Football
ISL 2026: Mohun Bagan SG to open season against Kerala Blasters in Kolkata
The depleted season 12 of India's premier football league will kickstart from February 14th.
The defending champions Mohun Bagan SG will kickstart the 2025-26 season of ISL against Kerala Blasters. (Photo credit: FSDL)
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has revealed a tentative schedule for the delayed twelfth season of the Indian Super League on Monday.
After a long hiatus, India's premier football league is certainly getting back with a depleted single round robin season from February 14th to May 17th.
The defending champions, Mohun Bagan Super Giants, will kick off the season against Kerala Blasters FC at Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata at 5:00 PM.
Later in the day, the Durand Cup champions FC Goa will begin their season against the newly promoted club from Uttar Pradesh, Inter Kashi FC, at the Fatorda Stadium.
The league will also take a 10-day halt in late March after six matchweeks, for India's final group fixture at the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Hong Kong.
The 2025–26 ISL season has been proposed with a total budget of ₹24.26 crore, of which ₹9.77 crore will be contributed by AIFF, while each participating club will contribute ₹1 crore.
Earlier, Chaubey has also confirmed that the management has held meetings with all I-League clubs, and that the league will run simultaneously with the same format, featuring 55 matches across 11 teams.
Meanwhile, I-League 2 and I-League 3 are expected to start in March, having 7 additional teams, bringing the total to 40, which will be distributed across five different zones based on Indian demographics.