New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) The All India Football Federation has invited bids from consulting firms to manage the process of awarding its commercial rights and among its major requirements are a minimum annual turnover of Rs 100 crore in last five years and prior experience of executing at least five such deals.
The AIFF has issued a Request For Quotation (RFQ) in this regard and the last date of submission of bids is September 14.
The federation said the purpose of this RFQ is "to provide the bidder(s) with information that may assist them in the formulation of their proposals".
The bidder must "be in existence and being in operation for at least five (5) years and having prior experience of managing processes" for the award of commercial rights, the AIFF said in the RFQ.
"The Bidder should have an average annual turnover/receipt of a minimum of Rs 100 Crores (Indian Rupees One Hundred Crores only) for the last five (5) Financial Years.
"The Bidder must have experience in executing at least five (5) similar assignments from at least three (3) distinct clients over the past five (5) years, which clients may be governments, sports federations and/or leagues in India," it said in the RFQ document under the subhead 'eligibility criteria'.
The AIFF also made it clear it will not entertain bids from entities that are blacklisted/debarred by the central or state governments, or by any international or national sports federations.
"The selected bidder shall study the best practices of awarding rights like the commercial rights in football across the world and in consultation with AIFF, determine the optimal basket of rights that will constitute the commercial rights, and the strategy to award such rights to third parties, in a manner most beneficial to AIFF, from an operational and financial perspective." Among other things, the work of the consulting firms will entail undertaking tasks such as "identifying and engaging with key stakeholders, preparing requisite documentation with detailed terms and conditions, and conducting background research and analysis for the preparation of the relevant documents, as and when required." During a hearing before the Supreme Court last month, the AIFF and its current commercial partner FSDL (Football Sports Development Limited), which also organises the top-tier Indian Super League, submitted a consensual resolution to conduct an open, competitive and transparent tender (or equivalent process) for selection of a commercial partner to conduct the ISL in line with global best practices.
The AIFF and the FSDL agreed that the process will be concluded by October 15, 2025, thereby providing certainty to clubs, broadcasters, sponsors and other stakeholders.
Subject to the consent of the AFC, the ISL season can thereafter commence in December, they had told the court.
Crisis surfaced in Indian football after FSDL put the 2025-26 ISL season "on hold" on July 11 due to the uncertainty over the renewal of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) with the national federation, prompting at least three clubs to either pause first-team operations or suspend player and staff salaries.
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
