It started with Mohun Bagan in 1997. But if the trickle becomes a torrent, there could be unintended consequences

Published on: Aug 21, 2026, 08:00:39 IST

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And just like that, The Red Miners were replaced by The Red Machines. The nicknames of Jamshedpur FC and Churchill Brothers share a colour and were about the only thing in common between the clubs till one gave their Indian Super League (ISL) licence – along with 12 players and two coaches – to another.

One was owned by a corporate giant – “In many ways, the Tata group is India’s closest equivalent to a home-grown global corporation, Lloyd Mathias wrote in – the other driven by the passion of one family. Founded in 2017, Jamshedpur FC were not allowed to turn 10; Churchill Brothers were launched in 1988. Now, the death of one has allowed the other to live a dream.

Dream realised

A dream Churchill Brothers thought had been realised when they were declared provisional champions of 2024-25 I-League. A dream they contested even after the title was taken away, the trophy staying in Goa long after the Court of Arbitration for Sport declared Inter Kashi champions.

For not participating in last season’s Indian Football League (IFL), the pyramid’s second tier, Churchill Brothers would have been demoted to I-League 2 this term. Instead, they will be playing in the top tier. “While some saw decline, we saw opportunity. While some saw the end, we saw another beginning,” the club said on Instagram.

Clubs shifting cities or changing names because of investor/sponsorship reasons have happened in J-League, K-League and Major League Soccer (MLS). Birth pangs are hardly novel in new competitions including ISL. Even after massive growth, and in the afterglow of a World Cup that drew a large audience of mostly Americans, MLS struggles for eyeballs and compares unfavourably with leagues in Europe. Things were worse around 20 years ago. MLS had clubs shutting down and ownership of the rest being shared by three business groups. But those were takeovers that went beyond the right to play. It was in the time of shared ownership that a stadium for LA Galaxy began to be built.

ISL also has had teams shifting bases. Delhi Dynamos became Odisha FC; from the embers of FC Pune City emerged Hyderabad FC who then became Sporting Club Delhi. ATK merged with Mohun Bagan and, after another name change in 2023, are known as Mohun Bagan Super Giant. What makes this a first is that it is neither a merger nor were Churchill Brothers part of the ISL.

Bypass the structure

Will this be a way to bypass the IFL route to ISL? All that a club needs to do is see if another is willing to sell/transfer their licence. And, if it happens at the top, why won’t it in the lower tiers? Will Samaleswari FC not remain in I-League 3, skip I-League 2 and play in IFL after acquiring the sporting licence of 2025-26 I-League 2 champions Delhi FC? And Nagaland United bypass the lower divisions and join them because they have Aizawl FC’s licence? Why would a club with ambitions of playing in ISL want to go through I-League 3, I-League 2 and IFL like Diamond Harbour FC did? Ironically, it is Diamond Harbour who miss out, having not met the deadline to pay their participation fee.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has in the past invited bids from clubs seeking a direct entry. But they came with caveats – at least on paper – and a higher participation fee. Those clubs had to be from a place not represented in the league and had to invest in infrastructure. Inter Kashi and Bengaluru FC came through that way. This share transfer does not do any of that.

Even when facing sustained pressure, AIFF and the clubs found no sporting merit in Churchill Brothers’s bid to play in the ISL in 2025-26. Neither AIFF nor ISL clubs’ CEOs have explained what shifted six months later. And what of the supporters of Jamshedpur FC? They took out marches, created online petitions to stop the club from disbanding. The Tata Steel media release talks about Churchill’s history, rightly, but doesn’t acknowledge that thousands were hurt by its decision, taken swiftly and with help from AIFF. In a city where an India match drew a turnout of 2036, will Churchill Brothers draw a bigger crowd than Jamshedpur FC’s average of 7787 last term?

Churchill’s passion

Churchill Brothers are a legacy club. Churchill Alemao’s passion for football, his monomaniacal desire to be part of ISL, and his willingness to spend on the first team, shows what’s missing in most club owners. Churchill Brothers have been India champions before ISL was an idea, given the sport a string of quality foreigners and Indian players. They deserve an ISL licence but wouldn’t it have been so much better had they got there the way Mohammedan Sporting, Punjab FC and Inter Kashi did?

There is a precedent to this. Mohun Bagan failed to make the first edition of the National Football League and were invited by AIFF, then headed by Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, to the second in 1997-98. Mohun Bagan bypassed the 97-98 second division which started after the top tier. Why? Well, because they were Mohun Bagan. The club went on to win the league. So, no pressure, Churchill Brothers.

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