The All India Football Federation (AIFF)-organized Institutional League which is to be introduced later this year will have the key purpose of creating employment as well as exploring talent. 

This league will also benefit the government institutions like the Indian army which are willing to take part in the Federation-organized different major tournaments. 

For example, Army Red which takes part in the Kolkata Premier League as well as in the Durand Cup is now willing to take part in the tournaments like second division I-League and Federation Cup and will be benefitted through their participation in the Institutional League. 

According to plans, the League will kick off with 10 teams in December. The teams are likely to be shortlisted from PSUs, state departments, and police units. 

One of the Federation executives however revealed on condition of anonymity, “The main difficulty in organizing the new tournaments like Institutional League and Third Division I-league is lack of financial strength. But this league will create employment opportunity for several promising footballers in future and at the same time, potential youngsters, playing in this League can be scouted for the national team also. Earlier, teams Air India, Indian Bank, SBT, Oil India, produced several potential footballers. The groundwork is going on. Let us see.”

I.M. Vijayan, the AIFF technical committee chairman as well as the director of Kerala Police Football Academy recently appreciated the AIFF initiative commenting, "One of the big complaints by a lot of departments, including SBI, SBT, FCI, was that there were no tournaments and competitions for them to play in through the years,” Vijayan says. 

He also explained, “The truth is that not every footballer in the country is going to play the Hero ISL and the Hero I-League. But that doesn’t mean they do not deserve to play in tournaments, get game time, and employment for their skills. I am glad that the Federation has taken this decision to launch the Institutional League. It will do a lot for young players who have sports quota jobs with different units. It will also encourage more to take up the sport knowing that they can play it and also gain employment through it.”