Indian footballers, including Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan, Sunil Chhetri, Lallianzuala Chhangte, and Suresh Wangjam, have appealed to FIFA to “save football in India”.
In a video, they said that they were meant to be playing live, competitive Indian Super League football in January, but instead are ‘driven by fear and desperation’ over the sport’s future.
They warned that the game is facing “permanent paralysis” and a “humanitarian, sporting and economic crisis,” with thousands of players, staff and their families left without clarity or security.
Chhetri says everyone involved deserves protection and a future, while Wangjam ends the video with the line: “We just want to play football, please help us do it.”
Indian Super League, which usually begins in September, has yet to start its 2025–26 season. The I-League and I-League 2 are also on hold. The standstill began after the All India Football Federation failed to renew its contract with commercial partner Football Sports Development Limited, whose deal expired in December 2025.
Amid the crisis, in December 2025, world-famous footballer Lionel Messi visited Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, but was forced to leave within minutes after poor planning and crowd mismanagement led to chaos among fans.
Online videos showed fans ripping out stadium seats and throwing them onto the pitch and athletics track. Several people were also seen climbing over fences and hurling objects onto the field.
