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The impasse was a result of the expiration of the Master’s Rights Agreement between the AIFF and the FSDL following the conclusion of their 15-year agreement.
Indian Super League. (X)
After a prolonged period of uncertainty over the commencement and the future of top-flight football in India, the Sports Minister’s declaration stating that the 12th season of the competition would indeed get underway came as music to the ears of players, team fans and other stakeholders involved in the Indian football landscape.
The impasse was a result of the expiration of the Master’s Rights Agreement between the All India Football Federation and the Football Sports Development Limited following the conclusion of their 15-year agreement.
The contract originally signed between AIFF and FSDL back in the year 2010 was set to run up until 2025 and the AIFF initiated negotiations over the renewal of the same back in November 2024.
Meetings pertaining to the renewal of the same were held in the administrative and financial capitals of the nation, New Delhi and Mumbai in February and March of 2025.
FSDL proposed a joint venture in which the AIFF would be entitled to 14% of the revenues, FSDL would stand to receive 26%, while the clubs would go on to make a majority 60% of the revenues, in a system without promotion or relegation during the meetings.
Following up on the meetings, the FSDL submitted a proposal on the 25th of March 2025, which was countered by AIFF in their counter-offer on the 21st of April 2025.
However, there was a hitch in the process as the Supreme Court of India declared that the Masters Rights Agreement renewal should not proceed until its orders, hitting pausing on the negotiations on the 26th of April, 2025.
FDSL’s announcement on the 11th of July 2025 noted that the 2025-26 season of the ISL was on hold due to a lack of contractual clarity and the Agreement’s expiration in December 2025.
What followed was period of turbulence and clamor across the India football spectrum as 11 ISL sides warned of a potential ‘shut-shop’ if the period of inactivity continued, on the 18th of August 2025.
Positive conversations between the powers that be ensued and a proposal to run the league as a joint venture was floated by the stakeholders to the SC.
Ten days later, on the 28th of August 2025, the AIFF and FSDL informed the Supreme Court that they plan to get the league underway in December.
A tender for a new commercial partnership was offered up, to a lot of publicity nevertheless, but to the dismay of everyone who had been following the drawn-out saga, no bids were received on the day of cutoff on the 16th of October 2025, leading to a further delay.
Multiple clubs including the likes of Bengaluru FC and Chennaiyin FC announced that they hat hit pause on first-team operations on the 11th of November 2025.
The Supreme Court examined the issue at hand and the central government stepped in to intervene, assuring the football-loving section of the nation of the organisation of the league on the 21st of November 2025.
And as the nation feared, the 15-year Master Rights Agreement between AIFF and FSDL expired on the 8th of December 2025. As many as 13 of the 14 ISL clubs, with the exception of East Bengal, submitted a joint proposal to the Sports Ministry to operate the league by themselves on the 19th of December 2025.
The AIFF Executive Committee discussed the crisis at the Annual General Meeting on the 20th of November 2025 and established the Coordination Committee.
The perception of football in the nation took another beating in the eyes of the faithful as the arrival of World Cup-winner Lionel Messi, spearheaded by an individual entity, on a four-city tour taking the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner to Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, caught the headlines while the lives in the peninsular nation that depended on the sport suffered in silence and wandered in confusion as an existential dread prevailed around the future of the league.
As the future of the league laid in the balance, players, owners and stakeholders from across the board made their concerns known, with players including the likes of Indian icons Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jinghan and Gurpreet Singh issuing a pleas to the powers that be to help get the sport in the nation out of dire straights.
On the 1st of January 2026, as the calendar reset, the deadline for clubs to confirm their participation in the modified season was bellowed, but, a couple of days later, on the 3rd of January 2026, the AIFF confirmed that it would conduct the league directly under its aegis.
And to bring the curtains down on a forlorn saga in the annals of the sport in the nation, on the 6th of January 2026, the honourable Sports Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, announced that the 2025-26 season of the ISL would commence on the 14th of February 2026, featuring 14 clubs in a single-leg format, in a true Valentine’s day delight for Indian football fans.
January 07, 2026, 15:18 IST
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