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Time of India
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Nobody has gained out of it': Bhaichung Bhutia slams ISL, calls for ‘reset' in Indian football
Bhaichung Bhutia (AIFF) Indian football currently finds itself at an impasse. The All India Football Federation (AIFF), Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), and all the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs are waiting for a resolution on the future of the country's premier domestic football competition — the ISL. With the Master Rights Agreement yet to be agreed upon, the future of the ISL hangs in the balance. From an initial 14-day delay in pre-season, as shared by Sunil Chhetri , to a Supreme Court order and uncertainty on whether the league will even be played this year, the storm Indian football finds itself in has to be weathered. for better or worse. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia expressed his views on the impending fate of the country's top domestic football league. 'It's (Indian football) got a major structural issue, and I've been saying this for a very long time. FSDL, AIFF, and every stakeholder shouldn't rush into it and get a bad deal for everybody,' Bhutia told in a free-wheeling interaction. The MRA, which governs the operations and commercial framework of the ISL, expires on December 8, 2025. With no new deal signed, it will leave the league in uncertainty almost halfway into the season, if it starts as per schedule in September. Poll Do you believe Indian football can recover from its current crisis? Yes, with proper restructuring No, it's too late Maybe, depends on next steps Pointing to the unfortunate mismatch in the timing of the Supreme Court order, Bhutia said, 'If this Constitution and the election were declared just after the (U-17) Women's World Cup, then I think it would not have been much of a problem.' Referring to FIFA suspending the AIFF ahead of the 2022 Women's World Cup, the 48-year-old said that the priority at the time was to set up an ad-hoc body and hold elections only for the same. Despite more than a decade of the ISL, Bhutia highlighted that the biggest stakeholders are still left to lament the shortcomings and lack of returns from their investments. 'Nobody has gained out of it. FSDL are saying they have lost a huge amount of money. ISL clubs are saying they have invested so much into it and not got anything out of it,' shared Bhutia. From grassroots level to the national team, Indian football is finding it difficult on all fronts. 'At grassroots level, the next generation of players who are making a sensation is nothing. Our under-17s, our under-20s are struggling to even qualify for the Asia Cup. And the senior team obviously is struggling for something which we had qualified regularly for the last decade or so.' Bhutia lamented that the ISL, which was elevated to the top of India's domestic football structure over the I-League in 2019, has yet to produce any results. 'I did not play in the ISL. We still qualified for the Asia Cup when it only had 14 teams. Today, the Asia Cup has got 24 teams that are allowed to play and we are still struggling.' With difficult problems come difficult decisions. While the situation is certainly precarious, Bhutia feels a complete overhaul is needed in the immediate future to save Indian football from drowning. 'There has to be a new body come in, the Supreme Court's Constitution and the new elections should happen. 'It's not about players' salaries or FSDL getting a contract signed soon or AIFF getting some amount of money from FSDL,' stated Bhutia. The veteran, who retired around one and a half decades ago, said he has not seen any progress in the Indian football team since he hung up his boots. 'Fifteen years after my retirement, we are still looking for a striker after Sunil Chhetri. I retired when Sunil was with me, in 2010/11,' he said. India's FIFA ranking has dropped significantly over the past decade or so, with Bhutia highlighting the sharp decline post his retirement. 'Look at where football has come in terms of ranking. When I retired, we were in the top 100. Now it's 133.' 'FSDL is crying about losing ₹500 crores. ISL clubs are crying about losing huge investments. And today, look at Indian fans crying because of where our football has gone,' observed Bhutia in a blunt assessment of the current situation. While the situation looks bleak, Bhutia found hope in a structure that sees every stakeholder benefit. With the ISL already on pause and a tournament delay difficult to overlook, Bhutia said, 'Even if there is a delay of a few months, that's fine. But I am sure there is a way to get the right structure and everybody is in a win-win situation — where Indian football is the final winner.' Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Off-side: Indian football, A sport in freefall; a love that won't let go
The first time I watched live football in a stadium was a Calcutta Super Division League match between East Bengal and George Telegraph in the early 90s at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan. The stadium, with a capacity of around 10,000, had recently materialised in our corner of eastern Kolkata like a concrete spaceship. Our neighbourhood was mostly made up of people who had crossed the border after Partition — migrants from East Bengal, who carried complicated histories, relentless optimism, and an almost irrational devotion to a football club that bore the name of the home they had left behind. The fact that East Bengal was playing practically in our backyard had sent the whole locality into a frenzy. Everyone was eager to see a young, gravity-defying Bhaichung Bhutia, who was already a teenage heartthrob. 🚨 NEW SPORTSTAR EDITION: FOCUS #IndianFootball 🚨 In the upcoming magazine edition, Sportstar presents a 23-page deep dive on the sorry state of affairs in the Indian football ecosystem. ☠️ How the ISL went from promise to peril ⚽️ I-League's irrelevance - exploring why it's… — Sportstar (@sportstarweb) July 3, 2025 Tickets were sold for Rs. 10 at the local market, and my father's favourite vegetable vendor lined up at dawn to secure them for his and our shared love for East Bengal. On match day, the concrete ramparts were a sea of red-and-gold, and Bhutia didn't disappoint. He scored an acrobatic goal, the only goal of the game. The stadium shook with joy, and there was an overwhelming sense of belonging that I had never felt before in my brief decade spent on this planet. Sport does that to you. It invents an emotional socialism where the ecstasy of victory is shared equally, and so is the sorrow when things fall apart. It's probably the only thing outside your own life that can make or break your heart. But if falling in love with sports is easy, staying in love with Indian football is not. That beautiful, defiant sense of belonging I had felt as a child now lives under the constant shadow of decay. Every passing year feels like a slow, silent funeral. There's no villain, no great betrayal, but a list of endless tiny cuts. Every season arrives with new murmurs: that this league won't survive, that this club can't pay salaries. The financial model of Indian football is unfortunately broken, with most clubs running on credit and crossed fingers. Since 2000, 19 teams have disappeared across three divisions. The federation's commercial arm, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), signed a broadcast deal in 2023 with Viacom18 — owned by the same parent company — for Rs. 550 crore over two years. Each ISL match is worth Rs. 1.68 crore (2024-25 season), a stark contrast to the Rs. 104 crore the IPL earns as broadcast revenue from every game. Broadcast revenue — supposedly the financial lifeblood of modern sport — is barely trickling in. And most clubs and the federation invest very little in youth systems, infrastructure, or anything that might help the sport grow. The AIFF cut its competition budget by Rs. 20 crore, while its scouting and grassroots programme saw a reduction of 69 per cent in 2024-25. Meanwhile, FSDL and the broadcasters point to falling viewership — 429 million in season one to 81 million by 2023. But no one knows which came first: the falling interest or the falling quality. It's a chicken-and-egg situation with no budget for either. A chaotic football calendar, often drawn or changed last minute, and an endemic age-fraud problem add to the woes dragging Indian football down. The national team, meanwhile, continues to be in freefall. It has not won a competitive game since November 2023. And yet the fans cling to a sport that gives them less and less to hold on to. But they don't scream as much anymore. They simply endure.
Hindustan Times
21-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
No promotion and relegation for 10 years in top league proposal
Kolkata: No promotion or relegation in Indian Super League (ISL) for at least 10 years, a moratorium on expansion for a minimum of five years, ISL's rights and that of national team matches will be in perpetuity with a joint-venture company comprising ISL clubs, All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partners Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL). There shall be no promotion and relegation in ISL for at least 10 years, it has been proposed. (HT) These are among the proposals in a 22-page draft document sent by FSDL to AIFF last March after meetings to negotiate a new agreement because the current commercial deal ends this year. Which means FSDL's mandate runs only till around the middle of the 2025-26 season. Talks are on hold because the matter of the new AIFF constitution, which includes ownership of India's top men's league, is in Supreme Court. The proposal for a closed league, one where there is no promotion or relegation, is not in line with roadmap approved by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 2019. This draft proposes a new roadmap 'pre-approved between existing parties.' 'At a meeting in April, AIFF informed the executive committee about these proposals,' said Bhaichung Bhutia on Friday. 'It is FSDL's right to give whatever proposal but did AIFF go to them after evaluating its assets including the national team? When I pointed this out, a committee was formed which would do the due diligence and talk to our commercial partners.' A former India captain, Bhutia is an AIFF executive committee member. 'In May, at a meeting in Bhubaneswar, AIFF told members that it had given a counter-proposal which pitched for continuing the current arrangement,' said another executive committee member. The member requested anonymity because the matter is in court. As per the proposal from FSDL, in the new company, 'that governs, operates, commercialises & funds ISL', AIFF will have 14% stake, ISL clubs 60% and FSDL 26%. FSDL will retain the right to veto 'with respect to certain key matters', the document says without elaboration. To be granted autonomous status by AIFF, the company will be the rights holders of ISL and national team matches in perpetuity, as per the draft document. There shall be no promotion and relegation in ISL for at least 10 years, it has been proposed. Apart from meeting sporting, licensing and financial criteria, clubs must also have the same ownership for five years to be eligible for promotion, as per the draft document. The proposal says, 'ISL shall be limited to the current number of teams (13) for at least 5 years.' HT has seen document titled 'ISL Way Forward, Draft Document for Discussion'. As per the roadmap approved by AFC, relegation from ISL was supposed to start from 2024-25. It has not. Accepted as India's top league by Asia's apex body in 2019, ISL allowed promotion for the winners of I-League from 2023-24. Punjab FC were the first team to qualify through that route followed by Mohammedan Sporting. Greenlighting this proposal would mean the 2024-25 I-League champions, to be decided in the Court of Arbitration for Sport because of a dispute over player eligibility, will be locked out of 2025-26 ISL. The proposal also calls for discontinuing the existing Master Rights Agreement through which AIFF now gets ₹ 50 crore annually. Barring ISL, football in India is run mainly through this amount. Instead, as per the document, the new company's losses will be funded or profits shared as per ownership stakes held by AIFF, ISL clubs and FSDL. Barring ISL and competitions involving national teams, AIFF will have full control of all other tournaments, according to the proposal. AIFF, the document says, should agree to this because it aligns with the 'best governance structures in the world of football.' Examples of Europe's top five leagues and those in Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE being run by a separate body are listed in the document. It also says this way AIFF will comply with 'new draft constitution' which mandates that the federation 'must play a direct role in the governance of Top National League.' Clubs can gain from having a say in policy matters and have a 'strong collaborative role' in running ISL, the document says. No representative from FSDL was available for comment. But officials at clubs they have reached out to said FSDL is waiting to hear from AIFF on the proposals. Because the agreement ends in 2025, FSDL feels its role is naturally limited until clarity is reached on the league's governance and structural future, the club officials said. The officials did not want to be named as the matter is sub-judice. The club officials said FSDL were not sure that the promotion of I-League champions is helping improve the standard of ISL competitively and financially, and that the commercial partners think it is best to wait for AIFF to get the lower rungs of the pyramid more competitive before promotion and relegation works out to the benefit of the entire football ecosystem.
Time of India
20-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
ISL new proposal: No relegation for 10 years, strict criteria for promotion
This season's Indian Super League was expected to kick off on Sept 14 Panaji: The marketing partners of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has proposed a new ownership structure for the Indian Super League (ISL) from next season and at least a 10-year moratorium on relegation from the top tier to the lower leagues for its success. Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), a joint venture between Reliance and Star which runs the league, are commercial partners of AIFF, with whom they signed a 15-year Master Rights Agreement (MRA) in 2010. According to the agreement, which ends in December this year, FSDL guarantees an annual payment of Rs 50 crore. Several meetings have been held between FSDL and AIFF over renewal of the agreement. Rather than an all-cash deal that gave the marketing partners rights to all federation properties, they have now suggested formation of a new holding company that governs, operates, commercialises and funds ISL, with clubs (60%, equal across all clubs), FSDL (26%) and AIFF (14%) as the shareholders. According to sources, a key condition in the proposal, officially submitted to AIFF, is to exclude relegation from ISL to the lower tiers. Promotion to the top-tier ISL will be only for clubs who strictly meet the financial/licensing criteria and has been in existence for at least five years under the same ownership. Since its launch in 2014, ISL has remained a closed league with no club getting relegated. According to the roadmap agreed in 2019 to facilitate growth of domestic club football, promotion was started from the 2022-23 season with the I-League winners -- Punjab FC first and Mohammedan Sporting Club later – qualifying for the top tier on sporting merit. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo 'The roadmap was agreed in front of senior AFC (Asian Football Confederation) officials at its headquarters in Malaysia. In its recommendation for 2024-25, it was agreed to fully implement promotion and relegation into the top league. It will be difficult now to go back to the AFC and seek special approval for more years without relegation or conditional promotion,' a senior official told TOI . In April, the AIFF had formed an eight-member task force to look into the MRA negotiations with its commercial partner, a move that did not find favour with some members. Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia even told the executive committee to wait till the Supreme Court finalises the new constitution, the draft of which stated that the 'seniormost league should be owned, operated and directly managed by AIFF.' Senior East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar said every league should be operating on a promotion-and-relegation principle. 'This is what makes the competition fair, challenging and unpredictable,' said Sarkar. 'This is vital for any league to survive and flourish. Yes, the ISL should ideally have adopted this system from the first year, but such situation was not viable when the tournament came into being (in 2014).' This season's ISL was expected to kick off on Sept 14, as per the calendar approved by the AIFF League Committee last month. However, there is now growing suspense over the future of the league after several club owners were told by FSDL that the league will not kick off, unless there's clarity on the MRA. "The recent air of uncertainty over the ISL is unfortunate, but I firmly believe that it will be cleared soon and the league will continue to get the strongest possible support from its investor,' said Sarkar. FSDL has told AIFF that they will discontinue with the current MRA structure which includes commercial rights for all competitions to FSDL for a fixed minimum guarantee. The new proposal includes rights, through a joint venture, for only the ISL and national team competitions, while the federation retains 100% of the revenue from non-ISL competitions and non-national team competitions.
The Hindu
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Chaubey using AIFF president's post for political gain: Bhutia
Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia blamed All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey for Indian football's current predicament saying that the latter is using his post for political gain. 'For first time we have a president of the football federation using his position for political mileage by offering some opposition leader a post in AIFF to gain support in the elections.' 'Shame' 'It is such a shame that he has downgraded the post of the AIFF president by doing that,' Bhutia said during an interaction with the media at the Calcutta Sports Journalists' Club on Friday. A lot of people who supported him at that time (the last AIFF elections in September 2022) are regretting it today. I am happy that they are now realising (the mistake)they have done. 'I hope in the next elections they would bring in somebody who has got the sincerity to take football forward and not support anybody who wants to do all the dodgy deals,' Bhutia said. The legendary striker said that he won't be contesting the elections if there is political interference. The Supreme Court is expected to give its verdict on the formalisation of a new AIFF constitution next month, following which there is a possibility of fresh elections in the Football House. Bhutia was upset with the way the AIFF under Chaubey's charge mismanaged the negotiations with its marketing partner FSDL as it failed to finalise the MRA (Master Rights Agreement) thereby throwing the Indian Super League's future in doubt. 'No answer' 'Unfortunately the people entrusted with the task of negotiating with FSDL are just going to meetings having tea, pizza and returning after listening to FSDl's side of the deal. When I asked the AIFF people, what did you propose? They didn't have any answer,' Bhutia added.
