Indian football is going through extremely difficult times. At least five thousand people directly involved with football have lost their night's sleep, fearing their livelihood might come to a halt. Several thousand footballers, coaching staff, team administration personnel, referees, and broadcasting company employees from at least 50 clubs across ISL and the three divisions of I-League are terrified that the current football season might get abandoned.
Actually, no corporate entity participated in the tender that was floated for becoming the commercial partner for ISL. As a result, there are concerns that not only ISL but also the I-League might not happen due to financial problems. The question is, why did this happen?
The Supreme Court had asked to form a committee headed by former Justice Nageswara Rao to finalise the marketing partner. This committee assigned KPMG, one of the world's renowned organisations, to conduct the bidding process. They discussed with the 11 clubs playing in ISL and finalised the rules and conditions for the Request for Proposal.
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Along with Reliance's FSDL — Fan Code, RAK Group, and a consortium company headquartered in Monaco, showed interest and sat down for discussions. KPMG also provided written answers to their 234 questions. AIFF only handled correspondence throughout the entire process. Therefore, AIFF is not responsible for any errors in the bidding process.
Football and Sports Development Limited, or FSDL, has been running ISL single-handedly for the past 11 years by investing crores of rupees. As a corporate partner for 15 years, they have invested ₹700 crores in AIFF.
Just as FSDL deserves credit for running this league well, they are also responsible for its failures. Their policies are responsible for ISL not being marketable now. This is not a pan-Indian league; it is limited to a few cities. Due to the absence of promotion-relegation, new clubs have not shown enthusiasm for this league. Even after so many years, the league has not brought infrastructural improvement to the country. As a result, no new players are coming forward.
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FSDL is trying to convey that they now have the final say regarding conducting ISL. All their conditions must be met. The conditions are: first, the complete rights of the league will remain in their hands as before. Second, there will be no relegation. Third, the federation must accept whatever amount they wish to give. But that is no longer possible.
In the federation's amended constitution, the rights of the country's number one league remain with the federation, and promotion-relegation in the league is mandatory. In this situation, FSDL can pressure the federation to do only one thing — keep more of their representatives in the ISL Governing Council. Court permission is not needed for this.
Following FIFA rules, Kalyan Chaubey and his team cannot be forcibly removed. Secondly, the Supreme Court itself has instructed Kalyan's team to continue working until September 2026. Thirdly, if Kalyan's team resigns, the crisis will increase. If they leave, there will be elections. The election process in the federation's amended constitution is complex, which will take 10-12 weeks. That means there won't be time to conduct ISL in the current season.
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The Supreme Court had instructed to form a bid evaluation committee under Nageswara Rao to finalise ISL's corporate partner. The tender was floated following that instruction. Since no one bid on it, Nageswara Rao now has to inform the court about this. What instruction the court gives next is what we have to see now.
