The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Indian Super League (ISL) clubs yesterday reached a landmark agreement, allowing the latter to run a full-fledged top-tier competition of the country for at least two years. However, there was no formal signing of a written agreement.

The AIFF handed over the commercial rights of the ISL to the clubs for four years. But there is an option for the clubs to exit it unilaterally after two years, a PTI report from New Delhi stated yesterday.

The development brought an end to the uncertainty over the fate of the ISL. The 2025-26 edition of the ISL was delayed and curtailed to just 13 matches per club played in a single leg for just over three months after the Master Rights Agreement between the AIFF and its then commercial partners FSDL ended last December.

“We have agreed on certain things with the clubs. We are giving them the commercial rights of the ISL, and as usual the AIFF will hold on to the administrative and all the important aspects of running the league,” AIFF Deputy Secretary-General M Satyanarayan said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The AIFF has accepted the club-led model of running the ISL while the administrative and regulatory functions remain with the national sports federation.

The CEOs of FC Goa, Northeastern United and Sporting Club Delhi — Ravi Puskur, Mandar Tamhane and Dhruv Sood, respectively — were present as representatives of the ISL clubs.

“From our side, we are committed to making this league one of the best in Asia at least and we have been receiving a lot of cooperation from the clubs…who are one of the biggest investors and who have stood by this league for over 10 years through thick and thin.

“Now with the relegation (of the bottom finisher to the second tier IFL) also being implemented, it is going to get more exciting,” Satyanarayan said.

The AIFF will send out a letter to all the clubs in the next 24 hours and give them 15 days’ time to confirm their participation in the 2026-27 season.

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed as a private limited company to run the ISL with each club contributing Rs 1.1 crore in two instalments as administrative fees to be given to the AIFF.

If all the 14 clubs take part in the upcoming season, the AIFF will receive Rs 15.4 crore to cover the costs associated with the regulatory functions such as refereeing, legal, integrity and anti-doping support.

The AIFF will also receive 10 percent of the net profit from the ISL while the remaining 90 per cent goes to the clubs.

The clubs, on their part, agreed to the AIFF appointing an auditor of their choice to audit the ISL SPV.

“We are very excited about the league, it has been a long drawn out process. The 14 clubs have come forward and presented a league that we hope will be sustainable, viable and effective year on year. We hope to build on it,” Puskur said.

“It will be structured and run in a simple way by a professional team which will run the day-to-day operations of the league,” he added.

The CEO of the ISL and other officials will be appointed soon, Puskur said.

“From a commercially broadcast-driven model, we are going ahead to a club-led model. From a financial sustainability point of view, we as clubs and the AIFF believe that this is the way forward. This is how it’s followed everywhere globally in established leagues.

“So, this is a big change as far as we are concerned in Indian football, where the club-driven commercial model will be there… we are entering into that,” Puskur explained.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be floated soon to try and bring potential broadcasters on board as soon as possible. The stakeholders insisted that there was a need to go to the market to work with potential sponsors, potential corporate houses in the country who might be interested in investing in this sport.