Football faces judiciary over ISL crisis

Sports Football

Posted by AI on 2025-08-14 19:44:32 | Last Updated by AI on 2026-02-14 14:15:58

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With many of the league's stars going unpaid, the AIFF turns to the country's highest court to resolve the latest in a long line of misfortunes for Indian football.

India's apex football body, the AIFF, is set to present the Indian Super League (ISL) crisis to the Supreme Court on Monday, in a move to resolve the latest in a string of controversies to rock the nation's competitive football scene. The ISL, which began its latest season in October, has been hit by a standoff between the league's organizers and the clubs, with the latter failing to sign the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) contract, prompting them to withhold the salaries of their players.

The ISL has been a beacon of hope in a country yet to fully embrace the world's most popular game, with the league attracting top names such as Lionel Messi and Carlo Ancelotti in the past. The current standoff puts the future of the league in doubt, with the clubs arguing that the terms of the MRA were unfairly biased towards League Operators, and the failure to pay players' salaries has led to distress for many of the athletes involved.

The crisis has also cast a shadow over the future of the national team, with the league acting as a source of talent for the Sunil Chhetri-led side.

The presentation to the Supreme Court comes as the latest move in a long-running saga that has seen the AIFF and its counterparts at the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) ban the nation in 2018 for "undue third-party influence" relating to the football federation and the national team. With FIFA seeking a revamp of the AIFF constitution, the future of Indian football on the international stage looks promising, but the latest setbacks highlight the domestic struggles the game continues to face.

The apex court's intervention may come in time for the league to resume its schedule, but the crisis has shone a light on existing fractures in the ecosystem and poses the question of how best to move forward to solidify the sport.

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