All 14 teams confirm participation in ISL 2025-26; West Bengal will have three home venues

All fourteen Indian Super League (ISL) teams on Monday confirmed their participation and home venues for the 2025-2026 season, with the campaign kicking off on February 14.

Unsurprisingly, Holder Mohun Bagan Super Giant has chosen Salt Lake Stadium as its conventional home ground, which it had turned into a fortress in the league last season. The Kishore Bharati Krirangan was also in Bagan’s plans before he chose his familiar nest.

Bagan are likely to share the home ground with arch-rivals East Bengal, and both have started preparing for the competition well ahead of the start date.

The Mariners, who parted ways with Jose Molina after exiting the Super Cup a month earlier, have been training under new coach Sergio Lobera since November 28.

«We remain ready and optimistic about the upcoming season. All our teams – age group, reserve and first teams – have been practicing intensively and our new coach has been working with the first team squad since the first day (of his arrival),» an official in Bagan said. Sports stars.

Meanwhile, after losing in the AIFF Super Cup final last month, East Bengal resumed training for the competition on January 5.

Two other clubs, Punjab FC and Sporting Club Delhi, will share their home venues – the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium – in the national capital.

It is understood that the former has an agreement with the Sports Authority of India – which manages the stadium – for this ISL season, while the latter has held optimistic talks with concerned authorities to use the venue for home matches.

Sporting Club Delhi, previously called Hyderabad FC, changed base after the 2024-2025 season, following a change of ownership.

Mohammedan Sporting was one of the clubs that considered a change of venue, but shortcomings in the pitch infrastructure saw the club return to its old location.

READ | ISL 2025-26 starts on February 14, all clubs are participating: Sports Minister

«We will be playing our home matches at Kishore Bharati Krirangan again this season. We had thought of considering Barsat Stadium (Vidyasagar Krirangan) as a potential venue but the area around the goal post is something we had issues with,» said Dipendu Biswas, senior official at the club.

West Bengal will get a third venue added in the ISL when Varanasi’s Inter Kashi play at the Kalyani Stadium, where the club started its journey in senior professional football before gaining promotion to the league this season.

The ISL, India’s men’s premier league, has been shrouded in uncertainty since the Master Rights Agreement between Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) ended on December 8.

Also, the AIFF and FSDL could not agree on a future deal, nor did a new tender for a new commercial partner attract a bidder, putting the competition on hold for at least four months.

The deadlock was finally broken on January 5, when the Sports Ministry sat down with all stakeholders and it was decided that the competition would take place with a truncated schedule in a single-leg home-and-away format.

The ISL clubs and the Federation will meet this week to finalize the upcoming season’s matches.

According to the new schedule, 91 matches will be played between February 14 and May 31 in a shortened schedule. Each team plays thirteen matches, half of which – six or seven – are played at their own home venue and the rest on the road.

Published on January 12, 2026