Internet Desk: Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal is all set to play alongside Atletico de Kolkata in the newly introduced Indian Super Cup by the All India Football Federation starting from 2017-18 season. The AIFF after its meeting with the representatives of 29 clubs in the capital, is set to introduce a new tournament called Indian Super Cup. The new tournament will see top four teams from I League and top four teams of ISL playing together. Although reliable sources in IMG Reliance reveal that the format of new tournament and no of teams has not been decided yet. The I League will now have two divisions viz., League 1 and League 2. Under the new format the AIFF football calendar will be spanning for 6 months. The new calendar will begin in September and will go on till March. In this period the newly conceptualized Indian Super Cup, ISL and I League will go in tandem.
It was also decided that the ISL will have two more new teams. The two new teams will be from two different cities through a bidding process. The Indian Super League will have no relegation, whereas the I League will have a relegation system. The champions and runners of Super Cup will take part in AFC Cup.
The new rule will mean if Atletico de Kolkata qualifies from Indian Super League and both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan also qualifies from I League, the newly introduced Indian Super Cup will see 3 clubs playing from Kolkata.
Six foreigners will play in the ISL clubs while for the Indian Super Cup four foreign players will take part for any club.
According to the latest update, the proposed Indian Super Cup will have 16 teams playing with each other for a period of two months. The top eight teams of ISL along with top four teams of I League will automatically qualify for Indian Super Cup. To decide the remaining four teams there will be a qualifying tournament which will have all the teams of League 2, last two teams of ISL and remaining six teams of I League.