The Supreme Court has instructed the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Foootball Sports Development Limited (FSDL) to not enter into any negotiations at the moment till the final verdict is passed on the AIFF constitution. A lot of questions have come up as a result. What impact will the Supreme Court intervention help bring about? Will we see a sea change in Indian football and its governance? Are we making too much of this, because going forward it will all depend on the kind of people who are elected and whether they abide by the decisions in law and spirit? What impact will it have on the ISL with the AIFF-FSDL contract coming to an end in December 2025?
First things first, this is a case going back to 2019. Thereafter the SC had asked Justice Nageshwar Rao to work on the constitution and Justice Rao had even travelled to Zurich to meet FIFA officials to institute and incorporate the principles of good governance into the AIFF’s statutes. This is the concluding phase in the case with the SC all set to pass the final order.
The main issues of contention are actually pretty simple – who are eligible to be a part of the Executive Council or can be office-bearers? Can politicians or public servants or men and women holding public office be a part of it? What should be the tenure and how long can they hold office? Has there been lack of transparency and have the principles of good governance and ethics been violated by the office-bearers?
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The verdict, many believe, could fundamentally shake up Indian sport and become a template for every sports federation going forward. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Amicus Curiae in the case, had this to say, “The Supreme Court-approved Constitution for the AIFF will mark a major reboot not only for football but for Indian sports as a whole. This is because the SC roadmap will become a template for all other national sports federations (NSFs) and will be a guide for any law to be made in the future.”
Coming to the FSDL-AIFF matter and the future of the ISL, it is now clear that no further negotiations can or will happen before the SC order. Will this adversely impact the ISL? Can a national league get jeopardised? A reasonable guess is no. That can never actually happen. It could well be that FSDL and AIFF jointly agree to a contract extension for six months post December 2025 allowing both parties to conduct the ISL for 2025-26 and then sit down to negotiate the future. Or the new body that is expected to come into power could well start the negotiations earlier but a final outcome could be arrived at post the 2025-26 ISL season.
Either way, the tournament isn’t expected to get impacted in any way. What can happen, however, is a renegotiation of the contract. How and in what manner we will have to wait and see, but suffice to say things could well change going forward.
To go back to Sankaranarayanan and something he said during the conversation – this isn’t just about Indian football. It could have a telling impact on Indian sport as a whole. With many federations mired in litigation, all eyes are now on the SC bench and the final pronouncement.