"I would eventually want to see I-League evolve into a pan India tournament. You want one league for the whole nation maybe with more than 17 teams catering to about every state," the leading Indian goal scorer told PTI in an exclusive interview ahead of the Hero I-League launch ceremony here.
"I would love to see a team from Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman, Kerala, Chennai, make it a pan-India presence," the highest international goal-scorer for India said.
"ISL and I-League are two two different tournaments. I-League is improving every year with a lot of Indian talents and a good mix of foreign players. It's very competitive."
Last year, the I-League was played among 11 teams and out of those, three clubs -- Pune FC, Bharat FC and Royal Wahingdoh -- have pulled out and while one (Dempo) has been relegated.
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With new entrants DSK-Shivajians and Aizawl FC the I-League 2015-16 would be competed among just nine clubs.
"We've to promote I-League. It's important for all the clubs to promote their own clubs. Look at Lajong, they do really well in getting the crowd into the stadium.
"At Bengaluru FC, we improve our fan base every year. There's also no problem of getting crowd for Mohun Bagan and East Bengal...
"It's only in Goa where we face a problem and it depends on the club and AIFF to evolve a marketing strategy for the Goan teams."
The Bengaluru FC captain said they're looking forward to the I-League where they finished runners-up last season and emerged champions as debutants in 2013-14.
"All the teams are very strong. I'm looking forward to a tough season ahead," the Blues captain said.
Bengaluru FC will take on Salgaocar FC at the Tilak Maidan, in Goa January 9 as the defending champions Mohun Bagan will kick off the tournament against debutants Aizawl FC here.
The Federation Cup champions will begin their AFC Cup campaign with an away trip to Laos.
Fresh from winning the SAFF Cup, the ace striker said India were moving in the right direction and it's about time that their 166th ranking in FIFA will improve.
"It's not the biggest of tournaments but winning it seven times means we've been a dominant force," he said about their SAFF Cup triumph.
Reflecting on the last season's performance where they lost five of six 2018 WC qualifiers, Chhetri said: "In terms of results, it has not been great outing but in terms of performances we've had a mixed bag experience.
"We played really well against Oman and Iran at home. After the defeat to Guam, we looked really sharp at home against Guam. Down to 10 players and winning convincingly is a testimony to the fact that the Indian football is moving in the right direction. We need International exposure and have to keep playing friendlies to improve rankings."