The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has floated a fresh tender for appointing the commercial partner for the 2025-26 season of the Indian Super League (ISL), continuing efforts to bring stability to India’s premier domestic football competition.
The Request for Proposal (RFP), a detailed 39-page document released on Sunday, outlines eligibility criteria, timelines and the evaluation process for interested bidders. The move comes barely a month before the league is set to begin, with the 2025-26 season scheduled to start on February 14. This edition of the ISL will be played in a truncated single-leg home-and-away format.
According to the RFP, the AIFF has scheduled a pre-bid meeting for January 23, while written clarifications can be submitted to the federation until January 27. The deadline for bid submission is February 1 at 5:00 pm IST. Interested bidders must also submit a security deposit of Rs. 5 lakh along with their proposal.
The tender specifies that bidders must be broadcasters or internet operators with a minimum of three years of experience. Financial eligibility includes a net worth of at least Rs. 10 crore in the last financial year (2024-25) and an average annual revenue of at least Rs. 10 crore across the last three completed financial years—2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Consortium bids are permitted, with up to three members allowed to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV). One member must act as the lead partner and hold at least 51 percent of the paid-up and subscribed equity of the SPV.
The selection process will involve a two-part evaluation, with technical bids carrying a weightage of 70 percent and financial bids accounting for the remaining 30 percent. Final rankings will be determined using a combined score, and the bidder with the highest overall score will be awarded the rights for the upcoming season.
This is the second tender issued by the AIFF within six months. The federation’s Master Rights Agreement with Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), under which the ISL began in 2014, expired on December 8, 2025. Subsequent negotiations failed to result in a new agreement, prompting the AIFF to issue an earlier RFP in September. That tender did not attract any bids, despite initial interest from platforms such as FanCode and Viacom18.
The prolonged uncertainty around the league ended only after sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that the ISL would go ahead next month.
Looking further ahead, the AIFF has proposed a 20-year roadmap starting from the 2026-27 season, under which clubs would receive 60 percent of league revenue, the federation 10 percent, and the commercial partner 30 percent. Of the partner’s share, four percent would be reserved by the AIFF and transferred back to the partner for Rs. 12 crore per season or four percent of the previous season’s net league revenue, whichever is higher.
