The Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Reliance-owned Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) ends on December 8, and on Friday, 13 top-tier clubs – 12 from ISL (excluding Emami East Bengal) and the newly-promoted Inter Kashi -sent an email to the federation president Kalyan Chaubey, saying the current situation risks rendering ongoing operations untenable.
The email was sent after the clubs met online on Friday. A copy of the email has been forwarded to the sports ministry as well.
The clubs asked the federation if it could amend its Supreme Court-approved new constitution after consulting with the government to remove some of the contentious clauses and if accounting firm KPMG, which prepared the bid papers that drew a blank last month, can table a revised tender. The clubs also said that if nothing works out, then they would be game to organise the league on their own.
“Should the revised tender not result in a suitable commercial partner, we respectfully request that the AIFF consider a framework under which the ISL Clubs may collectively form a consortium to own/operate the league (as majority owners), alongside the Federation and aligned commercial/broadcast/private investors. Such an approach is consistent with global best practices and reflective of the long-term commitment of the Clubs to Indian football,” the email said.
“The AIFF has received, on Friday, December 5, 2025, a joint letter from the clubs. The federation has taken note of the contents of the communication and has forwarded it to the relevant authorities for appropriate consideration,” the federation said in a statement.
The email came two days after sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya had a lengthy meeting with all the stakeholders of Indian football. This was after the apex court, on November 21, asked the government to step in to end the impasse.
Emami East Bengal representative attended Friday’s meeting of the clubs. “They, however, did not buy the idea of clubs forming a consortium to run the league,” someone who was in the meeting said.