360 degree sustainability! How the Kerala Super League is trying to build Indian football from the ground up

A cozy stadium during one of the Kerala Super League in Calicut. (Special arrangements) NEW DELHI: Kerala has been the heart of Indian football for decades. Floodlit local tournaments draw crowds, the campus produces talented soccer players, and the sport is woven into the state’s cultural identity. However, translating this passion into a sustainable professional soccer ecosystem remains elusive.As the third season of the Super League Kerala (SLK) prepares to begin on September 25, the league believes it has found another way. Rather than chasing the glamor of the bigger leagues or relying on windfalls, the SLK is attempting to build what its CEO and director Mathew Joseph calls a “360-degree sustainability” model, one where clubs, retailers, grassroots academies and fans become stakeholders in the future of the game.Joseph is candid that Indian football’s biggest challenge is not attracting investors, but making them stay.“Since the beginning, we have focused on sustainability. It was just not sustainability for the league, but 360-degree sustainability for every stakeholder,” he told TimesofIndia.com in a virtual interview.The philosophy of “360-degree sustainability” influences almost every decision the league makes. The SLK introduced a strict salary cap, fixed player and technical staff budgets, centralized suppliers to reduce operating costs and revenue sharing mechanisms to prevent financial disparities between clubs.

The whole model is worked out in such a way that the teams, apart from the league, are the next biggest stakeholder. In fact, the teams are more important than us.

Mathew Joseph | CEO and Director

Last season, the combined expenditure of the league and its teams came close to Rs 90 crore, with the league itself investing around Rs 30 crore, while individual clubs spent between Rs 8 and 10 crore. The player purse has been capped at Rs 1.75 crore (±10%), while the technical staff budgets are capped at Rs 25 crore (±10%). Teams are penalized for both overspending and underspending to maintain competitive balance.“The whole model has been worked out so that the teams, apart from the league, are the next biggest stakeholder, the teams. In fact, the teams together are more important than us. Because if someone drops out or if profitability or sustainability is affected, they will not stay back. There is a limit to which anyone can bring money,” explained Joseph.

Mathew Joseph, CEO and Director of Kerala Super League. (Special arrangements)

The economic model allows clubs to retain 100% of their own revenue from ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandise and the academy. Only centrally generated league revenue is collected, with 40% currently distributed to clubs, while future broadcast rights would see 60% flow directly to teams.

It’s chasing a global audience

Despite its name, Joseph insists that the Kerala Super League was never set up as a regional league.“It was very clear to me from day one that we are not just a regional league. I could have gone to a regional channel and said we are a regional league, can you broadcast us? We have been with Star Sports, HotStar, Sony, Doordarshan, Sports.com, Etisalat in UAE and now we are with Zee5 (Unite8 Sports). This is for the nation. We will build football in India,” Joseph said.

This year we focused first on digital. With Zee5 being our OTT partner, they are ready to take it globally as most Indians who have smart TVs have access to Zee5. So most Indians and Keralaites will have access to the league.

Matthew Joseph

Due to Kerala’s large population settled all over the world, the league is trying to target an audience far beyond its borders.With large Malay communities spread across the Middle East, Europe and North America, SLK views the diaspora as an important audience. But Joseph believes that quality football can also attract fans from neighboring southern states.Its bigger bet, however, is digital consumption.“This year we have focused mainly on digital. Since Zee5 is our OTT partner, they are ready to take it globally because most Indians who have smart TVs have access to Zee5. So most Indians and Keralaites will have access to the league. It should actually help us stream better,” said Joseph.

Fans enjoy one of the Kerala Super League matches in Thrissur. (Special arrangements)

In addition, the league is focused on exploring vertical mobile broadcasts, multiple camera angles for viewers and interactive viewing experiences tailored for smartphones, confirming that many Indian households have one TV but multiple mobile screens.

Football with a guaranteed winner

Perhaps the most visible innovation of this SLK season will come to the pitch.For the first time in Indian football, every match in the group stage will produce a winner. If the teams finish level after 90 minutes, the match goes straight to a penalty shootout. A regulation win gets three points, a shootout win gets two points, a shootout loss gets one, and a non-regular loss gets none.Joseph believes that removing ties will fundamentally change the viewing experience.

FIFA has granted permission for such things in Japan, China and several other countries. So we’re introducing it and making it more interesting for every viewer or person watching it on TV.

Matthew Joseph

“Definitely we will decide at the end of the match. FIFA has allowed such things in Japan, China and a few other countries. So we are introducing it and it will make it more interesting for any spectator or person watching it on TV,” Joseph said.The SLK also expanded its knockout phase to include semi-finals home and away, increasing the season from 33 to 35 matches.

Generic before glamour

SLK invested in youth football long before the start of the league. According to Joseph, the organization has run 52 academies, trained over 17,000 children and built its own talent identification program (Project Game Changer) in collaboration with the Andrés Iniesta Academy.

For the last six years from 2020, we focused on developing the local (system). We had scouts present throughout the year at varsity matches, inter-school, inter-university matches.

Matthew Joseph

This year’s scouting program attracted around 3,500 players across six locations in Kerala, with club scouts evaluating prospects for each franchise.“For the last six years since 2020, we have been focusing on developing the grassroots (system). We had scouts present throughout the year at university matches, inter-school and inter-university matches. Last year, out of about 2,000 kids who came, we shortlisted almost 15, took them to camps and eventually about five of them were selected for various Kerala Super League teams,” Joseph said.The ambition of the league is not only to produce players for the best Kerala Blasters.“We are not a feeder system for (Kerala) Blasters. We are a feeder system, or we would like to be a feeder system, for the whole ecosystem of football across the country. It could be another regional league, it could be a national league, it could be the I-League (now IFL) or it could be the ISL, whatever. As long as people are playing and getting an opportunity, they are more happy than those present elsewhere,” said Joseph, his vision.

A view of Malappuram FC’s home turf. (Special arrangements)

One success story is Muhammed Sinan who emerged through Project Game Changer before becoming one of Kannur Warriors’ outstanding performers and gaining national recognition. He returns for the third season alongside veteran Indian players such as Prasanth K, Abdul Hakku Nediyodath and Pragyan Sundar Gogoi, while overseas recruits include Varo Álvarez, Asier Gomez, Ernesten Lavsamba and Grace Adieu Youmou.

Why foreign players matter

SLK continues to entrust experienced overseas footballers and coaches with professional licenses, not only to improve the quality of matches, but also to accelerate the development of players.“We’re trying to bring in players who are experienced, who have better football knowledge, who have played with a lot of other leagues,” Joseph said.Joseph claims that young Indian footballers develop faster when they are surrounded by professionals who compete across different football cultures.

Home of Forca Kochi. (Special arrangements)

The third season also features experienced coaches including Karim Bencherif (Malappuram FC), Vital Borkelmans (Forca Kochi), Andrey Chernyshov (Kannur Warriors) and Ever Adriano Demaldé (Calicut FC), giving local players access to different tactical philosophies.

Long game

If Indian football is waiting for broadcasters to save its finances, Joseph believes it is waiting for the wrong solution. “I don’t think linear TV is going to pay anymore,” he says flatly.Instead, SLK is exploring subscription models, season tickets, pay-per-view products and nearly 20 separate revenue streams that are currently structured together with management and accounting firm KPMG. The aim is to create a measurable fan commitment rather than a speculative valuation of the club.

We thought we could (expand the league from six to eight teams), but we realized we weren’t going to be able to do the place justice in five months.

Matthew Joseph

He also sees infrastructure as another frontier. The league deliberately delayed the expansion from six to eight teams this year because the stadiums in the future cities were not ready.“We thought we could, but we realized we wouldn’t be able to accommodate the place in five months,” he reasoned.Ultimately, Joseph believes that clubs must own or control their stadiums if they are to become truly worthwhile sporting institutions.For now, however, the third season represents an important next step rather than a finished product. The immediate goals are bigger crowds, fuller stadiums, improved technology and firmer base paths.As Kerala gears up for another autumn of football, the league’s ambitions extend far beyond crowning the next champion. He wants to prove that the next sustainable success of Indian football cannot start in the country’s biggest cities, but in the state that has loved the game the longest.