Kerala Blasters’ CEO Abhik Chatterjee at Kochi.
| Photo Credit: P.K. Ajith Kumar
The Super Cup kicks off in Goa on Saturday. And that is one of the few certainties about Indian football at the moment, as everyone waits for the clarity about ISL.
After skipping the Durand Cup, Kerala Blasters will play at the Super Cup, and its first match is scheduled against Rajasthan United.
The Blasters’ CEO Abhik Chatterjee believes that the team going to the tournament with complete set of foreign players shows intent.
“The ISL is yet to be announced and we don’t know when it will start, but we want to give ourselves the best possible chance at the Super Cup,” Abhik told The Hindu here on Thursday. “We have a lot of faith in the roadmap of the AIFF, but the lack of clarity is a bit frustrating. From a sponsorship point of view, it is important to know the dates of ISL. It is the biggest property that they want to invest in. Not just us, a lot of clubs do not know how to budget for this season.”
Abhik, who has been involved with the ISL right from the beginning and has worked with Odisha FC and NorthEast United FC, welcomes the salary cap recommended in the AIFF’s proposal. He feels the players’ wages do not reflect the Indian market and many ISL clubs are bleeding because of the high salaries.
“I do believe it’s time for introspection,” he said. “Do you want to fall into a situation where every year you’re just spending blindly? Or do you want to be in a situation where you’re creating your own players, thereby reducing the dependency on buying players from outside, making smart investments, and refusing to pay over the top?”
As for promotion and relegation in the ISL, he is not sure whether the Indian domestic league is ready for that yet.
“From a football purist point of view, you should have promotion and relegation, no doubt, but right now what is happening is that clubs have lost so much money and have reached a point where we don’t know what the future is,” he said. “So clubs are now asking to have promotion relegation, and some time so that they are able to stabilise in the new environment.”
Published – October 23, 2025 11:14 pm IST
