need to have a bigger league in the country in order to accommodate more players," according to THE HINDU. Bhutia read out statistics from a survey conducted by the Football Players' Association of India and "underlined that footballers’ unemployment had increased since the introduction of the Indian Super League" in '14. He said, "The present format of three months of ISL and three months of I-League is making a lot of players unemployed." Bhutia and Renedy "suggested an alternative as well." Bhutia: "We want more players to get opportunities. A lot of talk is happening on the merger (of the ISL and I-League). If we have 20 teams after merging ISL and I-League and more players play, then it will be good." He added that the "nature of the league and players' demand had a direct impact on the growth of Indian football." He said, "When a league is played for seven months, then cost will go higher. But football will become serious" (THE HINDU, 6/4).
