Luis Garcia, the first-ever marquee player of Atletico De Kolkata, one of the teams that gave us so many memories and moments, shared a heartfelt video to wish the Indian Super League as it completed 11 years.
Luis Garcia, the Spanish superstar and former Liverpool FC stalwart, played a vital role in ATK's inaugural season. In 2014, he joined ATK as a player mentor and also served as the team captain, winning the Most Exciting Player award.
He had made 13 appearances for ATK and scored two goals, achieving 72% passing accuracy.
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Luis Garcia’s heartfelt message to Indian fans
On 19th December, Saturday, the marquee player shared a heartfelt post captioned, “ Celebrating 11 years since that first ISL championship in India with Atlético de Kolkata. A historic moment that helped shape modern Indian football.”
Commenting on the ongoing problems with ISL, he shared, “Today, as the ISL faces challenging times, football deserves clarity, stability, and solutions that protect its future and legacy.” The video contains visuals from his ISL days and also the cup-winning moment, while the ATK theme song Fatafati Football is playing in the background.
Netizens reacted strongly to the video. A social media dweller wrote, “I remembered I bought the team jersey just before the finale, which was the very first of my life, my team, my ATK, miss those days.”
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Another one wrote, “ Thank you for this post, and it's very important that people from India and outside India talk about this situation again. Thank you so much, always an ATK fan boy and trust me, I really, really want to go back to this time unbeatable and untouchable ATK.”
The ISL dilemma
ISL was unable to find sponsors and stakeholders to initiate the league, as the previous contract had been completed. Clubs gave a proposal that they would serve as stakeholders for ISL, but AIFF declined it. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Body approved the formation of separate committees to fast-track resolutions on the Indian Super League and I-League disputes within the constitutional framework. One committee will engage ISL clubs on governance proposals, and another will address I-League concerns, both aiming to align outcomes with the AIFF Constitution and seek precedents from FIFA/AFC if needed. Objections from some members were recorded.
