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AIFF gets 20-year bid worth ₹2,130 crore
International sports technology company Genius Sports offers around ₹64 crore per season for ISL and Federation Cup
Kolkata: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is looking at a commercial deal worth nearly ₹2,130 crore for the next 20 years for the Indian Super League (ISL) and a cup competition, the most important domestic men’s football events on its calendar. At nearly ₹64 crore annually, that is what the amount promised by international sports technology company Genuis Sports works out to.
And it is not the only offer AIFF has received, five months after a minimum annual commitment of ₹37.5 crore yielded nothing, the second bid of approximately ₹36 crore annually is from FanCode, the over-the-top (OTT) platform and e-commerce company which is the commercial partner of ISL12.
Capri Sports, a division of non banking financial company Capri Global Capital Limited, is the sole bidder for the Indian Women’s League (IWL) 1 and 2 with an offer of around ₹5 crore.
All the bids are for 15 years with the option of extending them by five. The bid amounts will have an annual 5% increase to cover inflation. That means nearly ₹150 crore for women’s football for 20 years.
Profits will be shared on a 60-30-10 basis. Clubs will get 60%, the commercial partners 30% and AIFF 10%. AIFF will also get 20% of the bid value from the first year. It is assured of nearly ₹7.2 crore if FanCode is chosen and approximately ₹12.4 crore if Genius Sports gets the nod.
The AIFF’s bid evaluation committee scrutinised the proposals on Friday. With an AIFF executive committee meeting scheduled for Sunday, and clubs likely to discuss both options on Saturday, a decision could be taken by the weekend.
The deal with Football Sports Development Limited, AIFF’s last commercial partners, was worth ₹50 crore annually and covered all 21 properties. Under the new arrangement, AIFF can separately sell rights for the futsal league, national teams and its remaining properties.
“This is a massive moment for football in India,” Satyanarayan Muthyalu, the deputy general secretary of the AIFF, told HT over the phone from New Delhi on Friday. “Both bids for the men’s game are good but Genius Sports sees huge potential in India and they work with Premier League and FIFA are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Gradually, they want to bring in a lot of technology as well. The money they have promised assures better production and marketing.”
Headquartered in London and New York, the company’s revenue in 2025 was around $670m. It works in different sport including grid iron football and has operations in 150 countries, as per its website.
A regular ISL season and a cup competition has a little over 200 matches. The federation estimates, another AIFF official told HT, it would cost around ₹50 crore, “which is what we can afford if Genius Sports is chosen. Of the money we get, around ₹7 crore will be used to run youth leagues and the rest to cover other costs among them match officials’ payments,” said the official requesting anonymity.
