NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Saturday said the Indian Super League (ISL) dates will be announced next week after its emergency committee meeting.AIFF said in a statement that the emergency committee met on January 3 to consider and take note of the report submitted by the AIFF-ISL Coordination Committee. The Coordinating Committee was established on 20 December 2025 following discussions during the AIFF Executive Committee meeting and subsequent Annual General Meeting.
Where did it all go wrong for Indian football?
The coordination committee was asked to submit its report to the AIFF secretariat by January 2, which it did. The report was formally confirmed by the AIFF emergency committee, which recommended that the league be run by the AIFF.Following this, the AIFF said it will run the league and confirmed that the start date of the ISL will be announced next week.In a statement shared on Instagram, the AIFF said: “The AIFF Crisis Committee met today (January 3, 2026) to consider and take note of the report submitted by the AIFF-ISL Coordination Committee. The Coordination Committee was established on December 20, 2025 following the AIFF Executive Committee meeting and the subsequent AIFF Annual Report was requested by the AIFF General Meeting of the Coordination Committee on January 2, 2026, which was duly complied with, the report was formally confirmed by the AIFF’s emergency committee, which recommended that the league be run by the All India Football Federation, with the start date to be announced next week.The ISL, which was supposed to start last September, has not yet started due to the absence of a commercial partner.On Friday, several footballers, including Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan, released a video titled “Save Indian Football”, calling on FIFA and FIFPRO to intervene.“It’s January and we should be on your screens like a non-competitive football match in the Indian Super League,” Gurpreet said in a joint video statement posted on social media.“Instead, we are driven here by fear and desperation to say out loud something we all know,” Jhingan added.The players said the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was no longer able to fulfill its responsibilities and appealed to FIFA to intervene and secure the future of the sport in the country.“But more importantly, we are here to make a plea. The Indian football government is no longer able to fulfill its responsibilities. We are now staring at permanent paralysis. This is a last ditch effort to save what we can. So we are calling on FIFA to step in and do what is needed to save Indian football,” added other players.The players emphasized that their appeal was not political in nature, but born out of necessity.“We hope that this message reaches the powers that be in Zurich. This challenge is not political, it is not driven by confrontation, but by necessity. It may sound like a big word, but the truth is that we are facing a humanitarian, sporting and economic crisis. And of course we need a rescue as soon as possible. We just want to play football, please help us do it,” other players said in a statement.“Players, staff, owners and fans deserve clarity, protection and more importantly, a future,” Chhetri concluded.
