‘Play or relegate’: Clubs given short notice to accept start of ISL 2025-26

All Indian Super League (ISL) clubs have confirmed that they will play in the 2025-26 season after confirming their participation at short notice during their meeting with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Union Sports Ministry on Tuesday.

After several months of impasse, a breakthrough occurred regarding the start of the competition, with all stakeholders finally coming to an agreement.

All 14 clubs have now verbally confirmed their participation in the ISL season, which starts on February 14.

However, the clubs were given a short lead time to accept the terms of the format and the terms of the competition.

During Tuesday’s meetings, four clubs hesitated to confirm their participation, three of which were Odisha, FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC.

The clubs requested 24 hours a day to contact their owners and confirm participation. But due to the urgency – the ISL has already been postponed by four months – the clubs were given a thirty-minute ultimatum.

“We were told we had to play or be relegated,” an ISL club official told this publication.

And soon all clubs verbally confirmed their participation in the competition.

According to the recommendations submitted by the AIFF-ISL Coordination Committee on January 3, “The AIFF should finalize the short-term league format in consultation with the clubs, and in the absence of consensus, exercise its authority as league owner to finalize the format without allowing any further delay or digression.”

The committee also added that if a club refuses to participate, it should be ‘disqualified or relegated’ to the second division.

However, the ISL clubs had written a letter to the AIFF on January 1 seeking several long-term guarantees before it could give permission to participate in the 2025-2026 season.

When will the competition take place?

The clubs and the Federation discussed when the competition could take place and discovered that several factors were at play.

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Firstly, there will be no relegation this season – a provision that violates the AIFF Constitution and requires a nod from the Supreme Court, which opens after the New Year holidays on January 5. Moreover, the Supreme Court also has pending rulings on constitutional barriers to the clubs.

Secondly, the competition (season 2025-2026) does not yet have a commercial partner. Finally, the clubs will need time to prepare the venues for at least six home games.

The clubs, the federation and the Ministry of Sports took into account all the above reasons to conclude that the competition could ideally start within a month, between February 10 and 15. Ultimately, February 14 was chosen as the date to start the shortened competition.

Complete the format

The AIFF presented both formats to the clubs at the meeting: a dual-conference competition on centralized formats and a Swiss format competition, where each team plays each other only once.

The clubs opted for the latter because most of them felt that teams originally based in the centralized locations – Goa, Kerala or Kolkata – would enjoy commercial benefits through centralization.

For example, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan Super Giant would have more tickets in Kolkata than Odisha FC in the Salt Lake Stadium. As a result, it was mutually agreed that the tournament would be played in a Swiss format.

Each team plays thirteen matches, half of which – six or seven – are played at home and the rest on the road.

In addition, the federation will talk to all state associations to keep the costs for the shortened season, including the rental price for stadiums, within limits as much as possible.

Finances

The long-term proposal made by the AIFF a few days ago stated that the clubs will have a 50 percent share of the revenue, the commercial partner will have 30%, the Federation will have 10% and the remaining 10% will be for old clubs and the parties that want to further invest in their share of the competition.

A similar plan was drawn up at Tuesday’s meeting, with the AIFF proposing a budget of Rs. 25 Cr. for the short-term competition.

Ten percent of this will be borne by the Federation as standard, while another 30% – in the event of no short-term commercial partner – is projected as AIFF’s worst-case guaranteed wage of Rs. 10 Cr.

The remaining Rs. 15 Cr. is expected to come from participating clubs, who have planned an outlay of approximately Rs. 2.05 Cr, of which Rs. 1 Cr. is paid to the Federation in three or four installments before the competition.

(with inputs from Aashin Prasad)

Published on January 6, 2026