Sports Minister backs club-led model to secure Indian Super League’s future

ByTech Word News

Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has stepped in to save the Indian Super League (ISL) and ordered the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and clubs to immediately form a joint task force. The goal is to end their long-running financial dispute and create a solid plan for the next two seasons.

The meeting in New Delhi lasted several hours and was described as positive, with everyone looking for answers rather than playing the blame game. Mandaviya reminded everyone that the ISL is a massive enterprise that supports the livelihood of many players and staff and urged them to quickly return to it with a fair business model.

The intervention of the minister is highly essential for the survival of the league. ISL fell into a major financial crisis late last year when its long-time commercial partner, FSDL, suddenly backed out. While the ministry managed to help push through the shortened 2025-26 season – where East Bengal FC beat rivals Mohun Bagan Super Giant to lift their first ever trophy – the league still lacks a permanent financial set-up.

WHAT IS THE ISL CLUB-LED MODEL?

Right now, the AIFF and the 14 ISL clubs are locked in a dispute over who should run the business side of the league. Clubs want to run things themselves and have proposed a two-year “club-led” pilot model for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons to keep the tournament stable.

Under this plan, clubs want to take over the commercial rights of the ISL and pay a set fee directly to the national federation:

  • Payment: The clubs offer the AIFF to pay a total of £15 million per year.
  • What it includes: This money is intended to cover official duties of the federation, such as referees, anti-doping tests and legal costs.
  • Comparison: This £15m offer is actually higher than the £12.4m the AIFF would have received in the first year from the massive deal proposed by London-based Genius Sports.

The clubs are also vehemently rejecting the AIFF’s proposal to charge them an extra entry fee, arguing that they already spend enough to keep their teams running.

WHAT NEXT FOR ISL?

The newly formed task force must work quickly to seal a deal before the start of next season. According to AIFF’s early calendar, the upcoming 2026-27 ISL season will revert to a full seven-month schedule that will run from September 1 to April 11.

This will be a big step up from the emergency format used last season, where teams played only 13 matches each in the one-legged tournament. With the sports minister now pushing hard for a joint solution, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey and the 14 club owners must quickly compromise to ensure Indian football can continue smoothly.

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Issued by:

Debodinna Chakraborty

Published on:

08 Jun 2026 22:13 IST