Supreme Court sets AIFF on time to start the Indian football calendar on time, reserves the opinion of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday instructed the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to take the necessary measures to ensure that the Indian football calendar starts on time.

The AIFF and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) have not reached an agreement on a deal on the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) that rises on December 8, 2025, which put the Indian Super League (ISL) ‘on hold’.

In the orders of the Court, the two parties discussed a joint proposal and served this to the court on 28 August. The honorable bank accepted it from the judgment and noted that the proposal «takes into account the current situation and provisions for an action plan».

Accordingly, the Super Cup will probably be the first tournament for the 2025-26 after an ‘adequate period for the season’, followed by the ISL in December, after approval from the Asian football confederation.

«… We instruct AIFF to take measures that may be necessary for (de) timely start of the football calendar and to maintain the competitive continuity for the 2025-2026 season with regard to Super Cup and other competitions under control,» said the Supreme Court-Bank of Justice P. Narasimha and Justice.

According to the proposal, FSDL will refrain from its contractual rights of first negotiations and the right to match under the MRA of 8 December 2010, and issue a certificate without objection for AIFF to carry out an open, competitive and transparent tender or equivalent process.

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Voor hetzelfde hadden de twee partijen – AIFF en FSDL – gesuggereerd dat de ‘Big Four’ – Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) (PWC), Ernst & Young (EY) en Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerderer (KPMG) – of een onafhankelijk professioneel bedrijf van Refute To Vochten, iets dat de Court heeft afgewezen, is de rechtbank die er geen dergelijke terminus is, een such a period in court.

Instead, the former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice L. Naonswara Rao, appointed to ensure that the selection process identifies a «competent, renowned and efficient company as a commercial partner to carry out ISL, in accordance with worldwide best practices.»

Justice Rao was previously aimed at receiving concern about the draft AIFF Constitution and then to submit the final draft to the court.

«The AIFF will also issue the necessary tenders that invite bids for an open, competitive and transparent process for the selection of his commercial partner to perform the Indian Super League,» said the verdict.

No opinion on the Constitution yet

However, the court still has to give a decision about the AIFF constitution, and the delay in the judgment has indirectly endangered the Indian football season 2025-26.

The APEX court had previously said that it had reserved its decision to check whether the draft constitution of the AIFF that was submitted to the court in 2023 was in accordance with the National Sports Governance Act of 2025.

On Monday, however, adv. Rahul Mehra, adv. Menaka Guruswamy and Adv. Raghenth Basant issued concern about the law, including the lack of clarity with regard to the permanent term of office and the maximum age to dispute elections in national sports federations.

«The Amici Curiae has argued that the draft constitution (IS) is considerably in accordance with the provisions of the law, which still have to be registered,» the bank said.

Published on 02 September 2025