Kerala Blasters FC’s decision to mutually terminate the contract of Spanish striker Koldo Obieta is not simply a squad update it is a snapshot of an Indian Super League club fighting to stay financially and structurally afloat amid the deepest crisis the league has ever faced.
Obieta’s exit symbolises a strategic realignment driven not by sporting logic, but by economic survival in a market that has collapsed at extraordinary speed.
Obieta had arrived in Kochi in October 2025 as part of what was meant to be a new attacking blueprint. Signed from Spanish side Real Unión, the 32-year-old Basque forward was recruited to replace Jesús Jiménez and give the Blasters a reliable, physical No.9. Standing 1.87 metres tall and boasting over 290 senior appearances across Spain and Poland, Obieta was not a gamble on potential he was a calculated investment in experience, composure, and box presence.
His brief time in yellow justified that faith. In the AIFF Super Cup the only meaningful competitive platform available amid the ISL standoff Obieta scored three goals in three matches. A towering stoppage-time header against Rajasthan United secured a 1–0 win, while a brace against Sporting Club Delhi powered a 3–0 victory. With a goal every 81 minutes, he quickly established himself as the focal point of David Català’s possession-based system, drawing defenders and opening space for creative players like Adrian Luna and Noah Sadaoui.
Yet those performances unfolded against a backdrop of financial chaos. A market value crash estimated at ₹144 crore swept through the ISL following Football Sports Development Limited’s withdrawal and the unresolved standoff between the AIFF and clubs over the league’s structure. With the 2025–26 season reduced to a short, single-leg format beginning in February 2026, maintaining high-cost foreign players became impossible. For Kerala Blasters, one of India’s most commercially visible clubs, the numbers simply stopped adding up.
Chief Executive Abhik Chatterjee described it bluntly as a “new economic reality.” Central revenues disappeared, sponsorship values dipped, and the costs of running a top-tier football operation foreign salaries, logistics, and stadium rentals continued to mount. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, once a symbol of the club’s scale, became financially untenable.
Faced with that equation, Blasters chose a path of “good faith” exits rather than attempting to extract transfer fees in a frozen market. Obieta, like several of his teammates, was released so he could continue his career elsewhere rather than sit idle in an uncertain league.
His departure was part of a broader foreign-player exodus that dismantled what had once been one of the ISL’s most balanced international cores. Adrian Luna moved to Indonesia, Noah Sadaoui joined Dewa United, Tiago Alves left for Cambodia, and centre-back Juan Rodríguez returned to Spain. Only Dusan Lagator remained from the original group. What had been marketed as a “trial of trios” in attack was wiped out in a matter of weeks, forcing Català to abandon his two-striker system and redesign the team around domestic personnel.
Indonesia, where Obieta is widely expected to land, has emerged as the natural refuge for ISL expatriates. With its winter transfer window open and financial structures intact, the Indonesian Super League has absorbed a steady stream of Indian-based talent. For a striker like Obieta physical, experienced, and proven in Asia it represents a chance to continue playing at a competitive level without the uncertainty currently gripping Indian football.
For Kerala Blasters, the consequences are deeper than the loss of a goal-scorer. The club has been forced into a domestic-first rebuild, leaning on Indian players such as Danish Farooq, Bikash Yumnam, Korou Singh and Sachin Suresh to carry the weight of one of Asia’s most demanding fanbases. Leadership has shifted inward, with Indian captains replacing foreign figureheads, and the tactical identity now revolves around discipline, counter-attacking and youth development rather than star power.
The move of home matches from Kochi to the EMS Stadium in Kozhikode further underlines this retrenchment. It is a cost-saving measure, but also a symbolic return to the club’s heartland, where the Manjappada fan base remains strongest. In an era of austerity, regional loyalty and sustainability have become more valuable than spectacle.
Read Articles Without Ads On Your IndiaSportsHub App. Download Now And Stay Updated
Koldo Obieta will be remembered in Kerala for what he represented rather than how long he stayed: a striker who arrived, delivered instantly, and left not because he failed, but because the ecosystem around him collapsed. Three goals in three matches hinted at a partnership that could have flourished under normal conditions. Instead, his exit marks the point where ambition gave way to survival.
For the Blasters, the road ahead is uncertain but clearer in one respect they have chosen integrity and sustainability over short-term risk. If Indian football stabilises, players like Obieta will look back at this period as an anomaly. For now, his departure stands as the most telling symbol of an ISL club learning, the hard way, that even good football cannot survive without economic foundations.
