All India Football Federation (AIFF) will now be named ‘Football Federation of India’. The 2026-27 ISL season will begin on September 4 with 14 teams. After the commercial rights dispute, the club-led model will continue for the next two years.
New Delhi: Amidst the excitement of the World Cup, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has made a big announcement. The federation has decided to change its name to ‘Football Federation of India’. This proposal was approved in the special general body meeting of the federation held on Saturday.
Now the Federation will send this proposal to the Union Sports Ministry. Federation President Kalyan Choubey told news agency PTI that the process of changing the name will be completed only after getting the green signal from the Sports Ministry. “It is a long process, which has officially started today. If the ministry approves it, we will bring it back to the general body and then send it to FIFA for final approval,” he said.
Choubey also gave the example of countries like Turkey (Turkey to Turkiye) and Czech Republic (Czechia), which have changed the names of their football associations.
ISL season from 4th September
Apart from changing the name, some other important decisions related to Indian football were also taken in the meeting. The Indian Super League (ISL) of the upcoming 2026-27 season will start from September 4. This time 14 teams will participate and this tournament will run for 7 months, in which home and away matches will be held.
The final decision on the new structure of ISL will be taken by a managing committee, which will include 5 club representatives, 3 AIFF officials and 3 commercial partners. Apart from this, approval was also given to amend the Constitution of the Federation under the ‘National Sports Governance Act, 2025’.
Dispute over commercial rights
Earlier this year, AIFF had floated a tender for commercial rights, which was won by London-based company ‘Genius Sports’ by making the highest bid. They had offered Rs 2,129 crore (about Rs 64 crore annually) for 15+5 years for the ISL and a new tournament. Under this model, AIFF would have received Rs 12.4 crore in the first year.
But, ISL clubs are strongly against making ‘Genius Sports’ a commercial partner and paying entry fees. After a key meeting with Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, the federation has agreed in principle to run the ISL on a club-led model for the next two years.