ISL will start from Feb 14.
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The deadlock over the top flight of country's football league finally ended on Tuesday (January 6) with decks cleared for the Indian Super League (ISL) to begin on February 14.
The ISL will feature 91 matches on home and away basis, the logistics of which are still being worked out.
After discussions with various stake holders, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya confirmed that ISL will begin from February 14 and will be played in single leg home and away format.
"There was lot of speculation regarding ISL but today govt, football federation and 14 clubs, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal included had a meeting and we have decided that ISL will start February 14. All clubs will participate," Mandaviya announced.
Joining him at the long awaited resolution table was under-fire All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey, who took over the explaining part after the minister's announcement.
The I League, which was also on pause, will be held "around the same time" with all 11 clubs in participation.
The I-League will be a truncated event with 55 matches.
"A Rs 25 crore central pool has been made for only the conduct of the ISL. 10 per cent of this fund will come from AIFF, 30 percent was to come from a commercial partner but since we don't have on right now the AIFF will pitch in with that contribution," said Chaubey.
"In all, the AIFF will give Rs 14 crore for ISL and about 3.2 crore for I League till we find a commercial partner," he added.
Chaubey said a Governing Council Board will be formed to manage the Leagues eventually and it will be "empowered to take all commercial decisions."
It is worth mentioning that, the AIFF had asked the clubs to confirm participation in ISL and the proposed format by January 1.
On January 1, 13 of the 14 ISL clubs (except Jamshedpur FC) told the AIFF that they "may be ready and willing" to take part in the delayed 2025-26 season if there is no participation fee and the national body takes financial responsibility for the organisational and operational costs of running the truncated competition.
Mohun Bagan Super Giants are the defending champions of the ISL. They had defeated Bengaluru FC 2-1 in the final at Kolkata last year.
(With inputs from AIFF Media Team/agencies)