It's been 215 days since a football was kicked about in an Indian Super League contest. A duration in which you could conceivably hold three IPLs, five FIFA World Cups, 13 Olympics and the entirety of the 2024-25 ISL season (211 days including the playoffs and the final). For 59% of the calendar year, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has failed to perform its primary function - conduct India's top-flight league.
In typical AIFF fashion, the road here has been scenic; that is if you find ineptitude, red-tape, brinksmanship and outright negligence akin to a tranquil lake. Also in typical AIFF fashion, there have been multiple complexities involved, and plenty of confusion in how the Indian club football milieux has been brought to its knees.
Here's a simple explainer on the chaos currently ruling Indian football:
So... what happened to the ISL?
To truly understand this, we'll have to go back a bit to 2010, when Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) became the commercial partners of the AIFF with a 15-year-long Master Rights Agreement (MRA). The operation, broadcast, and promotion of the ISL was FSDL's responsibility, and it operated (relatively) smoothly from its first season in 2014. The deal was set to run out on December 8, 2025.
Now, a responsible governing body would have had renewal talks at least a year or two out, given the stakes involved. The AIFF claims to have begun renewal talks last November, although why their first meeting with FSDL officials came four months later (in February 2025) is anyone's guess.
It's also curious that the AIFF formed a committee tasked with the MRA renewal on April 07, 2025 - two months after that initial meeting. That committee responded to FSDL's proposal on April 21, 2025, but five days later, a Supreme Court directive barred the AIFF from entering into long-term agreements (more on the SC's involvement later).
In short, with no clarity on the future of the ISL, the FSDL put the 2025-26 ISL season on hold. A situation that continues to this day.
Why is the court involved?
To understand this have to go back to 2010 again, when Rahul Mehra filing a writ petition in the Delhi High Court, claiming the AIFF's election process was not in compliance with the National Sports Code. The case dragged on for seven years, with the Delhi HC directing the AIFF to hold fresh elections along with changes to its governing statutes. The case was then escalated to the Supreme Court, who stayed the HC order in November 2017, and themselves ordered the AIFF to form a new constitution that would be NSC-compliant.
Matters came to a head five years later in May 2022, when the SC replaced the AIFF's Executive Committee (chaired by then president, Praful Patel) with a Committee of Administrators. It resulted in a FIFA ban (citing third-party interference), as a result of which the SC dissolved its own CoA a few months later and ordered fresh elections. The FIFA ban was overturned, and Kalyan Chaubey came to power in September 2022.
The matter of the AIFF's constitution dragged on in court and in September of this year, the SC instructed the AIFF to float an open tender for a new commercial partner, ensure the club football season began with the Super Cup, and adopted the draft constitution (which was in compliance with the National Sports Governance Act of 2025).
The SC order came in September - why is there still no ISL?
In short, the AIFF bungled matters. Following the SC order, the AIFF vastly overestimated their bargaining strength, floating an open tender for a new commercial partner with a Request-For-Proposal (RFP) that was simply not commercially viable. Four parties (including FSDL) were reportedly interested, but with potential operating losses rising to 200 crore per year - on top of a guaranteed 37.5 crore paid to the AIFF annually - not a single bid was made.
Additionally, the RFP offered the commercial partner only one seat in the ISL's six-member board, with the AIFF having two themselves as well as veto power regarding the operation of the league. Promotion and relegation proved to be another sticking point, with interested commercial partners pointing out investors would be hard to come by if a club could be relegated and lose out on top-flight revenue.
In an ideal world, the RFP would have earned a bid had the AIFF not overplayed their hand. A commercial partner in place, the ISL could have been scheduled and with guarantees of a future, clubs could resume operations and we'd be close to witnessing some actual football.
Sadly, the current scenario has the AIFF reporting back to the Supreme Court, asking for further direction. A hastily arranged call with ISL and I-League CEOs and club captains with hours' notice saw AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey reportedly offer assurances that the commercial partner would be sorted out by December, and the ISL could begin in January 2026.
But isn't some club football on currently?
We did have some football this season - the Super Cup began with all 13 ISL clubs joined by three I-League clubs to play out a group stage... but the semifinals of the tournament are on hold with an international break and the uncertainty of the ISL forcing clubs to hit pause on their operations.
Is there a danger of a FIFA ban again?
FIFA themselves handed AIFF a deadline of October 31 to adopt a new constitution, which the AIFF met. However, they are still potential pitfalls, with the constitution still being reviewed by the Supreme Court, which could easily be construed as 'third-party interference' once more. A FIFA ban at this stage would prove truly catastrophic, with even the national teams (who have only been indirectly affected so far) being potentially barred from competition.
Who is affected by the current impasse?
Almost everyone in Indian football ecosystem.
You've probably seen India's top players like Sandesh Jhingan and Sunil Chhetri put out statements, outlining how the delay affects livelihoods of players. Clubs are unable to plan operations, and cannot seek sponsorships, resulting in their pauses on salaries. For an ecosystem that provides lakhs of jobs, the AIFF's handling of matters coupled with a glacial judiciary has caused plenty of hardship.
This game belongs to all of us. Let's protect it, together ���� pic.twitter.com/InEjq8qrIw
- Sandesh Jhingan (@SandeshJhingan) November 11, 2025
It's not even the ISL that is affected directly - the AIFF's lack of a commercial partner means that their coffers cannot operate the entire football pyramid. The second-tier I-League has also not been scheduled, and thus clubs who are operating on shoe-string budgets also cannot plan for the season or invite sponsorships. The I-League clubs have met the Sports Ministry in desperation, placing demands that the new commercial partner also operate their league, not the AIFF.
India's national teams consist of players that rely on club football to stay sharp, and while the men's team has nothing to play for, the women's team (along with their U-17 and U-20 sides) have a pivotal Asia Cup (and potential World Cup qualification) to prepare for.
The Indian Women's League has been scheduled for late December, but with some of those clubs dependent on parent ISL / I-League clubs for revenue, there could be a pause on those operations as well. Academies of ISL and I-League clubs have also been affected, with grassroot coaches that have a hand-to-mouth existence on low salaries being let go.
India's next generation of footballers do not have coaches to train under and pitches to play on, as the AIFF's negligence trickles down all the way to what matters - kicking a ball on the pitch.