ISL 2025-26 Announced! Where do the Clubs and the League as A Whole Stand in Financial Terms?

Indian football has been in a huge turmoil with the repeated delay of the Indian Super League 2025/26 season due to the lack of commercial partners. The tender laid out by the All India Football Federation had no takers, which sent the football fraternity of the nation into a whirlwind.

Clubs halted operations, foreign players leaving for other leagues and some of the nation's biggest voices, including Ex-Indian National Team captain Sunil Chhetri raised concerns to the global footballing body, FIFA, in a bid to resolve the issue and get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

Finally, some good news rose from amidst the chaos, as the AIFF announced that the Indian Super League will start from 14th February, 2025, in the form of a 91-game tournament where all the 14 teams will participate in a single home-away game basis.

However, the financial burden of the league is still in doubt, as massive cost-cutting and many other financial implications are on the way if the league has to start again. In this article, we explore the ISL Financial Impact that could affect the clubs and the league as a whole in the long run.

Financial Impact on Clubs and the Indian Super League

As revealed in the ISL announcement by the AIFF, the allocated budget for the 2025/26 is INR 25 crores. The footballing body of India has asked the clubs to contribute 60% of their financial cost (INR 1 crore) to the Federation or the league for the season to start, as their lookout for a commercial partner is still on.

AIFF further mentioned regarding the long-term plan of the Indian Super League. They said that the clubs will share 50% of their revenue, 30% will come from the commercial partner (if acquired), the Federation will contribute 10% and a further 10% will come from the legacy clubs and the teams that wish to invest in the stake of the Indian Super League.

In case a commercial partner is not found, the 30% will come from the Federation itself. They also revealed that the Indian government will be asked to step in if the financial aspect still falls short after all these measures.

How Financial Burden Can Affect the Future of Indian Football

This ISL Financial Impact can hamper the club and its operations, which might even see the players reduce their wages significantly. Foreign players who came on a different contract when the league had a financial threshold of INR 275 crores will need to take a massive pay cut so that the club can carry out its operations and logistics within the stipulated financial constraint.

Clubs like FC Goa had suspended their first team operations a few days back, due to the uncertainty surrounding the league. Many other clubs were of the same opinion but have finally given in to the demands of the AIFF. According to reports, the meeting that was held with the Sports Ministry and the owners of the club had a clear message: Either participate by paying the required amount of INR 1 crore or get relegated.

No club would have accepted this in their right state of mind, as playing in the top league of the country brings a lot of revenue from various sources. Relegation would mean lesser revenue and even less recognition and exposure.

Bengaluru FC's managing director, Parth Jindal, recently shed light on the issue of the ISL financial impact, where he mentioned that clubs and players need to come together and contribute towards the welfare of Indian football, even if it means giving up a significant financial amount.

Clubs with big financial backing, like Mohun Bagan Super Giants, Jamshedpur FC and Bengaluru FC might struggle a bit but might do just okay due to the amount of revenue they generate on a season-to-season basis, but the real issue lies with the smaller clubs that don't have the required financial backup to sustain this in the long term.

This seems to be a short-term solution for sure, rather than a permanent fix. Indian football is no more within the regulated 90 minutes. It's in the injury time now and there needs to be a fix as soon as possible before time runs out to save the match.