PANAJI: The Indian Super League ( ISL ) has been rubber stamped as the country's top league by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and there could be more to cheer for the cash-rich competition.

Battling for acceptability since its glitzy launch in 2014 and forever at odds with the ILeague - India's top competition until now - the ISL was approved by the AFC executive committee as India's premier football competition during an executive committee meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, on Saturday. The committee also approved the roadmap for Indian football, giving the All India Football Federation (AIFF) whatever it wanted.

"The AIFF executive committee had already approved the fact that ISL will be the top league. Now with AFC executive committee also giving its approval, the move is official," AIFF general secretary Kushal Das told TOI.

According to the new national competition structure, the ISL League winners - the team that tops the standings at the end of the league stage - will qualify for a play-off place in the AFC Champions League, while the I-League champions get an AFC Cup ticket in what the AIFF said was a "package that takes into consideration the recommendations of the Fifa/AFC report of 2017."

There could possibly be more to cheer for the ISL. From the 2021 season, the AFC Champions League will be expanded to 40 clubs with an extra group of four being added in both the East and West zones. This expansion will take place without any change to the existing slots for the top six Member Associations which means India - ranked ninth - is now in line for a direct spot in the AFC Champions League group stage for the first time. "I would rate India's chances as very good but then India will have to maintain or better its (MA) ranking," said Das.

If India get the spot, it will be the 2019-20 ISL league champions who will get the green signal to rub shoulders with some of the best teams from the continent.

According to the Entry Manual for AFC Club Competitions 2017-2020, the top 12 Member Associations in each geographical ranking (on the basis of the AFC Club Competitions Ranking) are eligible to participate.

