4 min learnNew DelhiUp to date: Feb 3, 2026 12:31 AM IST
The All India Soccer Federation (AIFF) on Monday introduced FanCode because the unique media rights holder for the truncated 2025/26 season of the Indian Tremendous League (ISL), which is about to start out on February 14. Whereas it’s one other optimistic growth in direction of ending the deadlock that has disrupted this membership soccer in India, a better have a look at the numbers tells a sobering story of an almost 95 % crash within the worth of every match in India’s prime males’s soccer league.
FanCode, a digital streaming platform owned by Dream Sports activities – the guardian firm of the erstwhile fantasy sports activities app Dream11 – acquired the broadcasting rights for Rs 8.62 crore. Kaleidoscope Manufacturing and Providers (KPS) Studios was awarded the manufacturing rights of the league – international in addition to home. They’d earlier dealt with manufacturing of I-League, Durand Cup and Bengal Tremendous League matches and can be paid Rs 5.22 crore by the federation for offering their companies for the ISL.
FanCode’s profitable bid is simply a fraction of what the league’s valuation was in earlier seasons. The broadcasting rights for each the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons was valued at Rs 550 crore in whole – translating to Rs 275 crore per season over 163 matches.
🚨 ISL 2025–26 LIVE streaming replace 🚨#IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/BGJ15EaLIW
— Indian Soccer (@IndianFootball) February 2, 2026
Whereas a fixture listing hasn’t been formally introduced, the ISL this yr could have 91 video games. It meant that whereas the worth of every match final season was about Rs. 1.68 crore, it has crashed to about Rs 9.47 lakh for the upcoming season – a drop of almost 95 %.
The Indian Specific additionally understands that FanCode can be on the lookout for a associate for tv broadcast. FanCode is a digital streaming platform and the ultimate determination on how followers can observe the season on tv can be made after discussions with the AIFF and ISL golf equipment.
Powerful instances
The drop in worth of the broadcasting rights is just about a mirrored image of how funds have been damage throughout the league, with a number of golf equipment tethering on the sting of full collapse because the competitors was caught in limbo. Former champions Bengaluru FC’s proprietor Parth Jindal stated on Sunday that the first-team gamers, together with Sunil Chhetri, had agreed to take pay cuts.
“I’m grateful to all of the first-team gamers who’ve agreed to scale back their remuneration throughout this section. No doubt, this was one of many hardest selections we’ve needed to make as a membership, and I really admire that the gamers have made this sacrifice in the very best pursuits of the membership and the game,” he wrote on his X deal with.
FC Goa gamers, together with India captain Sandesh Jhingan, and help employees have additionally accepted pay cuts for the ISL season, with the membership terming their determination a “selfless” act. In the meantime, FIFPro, the worldwide consultant physique for soccer gamers, urged the golf equipment to “to respect gamers’ contractual entitlements” final month.
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The deadlock arose because of the expiration of a 15-year business rights deal between the AIFF and Reliance Sports activities on December 8, 2025, which might have come round midway by means of an everyday season of the ISL. With negotiations between the federation and Soccer Sports activities Improvement Restricted (FSDL) stalled, the Reliance subsidiary that operated the league instructed ISL golf equipment in July final yr that the 2025/26 season could be indefinitely delayed. When the AIFF floated a young for a brand new associate in November, they didn’t obtain a single bid.
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