11 ISL clubs urge senior lawyers assisting Supreme Court to bring attention to their crisis ahead of AIFF-FSDL hearing

Eleven Indian Super League clubs on Thursday urged the two senior lawyers assisting the Supreme Court in a pending case 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”.

The letter from the ISL clubs came a day before an SC hearing of the case on Friday. Amici curiae Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Samar Bansal had earlier mentioned the matter on Monday before the SC which posted the matter for Friday.

“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 urgency of pronouncing judgment at the earliest, given football calendar is at a standstill across pyramid; any consequential directions flowing from the judgment be directed to be completed in a time-bound (15–30 days), to restore certainty at the earliest,” the clubs wrote.

“In the event the present proceedings are to go on beyond August 22, 2025, the processes related to conducting the leagues and any ancillary operations may be allowed and expedited so that a long-term constructive solution for all parties may be obtained at the earliest,” the clubs wrote, while mentioning that they are not parties to the case.

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 All India Football Federation (AIFF) that they face the possibility of shutting down entirely due to uncertainty over the ISL’s future.

The crisis surfaced after FSDL, the ISL organisers as well as AIFF’s commercial partner, put the 2025-26 season “on hold” on July 11 due to uncertainty over the renewal of Master Rights Agreement (MRA), prompting at least three clubs to either pause first-team operations or suspend player and staff salaries.

The current MRA, signed in 2010 between FSDL and AIFF, ends on December 8. The AIFF gets Rs 50 crore annually from FSDL under the MRA.

In the letter, the clubs said with no clarity on the ISL, the revenues of the clubs have been severely affected and their survival faced immediate threat, jeopardising the livelihoods of thousands engaged in the football ecosystem – players, staff, vendors, service providers.

“Even one season’s disruption would erode the trust of fans, sponsors, investors, and international federations, undoing more than a decade’s progress.”

The ISL clubs said they have invested hundreds of crores of rupees into youth academies, training facilities, stadium upgrades, and professional squads, creating a robust footballing structure.

“The ISL now sustains the majority of professional football players in India, providing more than 400 full-time player contracts annually, besides developmental pathways for youth and grassroots players.

“It is respectfully submitted that a league of this calibre cannot be assembled at the last minute and requires long-term buy-in to obtain best possible deals. Broadcast agreements, sponsorship deals, player registrations, and logistical arrangements ideally require long-term buy-in and stability, and even thereafter approximately 6–8 weeks of advance certainty to implement every season.

“Therefore, the current delay has already placed us in a situation where any further delays may cause irreparable harm and there is an urgent need for certainty in the greater interest of the entire football ecosystem, including clubs, players, staff, and all other stakeholders.”

They said that the loss of even a single ISL season would have catastrophic and irreversible consequences for Indian football as a whole – including the well-being of the players and staff associated with the sport, the professional league structure including the I-League and lower divisions, grassroots academies, and other football competitions – all of which depend on the stability of the top-tier competition.

Current deadlock

The clubs also submitted that “this deadlock has indirectly arisen in the present case because there is, as we understand, a verbal stay/injunction on any discussions in relation to the MRA effective April 30, 2025”.

“This has created an anomalous situation where no resolution or forward planning for the 2025–26 season and beyond can take place. As matters stand, there is no certainty beyond 8 December 2025, when the current commercial partner demits its term.

“At that point in the calendar, ordinarily less than a quarter of the season would have been completed, leaving the league and, by extension, the wider pyramid in complete limbo. For the entire footballing system, it is also crucial that a long-term, stable solution is arrived at urgently.

“Clubs have multi-year sponsorships and contractual commitments, and several sponsors have already withdrawn due to the prevailing uncertainty.

“No commercial partner can be expected to invest or commit resources under an interim arrangement or for short term, given sheer scale and complexity of organizing a tournament like ISL and securing long-term broadcast and sponsorship partnerships. Therefore, it is imperative the current proceedings be expedited to provide necessary certainty for the league.”