The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday said that it will get into negotiations with Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) to enable the timely start of the Indian Super League (ISL) after the Supreme Court asked to end the impasse.
The SC bench of Justice Sri Narasimha and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Friday allowed the AIFF and ISL organisers FSDL to start discussions on the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) and try to find a solution so that the upcoming ISL season goes ahead.
“Pursuant to the proceedings in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India this afternoon, the AIFF will enter into good faith negotiations with Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) in respect of the Master Rights Agreement that is set to expire on December 8, 2025,” AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey said in a statement.”The parties will endeavour to arrive at mutually agreeable measures to enable timely commencement of the 2025-26 football calendar so that the same may be presented for the consideration of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India at the next hearing, i.e., August 28, 2025,” he added.
The ongoing ISL crisis started after AIFF and FSDL put the 2025-26 season on hold due to the uncertainty over the renewal of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA), which is set to expire on December 8 this year.
AIFF gets Rs 50 crore annually from FSDL under the MRA. Following an earlier directive from the Supreme Court, the AIFF has been asked not to negotiate new terms of the MRA with FSDL until a final judgment is delivered in the AIFF draft constitution case.
Clubs request intervention
On Thursday, 11 ISL clubs urged the two senior lawyers assisting the Supreme Court — Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Samar Bansal — to bring to its notice the existential crisis they are facing due to uncertainty over the ISL’s future and the “urgency of pronouncing judgment at the earliest”.
“Given that football clubs (across entire pyramid), their players, employees, and stakeholders are the most directly and immediately affected by the current standstill in Indian football, we have no option but to approach your good selves, as officers of the Hon’ble Court, to humbly request that our concerns be placed before the Ld. Bench,” the letter stated.
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The eleven ISL clubs which signed the letter are Bengaluru FC, Hyderabad FC, Odisha FC, Chennaiyin FC, Jamshedpur FC, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters FC, Punjab FC, NorthEast United FC, Mumbai City FC and Mohammedan Sporting.
The same 11 clubs had earlier warned the AIFF that they face the possibility of shutting down entirely due to uncertainty over the ISL’s future.
