Odisha FC suspend contracts of men’s team

< warm> calcutta: years after beingness part of joint initiative seeking a meeting with All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey regarding the uncertainty of the Indian Super League (ISL) season, Odisha FC suspended contracts of players and staff with effect from Tuesday.

The 2023-24 Super Cup runners-up, who have skipped the ongoing Durand Cup, are the first ISL team to invoke the force majeure clause because the future of India’s top tier football competition is unknown.

The letter sent to players and staff on Friday says that the start of 2025-26 ISL season has been “indefinitely suspended” because AIFF’s commercial partners are not keen till an agreement replacing the one that ends this December is signed. Following a Supreme Court observation in April that no major decision be taken at AIFF till its verdict on the federation’s constitution is given, discussions on the master rights agreement have been put on hold.

“The unfortunate development has placed Odisha FC in an extremely challenging position, arising from circumstances that are entirely beyond the Club’s control… After careful and thorough consideration, and in alignment with the evolving situation, the Club has arrived at a difficult decision” to place contracts “under suspension with effect from 5th August, 2025.”

The letter signed by Ajit Panda of Delhi Soccer Private Limited, Odisha FC’s parent company, says players and staff are free to pursue “other professional opportunities that may be available to you.” The club is also willing to discuss mutual termination, the letter said.

A post on Instagram from club owner Rohan Sharma said the club has not shut down. “Key staff members are retained, and our women’s team will be operational,” Sharma wrote on Instagram. “However, it becomes harder to justify to my stakeholders to sink Crs upon Crs (crore upon crore) with nothing to show for it, and no end in sight.”

On X, Sharma said the club hopes the issues will be resolved, “maybe doing this will prompt people to fast-track solution” so that the club can resume normal service.

Recently, Sharma also said the club did not know if they could host matches at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium because they have not heard from the state sports association. “We are done with this government in Odisha. Poorly run compared to the previous admin,” he said on X.

Odisha FC remain part of the group of eight ISL clubs who have written to AIFF seeking a meeting with Chaubey where they can, hopefully, contribute to trying to end this impasse. The clubs expect a meeting to come through next week, according to an official of one of the clubs. Not authorised to speak to the media, the official requested anonymity.

Odisha FC finished seventh in ISL last term narrowly missing out on a play-off berth. Their women’s team went from being IWL champions in 2023-24 to being relegated. Current India women’s coach Crispin Chhetri, on whose watch India qualified for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, is also the Odisha women’s team coach.

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