Indian Super League: A glimmer of hope for Indian football?

England, Spain, Italy, Germany and even to a certain extent France - ask me about any marquee player in their respective football leagues and I would start raving about him and his achievements.

India? I-League? Except for maybe a couple of players, I would be struggling for names.

It's shocking how low the level of football is in our country. The players aren't paid well, we don't have an adequately managed backroom staff to help the players and the youth system is nothing short of a joke.

No wonder we struggle at football.

Then there was light at the end of the tunnel - the Indian Super League.

The organisers of the tournament look to have struck gold with the concept and have successfully built a buzz around football in India, which had never been witnessed before. The ISL has everything it needs to really kick off a new age of football in our cricket-loving country.

For starters, the tournament has addressed the biggest problem football has faced in our country: proper funding. No matter the scale of the organisation or the sport to be played, financial strength forms the base of the entire tournament.

Suddenly we now see lucrative kit deals being struck with Nike, Puma, etc., something which was a distant dream for the teams participating in the I-League.

The ISL has followed the blueprint of the much frenzied cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL), which has done wonders for the development of sport in our country.

The concept of franchises owning players has been up for debate long enough, but in the case of football, there could not have been a better step to promote the sport in India.

The people owning the franchises have brought the glamour quotient that was so desperately lacking in the I-League.

We now have teams owned by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan and Nita Ambani. That's a lot of money and serious advertising right there. Add MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to the list of co-owners of the teams has aroused the curiosity of country's football fans.

What this also does is that the non-football enthusiasts in the country suddenly have a reason to follow the league, follow the teams and get in on the football fever that is fast gripping.

One of the major coups of the ISL is the Atletico de Kolkata franchise, owned part by Sourav Ganguly.

Ganguly successfully negotiated a deal with Atletico Madrid to have part ownership and to invest in the team. That's a feat that will be probably remain unmatched along the tournament. So much for investing, the players of Kolkata were paraded along with the Atletico Madrid players at their opening home game in the Vicente Calderon.

Another concept which has been really popular with the football enthusiasts is the marquee players that are joining to play their part in the ISL. Each club is allowed one marquee player and so far the clubs have not disappointed in bringing in quality layers.

Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka, Alessandro Del Piero, Luis Garcia, David Trezeguet and David James are a few of the legends of the game who will help promote the state of football in India.

The biggest contribution of the ISL would be to develop the local football roots in our country. It is the ideal platform for the youngsters struggling to make a career in football to go out and perform and show their worth. The added benefit of this is the upliftment of the youth academies across the country. We may actually see young budding players wanting to play in the ISL and making a name for themselves.

For the players playing the tournament, it would be a fantastic change of scenery. They would get to learn from the foreign players and would experience how to handle the pressure of playing in front of a large audience, a rarity in the football world of India.

It still is early days for the ISL, but the initial signs are pretty encouraging.

On the night of the match, the ISL or its subtopics were 8 out of the 10 top trending topics in India on Twitter. So they have achieved what they set out to do in the field of social advertising.

Initial games have resulted in crowds of large numbers in both Kolkata and Guwahati, something delightful to see. Players and audience alike seem to be enjoying the very spirit of the game. And at the end of the day, that's what counts.

If the ISL can play its cards right and ride on this wave of excitement, we may see a new face to Indian Football.

Come on India, for a change, let's football.