ISL 2025-26: Indian Super League begins its long climb back to the top, one match at a time

“The 33 of us are doing fine in the Shelter” was immortalized in Chile after the mining accident in Copiapó. In 2010, 33 miners were believed killed after a cave-in in the Atacama Desert.

Seventeen days later they were all rescued alive and unharmed. Key to the operation was a dusty note in Spanish that translated to: “We escaped well, all 33 of us,” a note that kept the rescue team motivated to get the workers out alive.

Hope at the end of a tunnel is a harbinger of relief.

The same lifeline, hope, seems to have revived Indian football after months of despondency. The 2025-2026 season of the Indian Super League (ISL), the pinnacle of men’s football in the country, is finally here.

Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), which owns the league, saw its Master Rights Agreement (MRA) with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) expire on December 8, 2025.

But the two sides failed to agree on an extension, throwing the league into limbo and putting thousands of livelihoods at risk: players, referees, grounds staff, match officials, to name a few.

“We initially realized that there was some kind of lack of trust between the clubs and the Federation, which was resolved through discussions,” said Anirban Dutta, secretary of the Football Association of India, one of the three members of the committee set up to expedite the start of the competition.

“We have said from the beginning that if this league, the premier league, does not happen, Indian football will go back a hundred years… Now that the league is here, there is no greater achievement than this.”

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The AIFF first assured the clubs of a long-term vision for the next twenty seasons and then proposed an agenda for a shortened 2025-2026 season. The plan was accepted by the clubs and approved by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

A fresh tender for media rights was floated and FanCode eventually got the broadcast rights for Rs. Lihat juga hgtgdfgdtr13. 8.62 million. Kaleidoscope Services took over the production rights for Rs. 5.2 crore.

The ISL kicks off with champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant taking on three-time runners-up Kerala Blasters in the opener at the Salt Lake Stadium on February 14.

Not a bed of roses

However, the coming campaign will not be a bed of roses.

Fourteen teams will play 91 matches until May 17, with each team playing 13 matches, once against each club. Compared to last season, that is a decrease of 50 percent: half the average of 26. Teams played at least 24 games last season, while teams that qualified through the play-offs played 28.

The media rights have also fallen from Rs. 1.69 crore per match for Rs. 9.5 lakh per game, a decline of 94.4 percent.

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In contrast, a regional league like Super League Kerala (SLK), with fewer teams (6 against 14) and fewer matches than the ISL (33 against 91), sold its media rights for Rs. 100 crore for the next five years. That brings the per-match valuation to Rs. 60.6 lakh, almost seven times more than the ISL.

The SLK has an average attendance of 12,553 in its second season. After ten seasons, the ISL has seen its average attendance drop from 25,408 in the first season to 11,084.

Meanwhile, several clubs took pay cuts for players to kick off ISL 2025-26, including Super Cup champions FC Goa.

«Our first-team players and coaching staff stepped forward, stood together and chose to support the club by agreeing to reduce their remuneration during this period. This was not an easy decision. It was a selfless decision,» FC Goa said in a statement.

This also applied to Bengaluru FC, led by India captain and record scorer Sunil Chhetri.

Player salaries have been clubs’ Achilles heel, especially in a league with declining value. In the 2023/2024 season alone, 37 percent of the clubs’ combined valuation went to salaries, according to Transfermarkt and FootyStats. Last season that dropped marginally to 33 percent.

It still scores significantly higher than elite competitions such as La Liga and the Premier League, where that share was 25 percent and 23 percent respectively.

Both stakes and incentives will be scarce this season.

The shortened format will have no play-offs, which, under the existing prize money format, would wipe out the prize pool reserved until last season.

Unless the federation and the ISL Interim Committee come up with an alternative plan, the prize pool could shrink from Rs. 15.5 crore (ISL Cup Winner: 6 Cr., Runner-up: 3 Cr., 3rd/4th: 1.5 Cr. each, ISL Shield Winner: 3.5 Cr.) in the previous season to Rs. 5 crore (ISL Shield Winner: 3.5 Cr., Runner-up: 1.5 Cr.). Even considering a smaller campaign, that’s a drop of about 67.7 percent.

At the continental level, India previously had one confirmed spot for the ISL Shield champions and an optional spot for the Super Cup champions in the AFC Champions League 2.

As ISL teams did not meet the minimum match criteria (each club must play at least 24 matches per season), India’s confirmed spot was converted into another optional spot.

This will impact the minimum club revenue for the ISL champions. It used to get at least $300,000 (about Rs. 2.7 crore) for the direct spot, but now gets only a third of that: $100,000 (about Rs. 90 lakh).

For example, Bagan, last season’s ISL Cup and Shield winners, won Rs. 12.2 (6+3.5+2.7) crore in prize money. On the other hand, the winner of the competition, as per last season’s format, will get a minimum of Rs. 4.4 (3.5+0.9) crore in this campaign.

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It is therefore no surprise that the clubs have asked for subsidized “access to sports infrastructure” for three years and “temporary rationalization of club licensing requirements for the current season”.

The silver lining

The night is darkest before sunrise.

The federation, which owns the ISL for the first time, could take solace in the fact that FSDL saw a net profit of Rs. 45.2 crore from the league. There is money to be made in Indian football.

There is also growing optimism among clubs to restart operations, complete transfers and prepare venues. The likes of Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City FC, Jamshedpur FC and even newly promoted Inter Kashi have made several signings, including foreign recruits, and look set for four months of regular football.

However, the league will miss some major foreign players. Blasters captain Adrian Luna and last season’s highest goalscorer Alaaeddine Ajaraie have been loaned out, while two-time ISL winner Tiri left Mumbai City amid uncertainty in the competition.

On the other hand, Antonio Lopez Habas, the ISL’s most successful head coach (2 Cups, 1 Shield), returns to the league after winning the I-League with Inter Kashi last season.

The campaign could also potentially be the last in professional football for Chhetri, one of India’s greatest servants of the beautiful game for more than two decades.

There is light at the end of the tunnel for the ISL and players will finally walk out on February 14, a time when the league begins its long climb back to the top, one match at a time.

Published on February 13, 2026