Relief for Indian football as AIFF confirms it will organise ISL 2025-26, will announce dates soon

In a massive boost for crisis-stricken Indian football, the All India Football Federation confirmed on Saturday that they will be organising the 12th season of the Indian Super League. The Delhi-based governing body for the sport added that they will be announcing dates for the brand new season next week.

The announcement comes on the heels of an AIFF Emergency Committee meeting which was convened to consider and acknowledge a report submitted by the AIFF-ISL Co-ordination Committee.

Indian football finally back on track? 

The Co-Ordination Committee had been constituted on 20 December following an Executive Committee meeting as well as the subsequent Annual General Meeting, and was tasked with kickstarting the suspended 2025-26 season that was to have begun in September.

They had been asked to submit their report to the AIFF Secretariat by Friday, 2 January, which was duly complied with. The Emergency Committee then formally acknowledged the report, which recommended the 12th season of the league be organised by the Kalyan Chaubey-led organisation.

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Dates for ISL to be announced next week.#IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/wzcatqVYQI

— Indian Football (@IndianFootball) January 3, 2026

The 2025-26 ISL had been put on hold after the Master Rights Agreement signed between the AIFF and Football Sports Development Limited expired on 8 December, with the two parties unable to arrive at an agreement before the deadline.

Also Read | ISL clubs question viability of shortened season: 'There is a limit to which we can take losses'

The AIFF later failed to secure a single bid in its hunt for a new commercial partner for India’s top-flight competition, further putting the sport in a state of limbo in the cricket-mad nation. Clubs, meanwhile, were forced to suspend their operations and halt salaries for players and other employees due to uncertainty over the season.

The crisis in Indian football led to top stars such as Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sindhu and Sandesh Jhingan releasing a video titled 'Save Indian Football' in which they urged intervention from FIFA and FIFPRO, claiming “the Indian football government can no longer fulfil its responsibilities.”