The Indian Super League (ISL) will now kick off after October 6, having been postponed from its original start date of September 4. This delay is due to the FIFA international match window, which runs from September 21 to October 6. Additionally, the league will feature 13 teams this season, as Diamond Harbour FC, the champions of the Indian Football League 2025-26, failed to pay the second installment of their participation fee, amounting to Rs 55 lakh, by the Wednesday deadline. Diamond Harbour FC was promoted to the ISL after their championship win.
The upcoming season of the Indian Super League (ISL), which was earlier scheduled to kick off on September 4, is set to be postponed by more than a month and will start only after October 6.
“The match will give a morale boost to the Indian national team while driving fans towards Indian football, the impact of which is unquantifiable. The match is a mutually agreed international sporting opportunity between two football federations and should not be portrayed as a one-sided arrangement,” it added. Churchill Brothers paid, on August 14, the full Rs 1.1 crore fee to feature in the upcoming ISL after Jamshedpur Football Club sold its entire stake to the Goan side. Jamshedpur FC had pulled out of the ISL and disbanded the first team on July 31, hours after the deadline for paying the first installment of participation fee amounting to Rs 55 lakh.
“The ISL is likely to start only in October after the FIFA window,” a top official of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) told PTI. Meanwhile, the AIFF condemned what it called “incorrect claims that its decision not to participate in the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 has resulted in a predetermined financial penalty or fine”. It said the decision to host five-time FIFA World Cup champions Brazil on October 3 in Kolkata “was taken through the appropriate institutional processes, recognising the exceptional opportunity it presents for Indian football, the national team and millions of fans”.
