Indian Super League will happen, union sports minister Mandaviya assures clubs: Report

Football leagues in India will take place, sports ministry assured the stakeholders even as the delay keeps getting longer. Indian Super League (ISL), the top division of club football in the country, usually starts in September but amid the current crisis, there is no clarity on when the competition will start. There are no updates on the second tier I-League and the third-tier competition as well.

The Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in the country Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday met the key stakeholders to discuss the current crisis in Indian football. The joint meeting reportedly went well but the stakeholders still remain on toes with no easy solutions in sight.

Indian football crisis: ‘Leagues will happen’

As per a report in the Times of India, Mandaviya assured all the stakeholders that the leagues will take place. “The sports minister told all of us that the leagues will happen,” a senior club official told the publication after the meeting in Delhi.

READ: 'ISL must be held': Centre 'fully aware' of AIFF crisis, tells SC that league will go ahead

The final of the six meetings on Wednesday saw officials from ISL, I-League clubs, lower divisioners, marketing partners FSDL, multiple broadcasters, OTT platforms, and representatives of accounting firm KPMG – who drafted the request for proposal (RFP) – all in attendance.

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“The meeting was quite a fruitful one. The Ministry noted down all the suggestions and assured us that it will be looked into on priority,” an official, who attended the meeting, told Sportstar.

“The leagues will happen this season, no doubt about that. But there is no denying that there are challenges, particularly with the clauses in the new Constitution which were not part of Justice Nageswara Rao’s discussion with FIFA and AFC (when the draft Constitution was submitted to the Supreme Court). It was explained to the sports minister that the clauses are creating hindrances,” the Times of India quoted one source who was present in the meeting as saying.

According to the report, a short-term solution could be in work to kickstart the leagues so that time could be bought to bring a suitable commercial partner on board for long term.

The existing agreement between All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) ends this month and with the bids to find a new commercial partner have failed so far. The Supreme Court is also hearing the matter and the sports ministry is expected to submit a report later this week.