Indian Football Crisis: ISL Clubs Suspend Operations

India is dreaming big when it comes to sports. From being mere participants, we now want to be contenders, genuine challengers in every discipline we step into. And the next big dream is of course hosting the Olympics. But while most Indian sports are accelerating, football, the most globally followed sport is stuck in reverse gear here. The Indian Super League, India’s premier domestic football competition is having a bit of a crisis. And that’s not a dramatic headline. That’s the ground reality. After Bengaluru FC, it’s now Chennai in FC that has temporarily suspended operations. That’s two major clubs pushing the brakes here. This isn’t just a red flag. It’s a full-blown emergency. Franchises are panicking. Confidence has taken a bit of a hit. And make no mistake, a total shutdown might just be around the corner if the issue isn’t resolved.

So who’s responsible for this chaos? The AllIndia Football Federation or the AIFF? They’ve completely failed to settle a deal with the league’s own organizers, Football Sports Development Limited or the FSDL. And now the matter has landed in the Supreme Court. A football league meant to develop the sport is now mired in a legal dispute and this league was once a trailblazer. The first in India to adopt the IPL style franchise model. Something others then followed. This ISL model in fact revitalized other sports. Hockey is making a comeback. Kabadi has exploded in popularity. Badminton is producing consistent stars. Women’s cricket is booming. Rugby is starting to turn heads. But football well it’s gone backward. India’s international rankings are plummeting and now even the domestic league the backbone of any footballing nation is under threat and just come down to this now a club led by Sunil Chetri India’s biggest footballing icon had to suspend player salaries because even when they don’t know even they don’t know if there’s going to be a league this season and with Chennai and FC joining Bengaluru in crisis mode it’s clear these aren’t isolated cases every club is worried All ISL clubs have urged the AIFF for a meeting.

And what has the EIFF done? Held meetings, released vision documents, floated PR gimmicks. Remember that Zavi Hernandez applied for India coach headline. But when it comes to taking action, absolutely nothing. Every day this drags on. Indian football loses more than just time. They lose trust from players, from fans, from sponsors, from global stakeholder holders. It took years to build club identities and fan bases. One missed season could wipe all that out and push Indian football back a decade. And think this, the reason football is a globally popular sport is because unlike other disciplines, this sport doesn’t cost much. Sure, big stadiums, pat paychecks are all linked to football, but it is still played in every corner of the world, from the streets in Sa Paulo to war torn nations like Palestine. The sport lives. It just needs love and the most important thing, proper governance. It’s time the AFF stops hiding behind press conferences and fixes this mess. Because Indian football doesn’t just need answers anymore. It needs accountability.