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Supreme Court green lights start of football season, bids for ISL
The Supreme Court has allowed the 2025-26 men's football season to begin with the Super Cup, guiding AIFF's selection of a commercial partner
New Delhi/Kolkata: The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the 2025-26 men’s club football season to kick-off with the Super Cup. It has also directed All India Football Federation (AIFF) to conduct the process of selecting its commercial partner under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge L Nageswara Rao.
In an order issued on Monday, made public on Tuesday, a bench of justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said: “We direct AIFF to take such measures as may be necessary for timely commencement of football calendar and to maintain competitive continuity for the 2025-2026 season with respect to Super Cup and other competitions under its control.”
The court’s directive was welcomed by AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. “I am happy that the honourable Supreme Court has issued this order. Players, staff and their families were staring at an uncertain future after a number of clubs had suspended salaries. This order is the first step to ending their worries and getting the season started,” he told HT.
“This marks a positive first step toward the resumption of top-tier Indian football and offers some reassurance to all stakeholders that progress is being made,” said Ravi Puskur, CEO FC Goa. Durand Cup champions NorthEast United’s CEO Mandar Tamhane said: “We would like to thank the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India for resolving this impasse, and to the AIFF and the FSDL for coming together to chart a constructive way forward.”
FSDL is Football Sports Development Limited, the commercial partner of AIFF which runs ISL, the country’s top tier men’s league.
The court also praised the Reliance Group-promoted FSDL and AIFF. “We have no hesitation in recording that their collaborative effort is a significant step in the evolution of Indian football. This shared commitment will go a long way in institutionalising domestic, national and international events.”
The attention will now shift to the process of issuing tenders, said Puskur whose club are the reigning Super Cup champions. On that, the top court has said: “The AIFF shall also issue necessary tenders inviting bids for open, competitive and transparent process for selection of its commercial partner to conduct ISL. For this purpose, we have requested and upon his agreement, appoint Justice L Nageswara Rao, former Judge of this court, to ensure that the selection process enures in identifying a competent, reputed and an efficient firm as a commercial partner to conduct ISL, in line with global best practices.”
Puskur also spoke of the need for clarity and certainty on the season’s calendar. “That will allow clubs, players, and partners to plan effectively. Until that process is complete, it is understandable that clubs will remain on tenterhooks.”
Following the court’s order, AIFF is likely to announce the dates, venue and the format of the Super Cup soon, said a federation official. Given that this has to be approved by different committees in AIFF, the official did not want to be named.
It is likely that the Super Cup, usually a competition involving teams from different tiers of the league pyramid, will be held between India’s 2027 Asian Cup away qualifiers against Singapore on October 14 and Bangladesh on November 18. That will give clubs around six weeks to prepare.
The interim order became necessary as the bench had in April observed that no major decision be taken by AIFF till its judgment on the constitution of the AIFF. That led to negotiations between AIFF and FSDL on commercial rights to be suspended. With its agreement with AIFF ending on December 8, 20125, FSDL was not willing to commit to a new ISL season.
However, a letter from 11 ISL clubs to amici curiae senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Samar Bansal led to them making a mention of the case on August 18. The letter to the amici said uncertainty over the season could lead to clubs folding and livelihood of thousands being affected.
At the next hearing on August 22, the Supreme Court asked AIFF and FSDL to come up with a “workable arrangement.”. Following the court’s directive, FSDL and AIFF representatives met in Bengaluru on August 25 and presented a joint-proposal at the hearing on August 28.
According to the proposal, the season would start with Super Cup and AIFF would invite bids and complete the process of selecting a commercial partner by October 15. To facilitate that FSDL agreed to waive its contractual Right of First Negotiation and Right to Match under the 15-year Master Rights Agreement signed with AIFF in 2010. It also promised to advance the payment of the final quarterly tranche of its annual rights fee of ₹50 crore. ISL could start in December, the proposal said.
Monday’s order also indicated that the recently-enacted National Sports Governance Act 2025 will be considered in its judgment on the draft constitution of AIFF.
