Indian Super League side Bengaluru has stopped player salaries amid ‘uncertainty’ around domestic football season.
Indian Super League (ISL) side Bengaluru FC have stopped paying the salaries of its first team’s players and staff amid growing uncertainty over the future of the top-flight league.
In a statement, the 2018-19 ISL champions said they had taken the decision “in view of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Indian Super League season”.
“Running and sustaining a football club in India has always been an uphill climb, one that we have put everything aside and made, season after season,” Bengaluru added.
“However, the lack of clarity on the League’s future leaves us with no choice but to take this step.”
The ISL was put on hold after contract renewal talks between the country’s football federation (AIFF) and their commercial partners, Reliance-led Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), stalled.
The Indian Super League emblem-unveiling ceremony in Mumbai in 2014 attracted Bollywood actors and co-owners of football clubs, Abhishek Bachhan, right, Ranbir Kapoor, second right, and Nita Ambani, businesswoman and promoter of the Indian Super League, while retired cricketer and co-owner of the Kerala Blasters, Sachin Tendulkar, left, spoke at the event [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Talks to renew the 2010 agreement came to a halt after India’s Supreme Court asked the AIFF not to renew the deal with FSDL until it had issued an order over a separate case to implement a new constitution for the federation.
“The future and wellbeing of our players, staff and their families is of utmost importance to us, and we are in touch with them as we wait for a resolution … We urge the AIFF and FSDL to end this impasse swiftly,” Bengaluru said in its statement.
The AIFF and ISL did not immediately respond to the Reuters news agency’s requests for comment.
According to reports in Indian media, eight ISL clubs will meet the AIFF this week to discuss the league’s future.
Bengaluru, which employs India’s all-time leading goalscorer Sunil Chhetri, said its youth teams would not be affected by the salary suspension.
Chhetri posted on social media in July to express the “hurt, scared” feelings that he said those associated with the sport in India were experiencing due to the current uncertainty.