All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey and Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya
New Delhi: Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday assured Indian Super League (ISL) clubs that the upcoming 2026-27 season will go ahead as planned. But in a major development, the club’s proposal for the next four years has been finalized.
Under the new structure, the clubs will pay Rs 1.1 crore each which works out to Rs 15.4 crore if all 14 teams play.The meeting, which was proposed last week without an agenda, was held at the SAI office in New Delhi.
This comes at a time when the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and ISL clubs are at an impasse over the long-term vision for the sport in the country. While the AIFF is keen to appoint Genius Sports as a commercial partner, the teams have proposed a club-led model.Mandaviya met with ISL clubs, AIFF officials and former AIFF president Praful Patel, who is currently the president of the West India Football Association, to broker peace and suggest a way forward.In the latest proposal, ISL clubs have proposed a club-led model for two years with the AIFF getting Rs 15 crore annually. It is higher than the Rs 12.4 crore that the national federation will earn if it agrees to the Genius Sports-led business model for 15+5 years.
It is worth noting that the AIFF received Rs 50 crore from FSDL, the erstwhile commercial partners of the league. After the administrative fees from Genius Sports, the federation hopes to impose an entry fee on the clubs. The clubs strongly opposed this proposal.During the meeting, the clubs also requested government intervention regarding stadium rents and fees, which posed a challenge to the clubs.According to the calendar proposed by FIFA, the men’s football season will last from June 1 to May 31, 2027.