ISL: Left with no choice, clubs brace for finance and schedule challenges

A day after the Union sports ministry and the AIFF (All India Football Federation) literally browbeat the 14 participating clubs to take part in ISL 2026, the clubs are still mulling the next move to get the 11th edition of the league up and running from 14 January. It’s quite apparent that the clubs had no option but agree to the truncated format, which will need them to shell out 50 per cent of the central pool, but they are relieved that there will be a league after all.

It was certainly not a good look on the AIFF's part to have the announcement made by Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union minister of sports and youth affairs, at his office rather than at ‘Football House’, but then the minister had been playing arbiter between the clubs and the federation for the past few weeks.

This is the second occasion in a year when Mandaviya had to play peacemaker, the first being his intervention to break the ice between P.T. Usha, the beleaguered president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and his executive committee after their administrative logjam persisted for nearly two years.

Kalyan Choubey, the similarly beleaguered AIFF president, made a rare public appearance next to the minister after months, having let deputy secretary-general M. Satyanarayan do the firefighting for the last few months.

While the clubs were clearly taken aback by the now-or-never proposal from the AIFF, the single leg, home-and-away format instead of the single-leg centralised format as discussed also not part of their initial plan. With the clubs being represented by their top officials rather than owners, most of them had to consult hurriedly with their owners over phone before giving the nod.

On social media, Parth Jindal of JSW Group — owners of former champions Bengaluru FC — was candid: ‘’Tremendous sacrifice from all clubs in being asked to play the tournament in the current format. Repercussions if we don’t have a league are very worrying. Would like to take this opportunity to thank the honourable sports minister for his intervention and his proposal. Truly hope the players understand the additional financial burden on the clubs and agree to also sacrifice as we are all in it together.’’

‘’While we welcome the fact that both the ISL and I-League will eventually happen this year, there are still a lot of grey areas. The AIFF needs to ensure that all clubs are part of the league while Kolkata should not be deprived of its fair share of matches, since this is the city which brings the crowds in,’’ said Srinjoy Bose, general-secretary of reigning champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant.

The inordinate delay in kickstarting the season, meanwhile, means that the ISL will have to vie for eyeballs with the cricket T20 World Cup, which gets underway in India from 7 February.

Speaking to National Herald over phone, Mukul Choudhary, CEO of Jamshedpur FC observed: ‘’Given the shrinking space for football, a break of a season would have been a really bad advertisement for the game. We are already on the job and a clear picture about the fixture and formats will emerge within the next few days.’’