The 14 ISL clubs have told the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that they will not allow any expansion of the ongoing ISL-12.
“The clubs do not consent to any expansion of the ISL 2025–26 season. The league composition must remain unchanged. All rights are expressly reserved. We request formal confirmation that the ISL 2025–26 season shall proceed with the previously approved league structure,” the email sent by the clubs to the parent body on Thursday said.
The clubs were responding to AIFF’s email on Wednesday in which the latter sought the participating teams’ views on Churchill Brothers’ inclusion in the ISL.
The AIFF letter did not mention whether the inclusion meant for the ongoing or the next season.
“Given that this issue was previously deliberated upon and aligned in discussions with the AIFF, we are unclear on the basis for reopening the matter,” the clubs replied.
“The ISL 2025–26 league structure is closed and final. It forms the basis of existing sporting, operational, financial, and contractual reliance. No expansion or alteration is acceptable at this stage. Any ad-hoc (sic) inclusion of a club outside a recognised sporting pathway is inconsistent with merit-based participation and undermines competitive integrity.
“There exists no articulated regulatory mechanism within the present governance framework permitting mid-cycle structural expansion. Any such action would create uncertainty and set a destabilising precedent across the football pyramid,” the letter said.
“Clubs should not have been dragged into this. The AIFF could have handled it itself and Wednesday’s letter shows them in very poor light. If there is political pressure to include a 15th team, you deal with it.
“Why play a square pass to the clubs? If we had buckled under pressure, tomorrow, some other I-League clubs will come asking for inclusion. There could be more legal trouble,” a club official told The Telegraph.
The executive committee of the AIFF had unanimously rejected Churchill Brothers’ request on February 12. However, following ‘situational pressure’, FC Goa and Sporting Club Delhi wrote to the AIFF that the addition of a 15th team could be an option.
“The AIFF Executive Committee has previously taken a position on the league structure. Reopening the issue now lacks regulatory consistency and certainty. We further record that the two clubs (FC Goa and Sporting Club Delhi) referenced (in Wednesday’s letter) have themselves stated that they would abide by the decision of the majority of clubs and the AIFF,” Thursday’s letter said.
“In the circumstances, and given the surrounding context, it appears those communications may have been made under situational pressure. In any event, as the overwhelming majority of participating clubs do not consent to any expansion, and as the Federation retains regulatory authority over league composition, this matter ought to be treated as closed,” the letter added.
Interestingly, Churchill Brothers’ letter dated February 20, which the AIFF sent as a reference to the clubs, spoke about the Goan club’s wish to feature in ISL 2026-27.
For the past few weeks, Churchill have been lobbying hard to sneak in as the 15th team.
They were provisional winners of last season’s I-League, but Inter Kashi were declared champions by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after they moved the Lausanne-based court. Inter Kashi were then promoted to the ISL.
