Imagine young Indian footballers like Sunil Chettri turning out for Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia or N.P. Pradeep donning the jersey of South Korea's FC Seoul. The day is not far because a new rule of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has opened a window of opportunity for Indian players to play for top clubs in the region.

The AFC in October had announced that in all the professional leagues run on its format, clubs can field four overseas players but one of them has to be from the Asian continent.