Players will need to make 'sacrifices' for ISL clubs to survive: Bengaluru FC owner Parth Jindal

New Delhi: Bengaluru FC owner Parth Jindal on Wednesday called on the players to "make sacrifices" in view of the "financial burden" the club will shoulder to participate in the delayed Indian Super League (ISL) next month, saying without their support, the club may have to "shut shop for good".
All India Football Federation's (AIFF) bid to rope in a new commercial partner did not find any takers after the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) with the ISL organisers, the Reliance-owned FSDL, ended on December 8 last year.



Though Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday announced that the delayed and truncated 2025-26 ISL season will begin on February 14 with all the 14 clubs participating in it, the franchises will struggle financially if the top-tier tournament does not get a commercial partner soon.

The AIFF is expected to float another tender soon for a commercial partner.

Jindal did not specifically explain the kind of sacrifice the footballers will be expected to make, but it could well be a reduced salary for this season. The club features, among others, former India captain Sunil Chhetri and star goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

The ISL clubs are required to share 60 per cent of the financial cost (around Rs one crore per club) for the league to start after a nearly six months long pause. The total cost for the upcoming season has been pegged at Rs 25 crore by the AIFF.

"Tremendous sacrifice from all clubs is being asked for to play the ISL in its current format. Repercussions if we don't have a league are very worrying," Jindal wrote on 'X'.




"Truly hope the players understand the additional financial burden on the clubs and agree to also sacrifice as we are all in this together. We are in this for the love of football and to see our country play the beautiful game and be good at it."

He admitted that Bengaluru FC has been a loss-making franchise since joining the ISL and said the club may have to wind up its operations if players do not cooperate.

"@bengalurufc football has been a loss making proposition for all since I can remember - this year's numbers without the players helping out will force many to shut shop for good," he said in the tweet which was reposted by FC Goa CEO Ravi Puskur.

Jindal also thanked Mandaviya "for his intervention and his proposal", which led to the ending of a crisis that paralysed Indian football.

Earlier on Friday, leading names such as Sunil Chhetri, along with several foreign recruits of the ISL, had called for world governing body FIFA's intervention to rescue the ISL.

Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sandhesh Jhingan voiced concern over the prolonged uncertainty, warning that Indian football would be slipping into a state of "permanent paralysis".

On Tuesday, Mandaviya announced that the ISL will have 91 matches on home and away basis, the logistics of which are still being worked out.

AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, who took over the explaining part after the Minister's announcement, said a Rs 25 crore central pool has been made for only the conduct of the ISL.

"Ten percent of this fund will come from AIFF, 30 percent was to come from a commercial partner but since we don't have one right now, the AIFF will pitch in with that contribution," Chaubey had said.

"In all, the AIFF will give Rs 14 crore for ISL and about Rs 3.2 crore for I League till we find a commercial partner. The rest of the fund will come through the legacy participating clubs. Hopefully we will find a commercial partner soon," he added.

"In case, we face any difficulty, the government will also step in to assist us," he stated.

A tender was floated for the selection of a commercial rights partner last year under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed committee, but much to AIFF's embarrassment, there were no takers for it. PTI


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