Indian football stands at a rare and important crossroads. Between 2024 and early 2026, four national teams the senior women, U20 women, U17 women, and U17 men have qualified for their respective AFC Asian Cups.
On paper, this represents one of the most successful qualification cycles in Indian football history. In reality, it has unfolded alongside an alarming collapse in governance, preparation, and strategic planning at the All India Football Federation (AIFF). At the heart of the crisis lies a fundamental misalignment of priorities, with administrative energy overwhelmingly directed towards rescuing the Indian Super League (ISL) from commercial uncertainty, while national teams drift into continental tournaments under-prepared, under-exposed, and structurally disadvantaged.
The trigger point was the expiration of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between AIFF and FSDL in December 2025. The failure to finalise a successor deal or manage a smooth transition led to the effective suspension of the ISL for over seven months. During this period, federation leadership became consumed by emergency negotiations, court proceedings, and survival-mode planning for a truncated league restart, leaving little bandwidth for national team preparation.
The consequences were immediate and severe. Clubs halted training, players went unpaid, and competitive minutes vanished from the calendar. Yet instead of insulating national teams from this chaos, the AIFF allowed league instability to dictate the entire ecosystem. When the ISL restart was finally announced for February 14, 2026, it came in a single-leg, condensed format driven by commercial optics rather than technical necessity and at the direct expense of preparation windows for multiple Asian Cups.
Nowhere is this neglect more stark than in the case of the Indian women’s senior team. Having qualified for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup on merit for the first time, the Blue Tigresses were promised an 83-day preparation roadmap featuring 10–12 international friendlies and an early Indian Women’s League (IWL). By January 2026, that plan lay largely unfulfilled. The IWL was delayed by three months, international exposure was minimal, and players remained inactive for long stretches while rivals like Vietnam and Japan executed detailed overseas training programs.
The contrast is brutal. Japan and Vietnam enter the Asian Cup with year-round league competition and tailored acclimatisation camps, while India ranked 70th approaches matches against elite opposition with fragmented preparation and fewer than half the competitive minutes originally planned.
The situation is no better at the youth level. The U17 men’s team, fresh off a landmark qualification win against Iran, now faces an Asian Cup where World Cup qualification is at stake. Yet the AIFF’s own ISL restart blueprint allocates zero budget to youth leagues. The women’s U20 and U17 teams, despite historic qualifications, remain dependent on sporadic camps due to the absence of a functioning, well-funded domestic youth competition structure.
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Perhaps the most damning evidence lies in the federation’s financial utilization record. Despite citing reduced government grants as a reason for limited preparation, AIFF spent less than 50% of its sanctioned funds in 2024–25. In contrast, federations like Hockey India and BAI consistently utilized over 85% of allocations to support athletes and competitions. In football’s case, money remained unused while teams lacked exposure matches a failure not of funding, but of governance and execution.
The truncated ISL itself highlights the contradiction. Restarted in “survival mode,” the league struggles to meet AFC’s minimum match requirements for continental eligibility, forcing AIFF to seek exemptions. Broadcast budgets have been slashed, youth pathways defunded, and scheduling now clashes directly with Asian Cup preparation windows. The league exists but is stripped of its original developmental purpose.
Leadership accountability has also come under scrutiny. In January 2026, senior Indian players publicly called for FIFA intervention, citing “permanent paralysis” within the system. Yet official communication has often deflected attention towards debates on OCI players or long-term striker shortages issues raised at a moment when immediate administrative competence was required.
The irony is unavoidable. Indian football has produced results despite the system, not because of it. Youth and women’s teams have crossed historic thresholds while being denied the basic institutional support required to compete meaningfully at the next level. Without urgent reform including ring-fenced national team budgets, mandatory youth league funding, and calendar alignment, these qualifications risk becoming symbolic achievements rather than foundations for sustained progress.
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Indian football’s success in 2026 will not be judged by whether the ISL survives another season, but by how its national teams perform when Asia’s best take the field. Right now, the federation’s priorities suggest it is dangerously close to failing that test.
