All posts tagged: AIFF news

India accepts FIFA invitation for the inaugural ASEAN Cup

India accepts FIFA invitation for the inaugural ASEAN Cup

Published by Webster

India will participate in the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup after the All India Football Federation signed a participation agreement with FIFA. The new tournament, announced by Gianni Infantino during the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur last year, is expected to be held later in 2026 and will feature national teams from Southeast Asia along with invited nations. AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan confirmed that India had accepted FIFA’s invitation and completed the agreement process, while further details regarding the competition are awaited. Tournament offers India valuable international exposure India’s participation comes at a crucial time for the national team after failing to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2027 in Saudi Arabia. The team has since struggled to secure high-quality international fixtures. The FIFA ASEAN Cup is expected to provide India with competitive matches during the September-October international window. Reports also suggest that China has been invited as FIFA looks to include the world’s two most populous nations in the tournament. The competition will reportedly follow a format similar to the FIFA Arab Cup …

AIFF brings clubs into evaluation process for long-term commercial partner, KPMG to scrutinise feasibility of bids | Football News

AIFF brings clubs into evaluation process for long-term commercial partner, KPMG to scrutinise feasibility of bids | Football News

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Mar 29, 2026 08:04 PM IST Clubs will engage directly with the three bidders for Indian club football’s long-term commercial rights, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) decided in its executive committee meeting on Sunday. Additionally, the three bids will be turned over to audit firm KPMG, who the federation said “will prepare comprehensive comparison tables evaluating the feasibility and key aspects of the bids”. FanCode, the media rights holder for the ongoing 2025/26 season of the Indian Super League (ISL), and Genius Sports made bids for the ISL and the Federation Cup. Meanwhile, Capri Sports have bid for the top two flights of women’s club football in India, Indian Women’s League (IWL) and the IWL 2. Genius Sports has offered INR 2,129 crore for a 20-year cycle with a 5% annual increase in value. FanCode submitted a significantly lower bid of INR 1,190 crore for the same 20-year period. Capri Sports was the sole bidder for women’s football with a bid between INR 150 crore to INR 160 crore for a …

‘All that a footballer wants to do is play football’: Sandesh Jhingan

‘All that a footballer wants to do is play football’: Sandesh Jhingan

Published by Webster

A new year often brings with it new hope and the expectation that things, however bad, will eventually work out for the better. Unfortunately, that is not something one can say about the immediate future of Indian football. 2025 was disappointing in many ways for the men’s game in the country. After the All India Football Federation (AIFF) failed to secure any commercial backing for the top-tier men’s league, the Indian Super League (ISL), there is now talk of a new format being introduced as a last-minute fix. On the pitch, the men’s national team’s hopes of reaching the AFC Asian Cup were ended after a 1–2 defeat against Singapore in October. All of this has left football fans wondering: what’s next? That sentiment resonates with the captain of the men’s national team, Sandesh Jhingan, as well. Speaking exclusively to The Bridge, the team India Captain addressed the uncertainty surrounding the organisation of the ISL. Future of ISL up in the air “A player only wants to play football. Everyone involved in the process knew …

ISL, India’s top tier league, finds no takers – on terms set by the All India Football Federation | Football News

ISL, India’s top tier league, finds no takers – on terms set by the All India Football Federation | Football News

Published by Webster

There are no takers for the country’s premier football competition, the Indian Super League (ISL), at least in the way All India Football Federation (AIFF) envisages it. Last month, the governing body invited tenders from companies with a minimum net worth of Rs 250 crore to bid for the ISL commercial rights and put forward a set of conditions. Some of them were that for the duration of the partnership — 15 years — the winning bidder would pay the AIFF Rs 37.5 crore each year, or 5 percent of the gross revenue, whichever was higher, mandatory promotion and relegation, parachute payments for relegated teams and gradual adoption of the Video Assistant Referee. The interested parties had till November 7, 5pm to submit the tenders. But on Friday, when the deadline expired, the AIFF, embarrassingly, did not have a single bid. And now, the future of the ISL — at a time when men’s football is going through one of its darkest phases — looks uncertain once again. Story continues below this ad ”The financials …

AIFF crowns Churchill Brothers I-League champions despite CAS stay order, cites holiday for delay

AIFF crowns Churchill Brothers I-League champions despite CAS stay order, cites holiday for delay

Published by Webster

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) went ahead and crowned Churchill Brothers as the 2024–25 I-League champions on Sunday, just hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a stay order prohibiting the medal ceremony. Churchill Brothers received the trophy at a private event in South Goa, where AIFF Deputy Secretary General M Satyanarayan handed it over to club owner Alemao Churchill. This happened despite CAS explicitly directing the federation not to organise any medal presentation or announce a winner until Inter Kashi’s appeal was resolved. Earlier in the day, CAS granted Inter Kashi’s request for provisional measures, putting a freeze on the AIFF Appeals Committee’s April 18 decision that had confirmed Churchill Brothers as champions. The Swiss-based court ordered that “the All India Football Federation is not to declare the winner of the I-League 2024-25 or conduct a medal ceremony” until the arbitration is concluded. The respondents — AIFF, Churchill Brothers, and Namdhari FC — were given until April 29 to file their replies. However, the AIFF defended its move by claiming …