ISL: For first time, bottom-ranked club set for relegation to second division

Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will implement relegation in the Indian Super League (ISL), despite objections from all 14 participating clubs to keep the constitutional requirement on hold due to a truncated season.
Since it’s launch in 2014, first as a three-month tournament, ISL has remained a closed league. In 2020, the league became India’s top tier, and even though champion teams from the lower division were promoted to the top, no ISL club has ever been relegated.
That will no longer be the norm, in line with the AIFF’s new constitution that makes it mandatory for the seniormost top division league to be “owned, operated, recognised and directly managed by the AIFF, with principles of promotion and relegation.”
The AIFF has now circulated the ISL League Rules to all clubs and made it clear that the team finishing at the bottom of the 14-team table will be relegated to the second division. According to Article 3.2.6 “at the conclusion of the season, the bottom ranked club in the League (last on the league table), on the date of completion of all matches, shall be relegated to the I-League 2026-27 (or the second division of men’s professional league football, as it is then known).”
The League Rules also stipulate that the winner of the second division I-League – now renamed Indian Football League -- will be promoted to next season’s ISL.
AIFF’s move to implement relegation has caused some discomfort amongst ISL clubs. At least one of them will now write to the federation and keep its legal options open.
Clubs have previously maintained that the current season is truncated and exceptional, conducted under circumstances that materially deviate from a normal sporting cycle. “Due to compressed timelines, operational constraints, and structural uncertainty, not all teams will be competing under identical playing, financial, or logistical conditions. As such, the foundational principle of sporting parity ordinarily underpinning promotion and relegation cannot be said to exist in full measure for the current season,” the clubs wrote the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports on Jan 30.
Others said there are global examples of relegation being on hold due to exceptional circumstances, like in Argentina, Mexico, besides League One and League Two (third and fourth divisions in England) during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Mexican top tier league in fact suspended promotion and relegation in 2019 for five seasons, seeing the first division maintain 18 teams for the period.
Should AIFF change its mind, the governing body will need approval from the Supreme Court to keep relegation on hold in the top division league.