‘Selfless act’: FC Goa players, including India captain Sandesh Jhingan, accept pay cut for ISL season

NEW DELHI: All the players of FC Goa, including India's national team captain Sandesh Jhingan, along with all the support staff, have accepted a cut in their salaries for the short ISL season of 2025-26, which commences from February 14. A statement made by the club said that it was indeed an act of selflessness in which Indian football is going through so many fluctuations.Posting on X late Thursday, FC Goa said it had held “honest and difficult conversations” with its players as well as staff about some of the challenges presently being faced by the league, as well as itself. It added that the first-team players and technical staff voluntarily agreed to reduce their remuneration, underlining the unity within the squad during a difficult period.“In a moment of real uncertainty for Indian football, our club had honest and difficult conversations about the challenges we are facing. What followed was something that made us incredibly proud,” the club wrote.The club expressed that they were very grateful for this gesture and that this decision had been anything but easy. FC Goa also expressed that this gesture embodied the character and collective spirit that the group has, as the club is more than what transpires on the pitch. It is more than mere performances and achievements. Apart from Jhingan, the squad also consists of India internationals such as Udanta Singh and Boris Singh.This comes against the backdrop of ISL clubs still struggling financially due to the impact of the termination of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its former commercial partner Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) in the month of December. This led to the league being subjected to a waiting period of nearly six months.After the intervention of the sports minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, and a series of negotiations with the teams, all 14 ISL clubs are now confirmed to participate in the season with an aggregated 91 matches to be played in the home and away format with each team set to play a total of 13 matches.In the new format, the clubs will together shoulder 60% of the operating expenses of the league, pegged at Rs 25 crore. At the same time, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has waived the mandatory match eligibility criterion to qualify for the AFC Champions League 2, though the ISL league champions no longer qualify automatically for the group stage. Since they won the Super Cup, FC Goa will qualify for the AFC Champions League 2.