Football in India
The Indian Super League, a tournament just recently recognized by AFC or FIFA, was founded in 2013 in an effort to make football a top sport in India and to make Indian football a major player worldwide. The league operates along the lines of the Twenty20 cricket Indian Premier League, and Major League Soccer of the United States. Unlike the vast majority of football leagues around the world, the ISL does not use the promotion and relegation system. Instead, it uses an American style franchise system in which ten teams were specifically created to participate in the league. Each team in the ISL is composed of players from I league or state league, apart from the foreigners who may or may not be a part of the I league. Recently it was recognised as the second national league in India, which means ISL champions from 2017–2018 leagues will be eligible for an AFC Cup qualifying slot
All India Football Federation
In 1977, the AIFF started the Federation Cup which was the first club based national tournament in the country. The Santosh Trophy, the national tournament for state teams, was started in 1941. In 1996, the AIFF began the first national league in the country, the National Football League. In 2007, the NFL was reformed as the I-League, the country's first professional football league.There are currently 36 state associations affiliated with the All India Football Federation.The following are on the board of the directors at the AIFF.