The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday announced the Request For Proposal (RFP) for granting the right to monetize the commercial rights of the Indian Super League (ISL) – the highest tier of men’s football in India – for a term of 15 years.
Sports stars has a copy of the 62-page document, which is divided into two parts and outlines instructions for bidders and the terms of the draft contract.
The RFP elaborates on a number of key issues, including bidder eligibility criteria, promotion-relegation in the league, club wage caps and the potential introduction of the Video Assistant Review (VAR) in the long term.
The decision to float the tender comes after the Supreme Court on September 19 approved AIFF’s draft constitution – edited and submitted by former Supreme Court judge Justice L. Nageswara Rao.
MORE DETAILS | AIFF adopts constitution approved by Supreme Court
The AIFF had signed a Master Rights Agreement (MRA) with Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) for a period of 15 years, from 2010 to 2025, to run and manage the ISL.
However, that MoU expires on December 8, with the new constitution giving the federation the mandate to run the competition; a commercial partner – selected through the RFP – would manage operations, likely by December 10.
Eligibility criteria for bidders and bidding process
As per the RFP, the bidder must have a net worth of at least ₹250 crore at the end of the financial year 2024-25, and the submitted bids will be assessed by the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC).
The BEC consists of Justice Rao, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey and an independent member, Kesvaran Murugasu.
The potential bidders must submit a written bid request to the AIFF by November 5 at 5:00 PM IST. They will also have to submit a refundable bond/security deposit (EMD) of ₹10 lakh.
The BEC will then assess the bidders on various factors, such as net worth, broadcast hours, total amount of sponsorship raised and technical acumen in organizing sports tournaments.
Accordingly, the BEC will issue a Letter of Award (LoA) to the successful bidder, who must then send a signed duplicate letter to the AIFF within three days of receiving the LoA.
Mandate for selected bidder: the Company
The selected bidder – referred to as the Company in the document – will have to pay ₹37.5 crore or five percent of its gross revenue – whichever is higher – annually as Governance and Development Fees (GDF) to the AIFF. In return, the federation ensures that at least 189 matches are played in a season.
If the number of matches falls below the threshold, the minimum value to be paid by the company may be reduced from ₹37.5 crore to ₹30 crore.
The BDF will be payable in two equal installments in the first year (2025-26), while payment for the next 14 years will be made in four installments per financial year.
Interestingly, the RFP states that “the copyright for broadcast and streaming (Live TV, Deferred Live, Digital Streaming, highlights, clips, archives, stills from the broadcast) would rest with the AIFF.”
“The defined windows for live broadcast, clips, rebroadcast and digital streaming will be agreed upon between the commercial rights holder and the broadcast/streaming platform, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors.”
Under the previous MoU, it was the official broadcasters – JioStar/Network 18 – who owned the rights for the broadcast. The above clause is expected to make it even more difficult to find a bidder.
Moreover, the company will have to share the Central Revenue pool with all ISL teams in a manner that the founding teams get at least 20 percent more than non-founding teams.
The company will also have to pay 2.5 percent of its gross revenue for the grassroots development of Indian football for the first five years and five percent in the next ten years. This amount will be divided into two parts: 70 percent of it will be shared equally among ISL clubs, while the rest will go to I-League clubs at the discretion of the AIFF.
Changes in ISL, wage cap and what can the clubs expect?
The RFP has made a significant change in the franchise fees paid by the ISL teams, which have ranged from ₹12 crore to ₹16 crore in each of the last ten seasons. Instead, the company will receive 10 percent and 20 percent of revenue from the founding and non-founding teams, respectively.
The 20 percent share for non-founding teams will remain in place until they have completed 10 years in the ISL.
The AIFF also mandates the company to implement a ‘football video support system’ over the next five years, which could be followed by VAR in 2031, with a nod from the federation.
While ISL has never experienced relegation to date, with Mohammedan Sporting and Punjab FC promoted in the past two seasons, the new RFP introduces promotion and relegation – one team goes and the other comes in – in line with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) roadmap.
There will also be a portion, as parachute payments, from the Central Revenue Pool for the relegated sides depending on the time they spend in the top flight, according to the following:
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One year: 0 percent
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Two years: 20 percent
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Three years: 30 percent
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More than three years: 40 percent
In the 2025/26 season, I-League champions Inter Kashi will join the league as a newly promoted side. However, there is a glaring inconsistency in the rules in this context.
File – Inter Kashi players celebrate after scoring against Bengaluru FC during a Kalinga Super Cup 2025 match. | Photo credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT
File – Inter Kashi players celebrate after scoring against Bengaluru FC during a Kalinga Super Cup 2025 match. | Photo credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT
The document states that the 2026-2027 season will consist of twelve teams, two fewer than in the 2025-2026 season, and that twelve will be the established number of teams in the league.
This provision raises serious questions about the fate of the two teams that will finish last in the ISL next season. Secondly, if the number of teams is reduced to 12, the number of matches would drop from 189 – 14 teams – to 139, another change that could lead to AIFF getting a reduced BDF from the 2026-2027 season. However, the AIFF Governing Council has the right to change the teams.
The RFP also outlines a fixed salary ceiling of ₹18 crore for each ISL club, including bonuses and salaries for players. The ceiling does not apply to coaches and non-playing technical staff.
The ISL teams will also have to invest 2.5 percent of their revenue on grassroots development over the next five years, which will increase to five percent in the next decade.
Why is it important now?
According to Article 4.1 – (Criterion 4, Part 1(c)) – of the AFC Club Competitions – Entry Rules, a Member State must have an existing domestic top division, a division that has not been played in India this season.
That made India vulnerable to AFC sanctions.
Last month, the Supreme Court decided that FSDL would continue to comply with its MRA until its expiry in December, while AIFF would look for a commercial partner.
However, a delay in the announcement of the RFP led to ten ISL clubs – NorthEast United FC, Mumbai City FC, Punjab FC, Hyderabad FC, Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC, FC Goa, Chennaiyin FC, Odisha FC and Kerala Blasters – writing to the federation earlier on Friday, citing to ‘erosion of trust between clubs and other stakeholders.’
With the Super Cup set to kick off later this month, the Federation now hopes to complete the bidding process so that the new season of the ISL can start soon.
Published on October 17, 2025
