Old pro Dempo, newbie Sporting Club Bengaluru’s promotions add spice to I-League | Football News

Sporting Club Bengaluru and Dempo SC have topped the I-League 2 standings to get promoted to 2024-25 I-League

Dempo SC have returned to the I-League after a gap of nine years. Photo: AIFF

New Delhi: Like every Indian athlete now proclaims to win the Olympic gold medal after Neeraj Chopra did it in Tokyo 2020, every professional Indian football club wants to play in the top-tier Indian Super League. Dempo SC and Sporting Club Bengaluru are no different and have no qualms about saying it loud after earning promotion to the second division I-League.

Irrespective of their vastly different backgrounds, Dempo and Sporting view their promotion as a stepping stone for the ISL, where they want to be sooner rather than later.

With five national league titles between 2004-05 and 2011-12 along with triumphs in Federation Cup (2004) and Durand Cup (2006) and Indian Super Cup (2008 and 2010), topped with a semi-final appearance in the AFC Cup in 2008, it might not be out of place for Dempo to think that they have returned to their natural habitat.

Newbies Sporting don’t have such rich lineage but have climbed up the ladder rapidly after coming into existence only in 2022. They aren’t short on confidence after topping the 14-match I-League 2 six points ahead of Dempo, who bested Sudeva Delhi 3-1 in their final league game on Saturday, to confirm promotion as the second best team.

An architect of their dream period on the pitch, Samir Naik is also the man for the Golden Eagles’ resurgence this time around, once they decided to compete in national level following their pull-out in 2016 over disagreements with the All India Football Federation over future course of the game post the advent of the ISL, which then was a closed league.

Eye on ISL

Though relegation hasn’t started yet in ISL, promotion began in 2023-24 with Punjab FC being the first team to move up, which acts as a catalyst for I-League teams to prepare with wholeheartedness for a shot at the title.

“We want to play in ISL and eventually compete in the AFC Champions League,” said Naik, the left bank who has been associated with the club for 25 years, first as a player till 2017 and from then on as a coach.

“We will go all out to win the I-League next year. It is in Dempo’s DNA is to challenge for titles. But maybe, we may need at least 2-3 years to get to ISL.”

I league 2 champions 2023-24 🏆#SportingClubBengaluru #GoldenTigers #SCB #IndianFootball #ILeague2 pic.twitter.com/z530D26jrd

— Sporting Club Bengaluru (@SCBengaluru) April 27, 2024

Founded only in 2022, Sporting found immediate success by winning the 2022–23 Bangalore Super Division and then won a play-off to qualify for I-League 2, which they won with 33 points from 14 matches. These back-to-back promotions have served as a shot in the arm for co-owner and CEO Kishore S Reddy.

“We started the club keeping in mind a journey to the ISL. From Day One, we had a 3-5 year plan, with the best case scenario to be in the ISL in three years. In two years we are in the I-League, so have achieved the initial plan and will now look to build from here,” Reddy said.

Go Local

To compete for the I-League title, they would need more investments to strengthen their squads. For both teams who have focussed on local players, it would mean additions from outside though they are loathe to go away from their local-first approach, starting with keeping faith in their head coaches who have taken them thus far.

“Around 80-85% of our players are from the Dempo development programme whose average age is around 21-22 years. So of course, promoting Goan players will be our focus,” former India left back Naik said.

“We started training in July and by November-December, we assembled around 22-23 players who helped us win I-League 3.

“Our start was not good in I-League 2, we got only four points from out first four games. But then picked up form when the boys settled down. Last year we had participated in the I-League second division, but failed to advance to the final round by a narrow margin. We planned better and won this time around.”

Sporting didn’t have a ready-made pool like Dempo, but scouted around 12 local players from which four were promoted to their I-League squad.

“We will look to retain them for the next season as our trust in local players have paid off as has head coach Chinta Chandrashekar Rao, who is very much part of our plans for next season,” Reddy said.

Over the years, I-League has produced unlikely winners in Minerva, Aizawl and Chennai City, and Sporting are willing to take a leaf out their book to spring a surprise.

“It’s a misconception that in I-League teams need a far bigger budget to succeed. We will follow the same formula of spending wisely. We will remain conservative and calculative in your approach, which has worked out well for us so far,” Reddy said.