The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has taken a concrete decision and has come to reassure people after the uncertainty of the future Indian Super League (ISL) season. There have been increasing whispers among the referees following the joint submission of nine referees seeking extension of their contracts whose current contracts will expire on August 31, on grounds that there is no clarity in the Master Rights Agreement on the running of the 2025/26 seasons under the ISL. In turn, the AIFF assured them that it will renew contracts as usual and it will be conducted according to the established procedure under the control of the Elite Referees Development Programme.
Chaos within the referees
In the meantime, there has been some movement on the football calendar with referees continuing to officiate in current competitions the Durand Cup, Futsal Club Championship, U20 women AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Myanmar as well as U23 men and U17 women national team camps in Bengaluru. Such persevering initiatives act as strategic nudges that, notwithstanding ISL indecision, the sport moves on.
The context of the whole episode is a premature stop of the announcement of the 2025/26 season of ISL at the beginning of July. It was due to this reason that the Organizers, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) which cited unresolved issues over the Master Rights Agreement with AIFF said that it will move to the next edition of the league without AIFF. This position of the league has been made worse by the directive of the Supreme Court which ordered AIFF not to negotiate new provisions until there is a pronunciation of its petition regarding the draft constitution.
High stakes involved
High stakes are involved. All the 11 clubs out of 13 ISL clubs have moved AIFF to seek urgent action in the Supreme Court following which they have threatened independent legal action in case the federation does not respond to their protests. The paralysis is imposing: Chennaiyin FC has already shut down the first team; Bengaluru FC and Odisha FC have even put a hold to player and staff salaries. In order to manoeuvre through this vortex, AIFF has suggested hosting the Super Cup at the beginning of September, prior to potentially delayed ISL. The federation insists that ISL will go ahead- formats and schedules being sorted out.
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