With still no clarity on the Indian Super League (ISL), the Indian football season is set to begin with the AIFF (All India Football Federation) Super Cup in Goa on Saturday.
Kerala Blasters, after skipping the Durand Cup, starts its Super Cup campaign against Rajasthan United, and its CEO, Abhik Chatterjee, believes that the team starting the tournament with a full roster of six foreigners reflects its intent to deliver an impressive performance.
“The (new season of the) ISL is yet to be announced, and we don’t know when it will start, but we want to give ourselves the best possible chance (to win) at the Super Cup,” Abhik told Sportstar here on Thursday.
“We have a lot of faith in the roadmap of the AIFF, but the lack of clarity is a bit frustrating. From a sponsorship point of view, it is important to know the dates of the ISL. It is the biggest property that they want to invest in. Not just us, a lot of clubs do not know what to budget for this season.”
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Abhik — involved in ISL from the beginning — has worked with Odisha FC and NorthEast United FC, welcomed the salary cap recommended in AIFF’s Request for Proposal (RFP).
“I do believe it’s a time for introspection,” he said. “Do you want to fall into a situation where every year you’re just spending blindly? Or do you want to be in a situation where you’re creating your own players, thereby reducing the dependency on buying players from outside, making smart investments, refusing to pay over the top?”
However, he remains unsure of the promotion-relegation model in the ISL.
“From a football purist point of view, you should have promotion and relegation, no doubt. But right now, what is happening in the ISL is that clubs have lost so much money and we have reached a point where we don’t know what the future is,” he said.
“So clubs are now asking for promotion and relegation, the majority of them, but only after they have some time to stabilise in the new environment.”
Published on Oct 23, 2025