‘Indian football governance is no longer able to fulfil its responsibilities. We are now staring at a permanent paralysis. This is the last-ditch effort to save what we can.’
IMAGE: Several India internationals, including Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, expressed their frustration over the crisis in Indian football in a joint video statement. Photograph: ANI Photo
India’s leading footballers, including Sunil Chhetri, along with several foreign players featuring in the Indian Super League (ISL), on Friday made a collective appeal to FIFA, urging the world governing body to intervene as the country’s top-tier league remains suspended indefinitely.
With the 2025-26 ISL season yet to start, senior national team players such as Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, and Sandhesh Jhingan voiced concern over the prolonged uncertainty, warning that Indian football is slipping into a state of “permanent paralysis”.
“It’s January and we should be on your screens as apart of a competitive football game in the Indian Super League,” Gurpreet said in a joint video statement posted on social media.
“Instead, here we are driven by fear and desperation to say aloud something which we all know,” Jhingan added.
The players said the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is no longer in a position to fulfil its responsibilities and appealed to FIFA to step in to safeguard the future of the sport in the country.
“But more importantly, we are here to make a plea. Indian football governance is no longer able to fulfil its responsibilities. We are now staring at a permanent paralysis. This is the last-ditch effort to save what we can. So we are calling the FIFA to step in and do what it takes to save Indian football,” other players pitched in.
The players stressed that their appeal was not political in nature, but born out of necessity.
“We hope this message gets to the power that are in Zurich. This call is not political, it is not driven by confrontation but by necessity. It might sound like a big word but the truth is that we are facing a humanitarian, sporting and economic crisis. And of course, we need rescuing at the earliest. We just want to play football, please help us do it,” other players said in the statement.
“Players, staff, owners and the fans deserve clarity, protection and more importantly, a future,” Chhetri concluded.
The 2025-26 ISL season was put on hold in July due to the uncertainty over the renewal of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the league’s former organisers, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), and the AIFF.
The deal expired on December 8, creating a contractual impasse that also required Supreme Court intervention. Under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed committee, a tender was floated for ISL’s commercial rights but there were no takers for it.
On Thursday, 13 of the 14 Indian Super League (ISL) clubs told the AIFF that they “may be ready and willing” to take part in the delayed season if there is no participation fee and the national body takes financial responsibility for the organisational and operational costs of running the truncated competition.
Earlier this week the AIFF had asked the clubs to confirm their participation in the delayed season of the ISL and the proposed format within a day so that it can inform the continental body the exact number of matches to be played in the competition.
With the League yet to start, it is certain that the clubs will not be able to play the mandatory 24 matches in the season — including top division league and domestic cup — to be eligible to feature in the AFC Champions League 2.
In that regard, the ISL clubs had urged the AIFF to request the Asian Football Confederation for a one-time relaxation in the minimum requirement of 24 matches so that they can play in the ACL 2.
