The Bengaluru Football Club have declared an indefinite salary cut to their first team players and staff which includes captain and star striker Sunil Chhetri, due to a growing lack of certainty about the future of the Indian Super League (ISL).
The club said in an official statement issued on August 4/5 that the move was made with a lot of heartache but necessary. Following the statement between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the operator of the league Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) which has now put the entire 2025-26 season of the ISL in the stand.
Bengaluru FC emphasized that its youth academy, women teams, BFC soccer schools would not be affected and that it will run as normal. This is the first club of Indian Super League to publicly withhold salaries to players that forms as a crisis. The action puts into perspective the economic burden that most clubs are under when league football has to be postponed.
— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) August 4, 2025
The club’s statement
Bengaluru FC stated, “With its primary focus on the future and well being of our players, staff and their families, it is important that we keep them in constant communication with one another throughout the disruption period,” and the club noted that it has taken all precautionary measures to ensure a smooth transition into normalcy. The club has strongly requested both AIFF and FSDL to come out of this impasse as soon as possible also cautioning that a longer delay would only serve to damage the Indian football at large.
The AIFF, however, has an ongoing crisis meeting scheduled with CEOs of eight clubs in ISL where it has been attempting to find a way forward on August 7, 2025, in New Delhi. The Master Rights Agreement between the ISL and FSDL is set to expire some time in December 2025. Talks between AIFF and the state governments have been held up by litigation over a new AIFF draft constitution and demands to change commercial conditions, a standoff that has left club such as BFC in limbo.
Analysts fear the unrest may reverse the progress that Indian football had realized particularly following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season when Bengaluru just missed beating Mohun Bagan SG to win the ISL on April 12, 2025.
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