Looking at the current state of Indian footballs with AIFF (All India Football Federation) getting no rights for Indian Super League (ISL), renowned Indian footballers including Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan took to social media to post an impassioned plea. In their plea, the star footballers have made an appeal to the AIFF to take all the possible steps to conduct the upcoming football season successfully.
Notably, the future of Indian football has been put on halt after AIFF’s failure to get a single sponsorship for the upcoming ISL season. Usually, the ISL begins in September every year but now as we are in November 2025, there is no official confirmation regarding the football league. This has also started affecting the game
of football India as the reigning ISL champions Mohun Baganhave suspended the football related activities.
We want to play: Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Sandhu’s appeal to AIFF
Looking at the current scenario, players like Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan urged AIFF to take all the possible measures to sustain the future of football in India. They jointly shared a post on social media which read, “We, professional footballers who play in the Indian Super League, are coming together to make a plea and, more importantly, to send the message that we stand united in our efforts to get the Indian Super League season underway. To put it simply, we want to play now.”
“Our anger, frustration and distress has now been replaced by desperation. Desperation to play the game we love, in front of people who mean everything to us, our families, our fans. This is a plea to all those involved in running our sport in the country, to do whatever it takes to get the football season underway. India needs its competitive football now more than ever,” the statement read. “As for us, we remain committed, professional and ready to walk out of that tunnel and onto the pitch the moment we’re told we can. All we ask of those running our beautiful game, to match our desperation with honest intent. We’ve found ourselves in a very dark tunnel for long. We could do with a little light,” the statement further read.
