ISL Season Hangs in Balance as AIFF Promises January 2026 Start With Compressed Calendar

The Indian Super League stands at a critical crossroads as the All India Football Federation unveils an ambitious plan to salvage the 2025-26 season through a compressed January-to-May window. AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey has assured club officials and captains that India’s premier football competition will proceed, proposing an unprecedented schedule of 180 matches crammed into just 150 days—a logistical challenge that has left stakeholders both hopeful and concerned about the future of Indian football.

The Crisis That Brought Indian Football to Its Knees

The ISL, which typically runs from September through April, has been in limbo for months following a contractual impasse between the AIFF and Football Sports Development Limited. The 15-year Master Rights Agreement between these entities expired in December 2025, and efforts to find a replacement commercial partner have proven unsuccessful. When the AIFF’s tender for a new commercial partner closed on November 7 without receiving a single bid, the crisis deepened dramatically.

During a hastily arranged virtual meeting with ISL club CEOs and team captains on Wednesday, November 13, Chaubey outlined the federation’s roadmap for rescuing the season. The AIFF chief revealed that if the Supreme Court provides legal direction by November 29, the federation would have sufficient time to complete necessary procedures—whether that involves re-tendering, revising existing proposals, or implementing alternative arrangements.

“If we get legal direction by November 29, we have more than a month to complete the procedures,” Chaubey explained during the meeting. “Whether we have to re-tender, revise the tender or whatever is required, it will be done after directions from the Court.”

The Audacious 180-in-150 Plan

Chaubey’s most controversial proposal involves compressing what would normally be a six-to-seven-month season into a 150-day marathon. The AIFF president suggested that finishing 180 matches in this condensed timeframe is “logical, not impossible,” proposing multi-city matches with potentially three or four games happening simultaneously across different venues.

This ambitious scheduling would require unprecedented coordination among broadcasters, venues, clubs, and officials. The compressed calendar raises serious questions about player welfare, recovery time between matches, and the quality of football that can be maintained under such grueling conditions.

The federation has proposed scheduling the Super Cup before the ISL season to provide clubs with the requisite six to eight weeks of pre-season preparation. This tournament would serve dual purposes—giving teams competitive match practice while maintaining India’s AFC competition eligibility by ensuring the domestic season concludes by May 31, 2026.

Clubs and Players Caught in Limbo

The prolonged uncertainty has devastated club operations across the country. Defending champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant became the first major club to suspend first-team training, citing the impossibility of planning without clarity on the season’s future. Other historic clubs including East Bengal, Kerala Blasters, and Bengaluru FC have either halted operations or significantly scaled back activities.

Only four ISL clubs—FC Goa, Mumbai City FC, Punjab FC, and East Bengal—remain operational, primarily because they’re participating in the ongoing AIFF Super Cup. However, even the Super Cup semifinals have been delayed due to the uncertainty surrounding the league’s future and an international break for India’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh on November 18.

The human cost of this crisis extends far beyond the clubs themselves. Hundreds of footballers, coaching staff, support personnel, and administrative employees face uncertain employment and financial hardship. Top Indian players including captain Sunil Chhetri and defender Sandesh Jhingan issued a joint statement expressing that their “anger and frustration with the situation has turned into desperation.”

Players and clubs are now reportedly considering approaching the Supreme Court directly to address their grievances, frustrated by what they perceive as the AIFF’s failure to proactively manage the contractual renewal process.

How the Master Rights Agreement Collapsed

The roots of the current crisis stretch back to 2010 when FSDL—a joint venture backed by Reliance Industries and Star Sports—became the AIFF’s commercial partner through a 15-year agreement. Under this arrangement, FSDL paid the federation an annual fee of reportedly ₹50 crore or 20% of revenues, whichever was higher, while managing the commercial operations of Indian football including the ISL.

Despite the agreement’s December 2025 expiration being known for years, the AIFF only began renewal discussions in November 2024. The first formal meeting between AIFF and FSDL officials occurred in February 2025—just ten months before the contract’s end. The federation formed a committee specifically tasked with MRA renewal on April 7, 2025, which responded to FSDL’s proposal on April 21.

Five days later, however, the Supreme Court issued a directive preventing the AIFF from entering into long-term commercial agreements pending resolution of constitutional matters. This Supreme Court involvement stems from a 2017 case challenging the AIFF’s electoral process and governance structure, which has dragged through multiple courts for years.

In September 2025, the Supreme Court instructed the AIFF to conduct an open tender for commercial rights, ensure the club season began with the Super Cup, and adopt a draft constitution compliant with the National Sports Governance Act. The AIFF complied, but the open tender proved commercially unviable—no entity submitted bids by the November 7 deadline.

FSDL’s Exit and the Tender Debacle

Industry observers suggest the AIFF significantly overestimated its negotiating position when crafting the Request for Proposal for the new commercial partner. The terms apparently proved unattractive to potential bidders, resulting in the embarrassing outcome of zero submissions.

FSDL, meanwhile, made clear it would not proceed with the 2025-26 ISL season without clarity on the commercial rights framework. The organization informed clubs that operations could not continue amid such fundamental uncertainty, effectively putting the league on indefinite hold.

The failed tender forced the AIFF back to the Supreme Court to request further direction—precisely the kind of dependency on judicial oversight that FIFA considers “third-party interference” in football governance. FIFA itself had previously imposed a ban on Indian football in 2022 citing such interference, though that ban was quickly overturned after the Supreme Court dissolved its Committee of Administrators.

The I-League Dimension

While ISL clubs grapple with uncertainty, I-League clubs have taken a more confrontational approach. Eight I-League clubs—Gokulam Kerala, Chanmari, Diamond Harbour, Sreenidi Deccan, Shillong Lajong, Namdhari, Real Kashmir, and Rajasthan United—sent a strongly worded letter to AIFF general secretary M Satyanarayan outlining their demands.

The I-League clubs called for a “common league partner” to manage all three tiers of Indian football (ISL, I-League, and I-League 2), arguing this would ensure “long-term holistic growth and sustainability to the national league ecosystem.” They demanded immediate announcement of the I-League season within ten days through interim measures, with the league commencing ideally by December 15, 2025, and no later than January 5, 2026.

Significantly, the I-League clubs specified that matches should be broadcast on either Star Sports/Jio-Hotstar or Sony Sports/Sony Liv—the country’s two premier sports broadcasters. This demand underscores the second tier’s desire for visibility and commercial viability comparable to the ISL.

When the AIFF hastily arranged a hybrid meeting with both ISL and I-League club CEOs on November 12 with just hours’ notice, the I-League clubs boycotted, citing insufficient time to prepare meaningful input. Instead, representatives from both leagues sought a meeting with Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on November 14 to discuss the ongoing deadlock.

Government Intervention and Path Forward

The involvement of Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya signals the crisis has escalated beyond football governance into a matter requiring government attention. The minister met with I-League club representatives and instructed the Sports Authority of India to facilitate “constructive dialogue” between all stakeholders—AIFF, ISL clubs, and I-League clubs.

Whether AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, who is also a BJP leader from West Bengal, attended the ministerial meeting remains unclear. The government’s intervention reflects the broader implications of the crisis for Indian sports infrastructure, youth development programs, and the livelihoods of thousands dependent on the football ecosystem.

The AIFF has committed to submitting a comprehensive report to the Supreme Court before the end of November. That report will presumably outline options for moving forward, whether through a revised tender process, direct negotiations with potential commercial partners, or alternative arrangements for managing the league’s commercial rights.

What Happens Next?

For the compressed January-to-May season to materialize, several conditions must align quickly. The Supreme Court must provide clear legal direction by late November, allowing the AIFF to finalize a commercial partner by December. Clubs would then need to complete player registrations, finalize squads, conduct abbreviated pre-season training, and prepare for an unprecedented match schedule.

The logistical challenges are formidable. Broadcasting a schedule with multiple simultaneous matches requires significant infrastructure investment and coordination. Players accustomed to adequate recovery time between matches would face potential injury risks from the compressed calendar. Stadium availability, match officials, and support services would all need coordination on an unprecedented scale.

Moreover, the financial uncertainty makes player contracts and club operations extremely difficult to manage. Without knowing when the season will start, how long it will run, or what the commercial arrangements will be, clubs cannot confidently commit to salaries, transfers, or operational expenses.

The crisis also threatens India’s standing in Asian football. The AFC has strict deadlines for clubs qualifying for continental competitions, and the May 31, 2026 deadline is inflexible. If Indian clubs cannot meet this timeline, they risk forfeiting their spots in the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup—both prestigious platforms that provide crucial international exposure and revenue.

A Test of Indian Football Governance

The ISL crisis represents a fundamental test of football governance in India. The situation exposes deep structural issues: inadequate long-term planning, over-reliance on judicial intervention, unclear commercial models, and tensions between different tiers of the league system.

For fans who have watched Indian football grow significantly since the ISL’s 2014 launch, the current paralysis is deeply frustrating. The league has attracted international players, developed domestic talent, and significantly raised the profile of football in a cricket-dominated nation. To see that progress endangered by administrative failures strikes at the heart of the sport’s development trajectory.

As clubs, players, officials, and fans await clarity, the coming weeks will determine whether Indian football can salvage its 2025-26 season or whether the country faces an unprecedented year without its premier competition. The stakes could hardly be higher for everyone invested in the future of the beautiful game in India.

Read More: I-League Clubs Bypass AIFF to Seek Government Intervention in Indian Football Crisis

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