The All India Football Federation on Saturday said the commencement date of the delayed 2025-26 Indian Super League season will be announced next week after the Coordination Committee formed to examine the issue submitted its report.
Following a meeting of its Emergency Committee, the AIFF said it would conduct the country’s top-tier football league, even as clubs had earlier raised concerns over participation and costs.
The 2025-26 ISL season has been delayed after the Master Rights Agreement with former commercial rights holders Football Sports Development Limited ended on 8 December.
It is learnt that the AIFF is likely to propose a 15 February start for the league.
“The AIFF Emergency Committee met today (January 3, 2025) to consider and acknowledge the report submitted by the AIFF-ISL Coordination Committee. The Coordination Committee was requested to submit its report to the AIFF Secretariat by January 2, 2025, which was duly complied with,” the AIFF said in a statement.
“The report was formally acknowledged by the AIFF Emergency Committee, which recommended that the league be conducted by the AIFF. Accordingly, the AIFF will conduct the league, and the date of commencement will be announced next week.”
It is learnt that the Coordination Committee, in its report, recommended that the league’s commencement date be declared without any further delay and that any club “refusing to participate should be disqualified and relegated to the immediate lower division”.
The Committee also recommended that the AIFF bear the cost of refereeing and broadcast production, while clubs should organise home matches “as they had done in previous editions”.
It is further learnt that the Committee proposed a participation fee of Rs 1 crore per club.
The panel urged the AIFF to finalise the short-term competition format in consultation with the clubs and stated that “in the absence of consensus, exercise its authority as league owner to finalise the format without permitting further delay or digression”.
Sources said discussions are underway to provide some leeway to clubs by allowing them to defer the franchise fee of Rs 1 crore, to be paid at the start of the 2025-26 season, until June 2026.
As a one-time special case and in the interest of football, the AIFF may also be willing to contribute a certain amount towards the operational expenses of the league this season.
The AIFF is leaning towards either a single-leg home-and-away format or a single-leg centralised venue format, under which each team would play approximately 13 matches if all 14 teams participate.
After finalising the format, the federation proposes to write to the Asian Football Confederation seeking exemption from the mandatory 24-match rule required for securing AFC Champions League 2 slots.
Earlier, the AIFF had asked clubs to confirm their participation and acceptance of the proposed format by 1 January and is likely to approach them again on Sunday.
On 1 January, 13 of the 14 ISL clubs informed the AIFF that they “may be ready and willing” to take part in the delayed season provided there was no participation fee and the national federation assumed financial responsibility for the organisational and operational costs of running a truncated competition.
The clubs, while putting conditions on their participation, also asked the AIFF to provide “a clear, time-bound roadmap for execution of the long-term plan, including defined timelines for appointment of a commercial partner and/or broadcaster, finalisation of the league’s revenue, governance, and risk-sharing framework, and transition to a financially self-sustaining competition model consistent with statutory governance norms”.
They further urged the federation to actively seek commercial or institutional support from the Government of India to minimise costs and help make the 2025-26 season sustainable.
