The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has sought confirmation from Indian Super League (ISL) clubs for participation in its 2025-26 edition, before preparing to float its premier League’s tender soon. Consultancy firm KPMG has been tasked to prepare a request for proposal (RFQ) document, keeping in mind AIFF’s 20-year proposal to clubs on 26th December.
The AIFF is reportedly planning to float fresh tenders within 10 days. But before floating a fresh tender after the first one failed to receive any bid, AIFF wants to be assured of participation from clubs and format for the current edition.
“AIFF is required to submit the outcome of these meetings to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports before 2nd January, 2026. Further, the Honorable Supreme Court is scheduled to resume after vacation on 5th January 2026, and all stakeholders may be required to file relevant documents in accordance with legal advice,” AIFF’s deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan wrote in a letter to CEOs of ISL clubs on Wednesday.
“In this regard, you are requested to kindly confirm the participation of your respective clubs and the proposed competition format, enabling AIFF to formally communicate with the Asian Football Confederation, including the actual number of matches to be played in the tournament for the 2025-26 season.
However, Multiple discussions have happened between AIFF and clubs over the last seven days, though no formal agreement has been reached over budget, if and format for the current season.
A section of the clubs wants a commercial partner, similar to AIFF’s erstwhile partner FSDL, to be roped in to shoulder a part of the operational costs to relieve them of the extra burden.
Differences also remain over the estimation of budgets, with clubs evaluating it to be around Rs 77 crore while AIFF expects it to be in the region of Rs 35-42 crore, depending on the venue.
Matches in the three venues of Kolkata and the suburbs would cost a bit less than in the two grounds of Goa.
In internal discussions on Wednesday, a single-leg format in Goa has emerged as the preference for clubs, a final decision on which would be taken on Thursday before it is sent to AIFF.
Each team will play 12 matches for a total of 78 matches in this format on two venues (six training grounds), the cost of which has been kept at around Rs 40-42 crore.
With no matches even at the start of the new year, and time being of the essence for a February 5 to 7 tentative start, AIFF set a 24-hour cut-off time for clubs’ response.
