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“Clarity for the next 15-20 years is required”: Kalyan Chaubey, AIFF president, says no short-term fix for ISL and Indian football problems

August 14, 2025
<a href="https://revsportz.in/author/boria/" rel="author" class="url fn n" itemprop="url"><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e660b408ca5a915f1c718d0cd98a879b?s=32&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e660b408ca5a915f1c718d0cd98a879b?s=64&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-32 photo' height='32' width='32' decoding='async'/> <span class="" itemprop="name">Boria Majumdar</span></a>

Boria Majumdar

Midway through August and Indian football fans still don’t know if they’ll be able to watch the Indian Super League (ISL), the sport’s top tier in the country, this year. Understandably, much of the scrutiny has been on the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its management of the issues. Boria Majumdar, RevSportz editor-in-chief, spoke to Kalyan Chaubey, AIFF president, and put him on the spot about the ISL mess and the selection of Khalid Jamil as men’s national team coach.

Boria: What is happening with ISL? Can we expect it this year?

Kalyan: We had a meeting on the 7th of August, where AIFF delegates met with all the 13 clubs’ representatives and the representative of the Marketing Rights (MR) partners. Detailed discussions took place about every aspect, which comprised of five major points. I would like to infer that ISL should happen and I am hopeful about that. Major issues are that the marketing [deals] that got signed in 2010 have to be renewed in 2025 and another constitutional case from 2017 is about to get its judgement in 2025 – these two coinciding has given rise to the uncertainty of the league. In spite of these hurdles, India being a country where football is so popular, I would say AIFF would leave no stone unturned to take measures for making this league possible.

As an alternative, we are thinking if we can bring the Super Cup ahead of ISL, which usually takes place after the (ISL) season. So, in case these matters take time to resolve, which is approximately two and a half to three months, then we can still have the league till 31st of May which is usually the end of the season.

Boria: Khalid Jamil, an Indian national coach after long. How did you all zero in on Khalid Jamil?

Kalyan: The proposal to select your national team head coach must come from the technical committee which, in our case, comprised of members like IM Vijayan (chairperson), Climax Lawrence, Shabbir Ali (Dhyan Chand award winner), Tababi Devi (player), Pinky (Bompal Magar), Shabbir Pasha (Technical director), Subrata Pal (National Team director), and invitee advisors like Armando Colaco and Bimal Ghosh who have had successful coaching careers.

A total of 161 applications came for the coach’s position, from amongst which 10 were shortlisted and a further 3 (2 foreigners and 1 Indian) by the technical committee to conduct a SWOT analysis in the presence of the executive committee. Technical committee collectively decided that after two decades of having foreign coaches, now might be time to give that opportunity to an Indian coach. It is true that India could have won certain matches. In fact, seven out of the last eight matches have either ended in a draw or a loss, so why not try someone who is homegrown, has played the game, has got success at club level and has been the best coach of the year?  So, a collective decision and majority of the house selected Khalid Jamil as the head coach of the Men’s National team on 1st August 2025. Now all we can pray for is that India Men’s team wins matches under him.

Boria: AIFF president, a former player, a football fan, how confident are you that you will leave no stone unturned to make sure the league happens on time?

Kalyan: Football is a team game, and to travel a long distance, one must take many small steps and not one big step. So, all the stakeholders of football in India will have to come together and discuss. The league’s marketing rights are getting over this year, and for overall growth, investors are required, a long-term development plan and a clarity for the next 15-20 years is required. The people who follow Indian football would know of the the current scenario and are not blaming any one in particular for that. Nor are they looking at someone definite to rescue them from this situation. Everything has to be collective. Once legal advice is in place, we will act accordingly and together will solve the problem.

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Watch the full interview here