AIFF says truncated ISL gets AFC recognition; but no direct slots for Indian clubs

New Delhi, Jan 15: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Thursday said the sport’s continental body AFC has accorded recognition to the truncated 2025-26 Indian Super League with winners of the country’s top two divisions getting indirect slots to the Asian Champions League 2 through zonal qualifiers.

Due to a delayed start to the season, the clubs will not be able to play the mandatory 24 matches in the season – including top division league and domestic cup – to be eligible to feature in the AFC Champions League 2.

Most clubs are expected to play a total of sixteen (16) matches during the season, including a minimum of three (3) games in the AIFF Super Cup and 13 in ISL.

More from Football

Gerard Pique takes sarcastic jibe at Alvaro Arbeloa after Real Madrid's shock defeat to second-tier Albacete: 'Good debut...' Egypt coach Hossam Hassan explodes after AFCON exit, accuses organisers of bias: ‘By what FIFA law?’

“With the exception of any additional slot(s) allocated to a Member Association in accordance with Articles 3.4 and 3.5, Member Associations that fail to fulfil the Member Association Eligibility Criteria shall, subject to Article 4.4, be eligible to be allocated only indirect slots for the relevant AFC Club Competition,” the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) wrote in a letter to the AIFF dated January 15.

“In such cases, the number of direct slots for the relevant Member Association(s) in the relevant AFC Club Competition shall be wholly converted into indirect slots (e.g. 2+1 becomes 0+3),” Shin Man Gil, the AFC’s deputy general secretary, competitions and football, said in the letter.

The 2025-26 season of the ISL is scheduled to begin on February 14, with all 14 teams confirming their participation on Tuesday. Ninety-one matches will be played in the curtailed season, with each team playing single-leg matches (13) against each other.

“In light of the foregoing, kindly be informed that, should the 2025/26 ISL season be organised as proposed in your letter, Article 4.3 of the Entry Regulations shall apply for the purposes of entry into the relevant AFC club competitions,” the AFC letter stated.

Earlier, the ISL clubs had urged the AIFF to request the AFC for a one-time relaxation in the minimum requirement of 24 matches so that they can play in the ACL 2.

Heeding to the club’s proposal, AIFF’s deputy secretary general M. Satyanarayan wrote to the AFC, seeking a one-time exemption for this season.

“In light of the exceptional circumstances impacting Indian football this season, we respectfully request that your esteemed office grant the AIFF and the clubs participating in the ISL, a one-time exemption from the minimum requirements set forth in the AFC Regulations.”

“Specifically, we request that a minimum of sixteen (16) matches be deemed sufficient for clubs participating in the ISL to qualify for direct entry into club competitions organized by the AFC, and the ISL season scheduled to take place between 14 February 2026 and […] along with the Super Cup held between 25 October 2025 and 7 December 2025, be considered to be sufficient for the purposes of maintaining direct entry slots in the relevant club competitions organized by AFC.

“Such an exemption would significantly support the AIFF’s efforts to restart the league, serve as an important encouragement to the clubs during this challenging period for all stakeholders in Indian football,” Satyanarayan added.

Last Saturday, the AIFF had asked the clubs to send the details of the venues where they plan to play their home games to start working on the fixture and finalise broadcast and commercial rights partners.

The ISL 2025-26 season has been in a limbo since the AIFF’s commercial partner FSDL, owned by the Reliance Group, put it on hold last July due to uncertainty over the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the two parties.

The MRA ended on December 8, 2025 as negotiations fell through.