What's going on in Indian football?
Qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup is in doubt, as is the entire Indian Super League season. I talked to some leading figures in the game to find out all about it.
India qualified for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup on Saturday, with a win in Thailand, an impressive result given that the hosts have appeared at the World Cup before. It was a very welcome piece of good news given all that has been going on, or not going on, with the men.
Last week saw Manolo Marquez leave his position as head coach after just 11 months in the job. The Spaniard’s short spell delivered just one win in eight games, a friendly victory over the Maldives. More important was a loss in Hong Kong in June, which left qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup in doubt.
Kalyan Chaubey, the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was, when we talked, at pains to point out that it was not a firing but a case of mutual dismissal.
“In football, win and lose are part and parcel of the journey for any professional coach. After careful evaluation, both Coach Márquez and the Federation recognised that the objectives we had set out to achieve a year ago were not progressing as intended. Out of mutual respect and understanding, we agreed it was best to part ways. This decision was taken in the larger interest of Indian football.”
Marquez was, until May, also in charge of Indian Super League club FC Goa and there were misgivings at the situation of having the head coach doing two jobs, as Chaubey acknowledged.
“I understand why that perception exists, but it is not without precedent. Globally, coaches like Sir Alex Ferguson, Guus Hiddink, Dick Advocaat, and many others have held club and national roles simultaneously. Any coach that takes charge of the Indian national team invariably takes around six months to understand the deep cultural and geographic diversities in India. When we appointed Manolo, we carefully considered his four years of coaching experience in India with Hyderabad FC and FC Goa, where he developed several young talents.”
Asian Cup Setback
It didn’t work out. India qualified for the 2019 and 2023 Asian Cups and needs to finish on top of a group containing Singapore, Bangladesh and Hong Kong. Yet, the Blue Tigers, who came very close to being one of the 18 teams to reach the third round of qualification for the 2026 World Cup (which also brings a place in the Asian Cup), were fairly confident of finishing first. Yet, after a draw with Bangladesh and a loss in Hong Kong, India are bottom.
“We are in a qualification group with three other teams and we are ranked higher than all of them but we are in last place,” said Shaji Prabhakaran, former General Secretary of the AIFF. “It was the wrong decision to have a coach with dual responsibility, in highly-competitive, high pressure football, no coach can do 2 jobs at the same time. It may look like you have a break in the league then you have the international games but he has to work for the national team all the time, for the future and for India you need a bigger focus.”
“Things are more professional and settled in big nations, in our case we are developing. There is no doubt that Manolo is a good coach who has done well domestically, is famous with the players and deals with them very professionally. The responsibility lies with the AIFF, they took the wrong decision, taking football backwards. This decision has jeopardised qualification for the Asian Cup, which is now 24 teams and since that expansion, we have always qualified. We are bottom of the table with one draw and one loss and against two bottom-ranked teams and we are the highest-ranked team in the group. The next four games we have to win. When the new coach comes, he has to make the team work, and it takes time. On the whole, it is a federation that has made the situation complex. If the teams does not qualify, it would be catastrophic for the development of Indian football and the responsibility lies with the people who took the decision.”
Super League Problems
National team woes are not a new thing anywhere but India also has a more unusual issue. The Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier in the country, is due to kick off in September but, as things stand, nobody knows if it will go ahead. The 15-year contract between AIFF and commercial partner Football Sports Development Limited, which runs the ISL, is due to expire at the end of 2025 but there has, as yet, been no agreement on a new deal.
The country’s Supreme Court is due to rule soon on the AIFF’s constitution later in July. “As you are aware, we are awaiting the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitution of the All India Football Federation,” said Chaubey. “ The Master Rights Agreement with our marketing partners is closely tied to this decision. Hence, all stakeholders—including the AIFF—have agreed that key football-related decisions will be finalised only after the Hon’ble Court delivers its verdict.”
It means, however, that everything is up in the air. “I don’t know how a country can end in a situation where you don’t know if the league will happen and it impacts everything,” said Prabhakaran. “When the pro league has a question mark as to when or if it will happen, it impacts the players, the stakeholders, the whole cycle, everything. India should not be projecting that way. It is showing many things positive in areas other than football but football is the world’s most popular sport. This should have been sorted a year ago. You can’t rely on the commercial return in the 11th hour, why wasn’t it concluded? You have to secure your finances for the future, or how can you plan?”
Arshad Shawl is the CEO of Real Kashmir FC in the I-League, the country’s second tier and is concerned that a number of top tier teams are not going to play in the upcoming Durand Cup, the oldest knockout tournament in Asia that also serves, these days, as useful preparation for the league season.
“It’s already affected the Durand Cup, most of the ISL teams have declined to play because the teams are not ready, they have not signed contracts yet,” he said. “It is affecting the ecosystem in India, there is no clarity in terms of contracts for the season. In the AIFF calendar at the moment, there is no ISL scheduled this season. What happens to ISL players who are left without a club? I-League teams can’t afford them. For us to plan going forward, we need to know the plan and the direction we are going. If I want to run RKFC, I need to know.”
The same can be said of all of Indian football.
I watched some ISL matches last season and enjoyed it. Much more than the more-hyped cricketing equivalent. It'd be dreadful if the issues can't be sorted.
FSDLwill propose a profit sharing model that will give 14% to AIFF. This will not be accepted by the geniuses at AIFF especially Mr Chaubey. They want cash up front from FSDL every year like the current deal.
Unless a new a commitee comes in, having folks with a brain, nothing will happen.