'Shame on us': John Abraham reacts to Indian football crisis
Indian football faces a crisis as players, including Sunil Chhetri, appeal to FIFA for intervention due to the suspended Indian Super League. John Abraham calls the situation a "shame." Uncertainty over the Master Rights Agreement has halted the 2025-26 season, with players warning of "permanent paralysis." The AIFF plans to announce a new start date next week.
File photo/Agencies
NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor and Northeast United FC co-owner John Abraham spoke about the situation in Indian football and called it a "shame".Sharing a recent video in which senior footballers appealed to FIFA to intervene as the Indian Super League (ISL) remains suspended, Abraham wrote, "Shame on us… this is what we have come to.
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On Friday, India’s leading footballers, including Sunil Chhetri, along with several foreign players playing in the ISL, made a joint appeal to FIFA, asking the world governing body to step in as the country’s top-tier league continues to remain on hold.With the 2025-26 ISL season yet to begin, senior national team players such as Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan spoke about the uncertainty, warning that Indian football is moving towards what they described as "permanent paralysis"."It’s January and we should be on your screens as apart of a competitive football game in the Indian Super League," Gurpreet said in a joint video message shared on social media."Instead, here we are driven by fear and desperation to say aloud something which we all know," Jhingan added.The players said the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is no longer able to fulfil its responsibilities and asked FIFA to intervene to protect the future of football in the country.
"But more importantly, we are here to make a plea. Indian football governance is no longer able to fulfil its responsibilities.We are now staring at a permanent paralysis. This is the last-ditch effort to save what we can. So we are calling the FIFA to step in and do what it takes to save Indian football," other players said.They also stressed that the appeal was not political."We hope this message gets to the power that are in Zurich. This call is not political, it is not driven by confrontation but by necessity.
It might sound like a big word but the truth is that we are facing a humanitarian, sporting and economic crisis. And of course, we need rescuing at the earliest. We just want to play football, please help us do it," the players said."Players, staff, owners and the fans deserve clarity, protection and more importantly, a future," Chhetri said.The 2025-26 ISL season was put on hold in July due to uncertainty over the renewal of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the AIFF and the league’s former organisers, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL).The agreement expired on December 8, leading to a contractual deadlock that required intervention from the Supreme Court. Under the supervision of a court-appointed committee, a tender was issued for the ISL’s commercial rights, but it did not attract any bidders.On Thursday, 13 of the 14 ISL clubs informed the AIFF that they "may be ready and willing" to participate in the delayed season if there is no participation fee and if the federation takes responsibility for organisational and operational costs of a shortened tournament.Meanwhile, the AIFF said on Saturday that the start date of the delayed ISL season will be announced next week after the Coordination Committee submitted its report.Following a meeting of its Emergency Committee, the AIFF said it will conduct the league, though clubs had raised concerns earlier.News agency PTI reported that that the AIFF may propose February 15 as the start date for the 2025-26 ISL season."The AIFF Emergency Committee met today (January 3, 2025) to consider and acknowledge the report submitted by the AIFF-ISL Coordination Committee.