The Indian Super League (ISL) is back almost exactly a year and three months after it was announced that its previous season was indefinitely postponed.
That announcement was followed by carnage: court hearings, players fearing for their livelihood, clubs shutting down, announcements – some substantial, some meaningless-clubs re-opening, some deciding to jump the sinking ship, a truncated season with a grand stand finish and a fundamental change in league ownership and management; and yet it is still the ISL. No change in its name and a return to the league stage-playoff format that had to be abandoned last season.
Not all is well yet, which is best reflected when you see only 13 clubs in the league table on the league’s official website when there is in fact has one more that has already been relegated. That is Diamond Harbour FC of West Bengal, who had gained promotion to the ISL last season but failed to fulfil the administrative fee requirement for the 2026/27 season. The AIFF said last month that they are by default placed bottom of the table and will be relegated, essentially shielding the competing clubs this season from relegation.
Another sign is the mere presence of Churchill Brothers FC, a name that has been in Indian football for decades but will be seen for the first time this season in the ISL this season. They are here because of Tata Steel sold Jamshedpur FC to them for a token amount of Rs 100. Jamshedpur are former ISL Shield winners and the news of them shutting shop had shocked the league so much that even rival players anf fans were pleading Tata Steel to not sell their stake.
And yet, there is positivity going into the season from stakeholders, which are the clubs themselves. From this season on, and for the next four years, the ISL will for all means and purposes be run by the clubs themselves. More importantly, there seems to be an honesty about the real value of the league. Apart from the games being broadcast on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV, it will also be streamed live for free on Youtube. This follows a whopping 95 percent drop in per-match broadcasting evaluation before the start of the crisis-ridden 2025/26 season. The league just wants to be seen.
“We’ve tried to incorporate as much of the fan feedback as possible,” Ravi Puskur, CEO of FC Goa and among the leading figures in the league’s transition into a club-led model, tells The Indian Express. “We tried to go weekend-centric (with the schedule). The league will be available for viewing on multiple platforms. Youtube will be a very differential aggregator in that regard. It’s free to air, just click two buttons and you will be on it. So a lot of visibility and accessibility. Our intent was that people should access and enjoy the product and that hopefully convinces anyone who is not an ISL fan yet to jump on the bandwagon.”
The league taking an honest look at itself in the mirror is also reflected in the promo video that was released on Saturday. It started with two characters talking about clubs shutting down in the league, there being no update on broadcasters and “ISL ki dukaan” pulling the shutters down. They are interrupted by a security guard walking up and saying that it is time to open the shop. The tag line is #WeAreOpen, a far cry from the #LetsFootball that was belted out for much of the ISL’s existence.
The Kolkata Derby was always a highlight whenever the list of fixtures came out. Last season, the match lived up to its billing in more ways than one. It ended in a thrilling 1-1 draw, a result without which it would’ve been almost impossible for East Bengal to win their first top flight league title in 22 years. This year, there is also potentially a new flagship match for the broadcasters to highlight in the calendar, thanks to the presence of Churchill and Puskur is well aware of the fact that his club forms one half of it. “It is a derby, let’s call it what it is. It is the fixture every FC Goa fan looked for when the schedule came out and I think it helps the narrative of building it up,” he said.
“Very keen to just take to the field. Now I think the talking can stop, let the narrative shift to the football field.”