India’s second-tier football competition is set for a reset. From the upcoming season beginning February 21, the I-League will be restructured and rechristened as the Indian Football League (IFL), with clubs becoming majority stakeholders in the league’s operations.
The decision was taken at a meeting of club representatives and officials of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday and later announced at a press conference.
While the AIFF Executive Committee is yet to give formal approval, those involved indicated that this is expected to be a procedural step.
“We have decided in today's meeting that the I-League will be restructured and rechristened as Indian Football League. It is a landmark decision, though it will need the approval from the AIFF Executive Committee,” Shillong Lajong owner Larsing Ming said at the press conference. “We are making a fresh start of the league. The clubs themselves will majorly involve in running the league just like it is done in other top leagues of the world like the English Premier League.”
The move comes amid continuing uncertainty in Indian football following the breakdown of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the AIFF and its former commercial partner, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), which ended on December 8 last year.
Both the Indian Super League (ISL) and the I-League were paused before resuming after the sports ministry stepped in.
The ISL, which remains the country’s top-tier competition and is organised by FSDL, is scheduled to start on February 14, a week before the newly named Indian Football League. Indian football’s league structure has seen several changes over the decades.
The top domestic competition was earlier known as the National Football League (NFL) from 1996 to 2007, before being rebranded as the I-League. The launch of the ISL in 2014 altered the hierarchy, pushing the I-League to the second tier.
For the 2025-26 season, Diamond Harbour of West Bengal and Chanmari FC of Mizoram have been promoted from the I-League 2024-25, making it an 11-club competition for what has been described as a truncated season.
However, there is uncertainty over the participation of Churchill Brothers of Goa.
The club was initially declared champions of the last I-League season and promoted to the ISL, but the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) later ruled that Inter Kashi were the champions.
The Varanasi-based club was then promoted to the ISL. Churchill Brothers have challenged the AIFF’s decision in the Delhi High Court, and the case is still pending.
“We are not sure of one club but it is more or less certain that 10 clubs will take part this season. Eight clubs have 100 per cent agreed. The other two also more or less agreed just after we (eight clubs) took a collective decision this morning,” Ming said.
The clubs expected to participate are Diamond Harbour, Chanmari FC, Real Kashmir, Gokulam Kerala, Rajasthan United, Dempo SC, Namdhari FC, Shillong Lajong, Sreenidi Deccan and Aizawl FC.
The final number of participating teams will be confirmed after February 2, the deadline for clubs to pay their share of the operational costs for the 2025-26 season.
The total cost of running the league has been pegged at Rs 3.25 crore. Clubs will contribute 60 per cent of this amount, around Rs 2 crore in total, translating to roughly Rs 20 lakh per club. The AIFF will cover the remaining 40 per cent.
This includes a 30 per cent share that was originally expected from a commercial partner, who is unlikely to be finalised before the season begins. For the first time, the league will function with a Governing Council and a Management Committee.
The Governing Council will act as the final decision-making body, while the Management Committee will handle daily operations.
“The GC will have one representative each from all the participating clubs, plus three representatives from the AIFF, three from the commercial partners (whenever they come in) and two experts from outside,” AIFF Deputy Secretary General M Satyanarayan said.
The competition format has also been outlined. If 11 clubs take part, a total of 80 matches will be played. With 10 clubs, the number will drop to under 70.
In the first phase, all teams will compete in a single round-robin format with home and away matches. The second phase will split teams into two groups— the top six and the remaining five, assuming 11 clubs participate.
The top six teams will again play a single round-robin league, carrying forward the points earned in the first phase. The team with the highest points at the end of this phase will be crowned champions.
Higher-ranked teams from the first phase will host lower-ranked sides in the second phase. The bottom two teams from the second group will be relegated to I-League 2.
