Super League football set for rebound; rights auction soon

Millions of football fans in the country may finally have reason to cheer. The Indian Super League (ISL) football is likely to return this December.

- Krishna Yadav & Gaurav Laghate

However, there's a catch: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) needs to find a new commercial rights holder before the league begins in December.

The earlier 15-year master rights agreement (MRA) between AIFF and Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL), a Reliance Industries-backed entity, is set to expire on 8 December 2025.

FSDL has agreed to relinquish its long-held commercial control over the league, including its Right of First Refusal (RoFR) and Right to Match (RtM) after months of impasse and legal standstill.

The announcement was made jointly by AIFF and FSDL before the Supreme Court on Thursday, where the two parties also submitted a proposal to restart the 2025-26 season of India's premier football competition, which is valued at over ₹450 crore.

An email query sent to FSDL did not elicit any response.

The plan includes a revised football calendar, upfront payments to AIFF for domestic tournaments, and a transparent auction of ISL's commercial and broadcast rights by 15 October 2025, which will have to be overseen by a Big Four consulting firm.