Kolkata : The rebranded season of Ileague – Indian Football League 2025-26, with 10 teams fighting intense battle, has reached halfway with first round being completed. Now, it’s time for next phase – Championship and Relegation Stage. This is the first season that such playoffs will be played in the tournament’s history, much like the structure of 2020-21 and 2021-22 season.
What is Championship Stage?
The top 6 teams in the season after completing their respective 9 matches will play the championship round. These teams will battle out for a spot in ISL next season, means, the top team (also the season winner) after completing championship round will play ISL 2026-27 season.
Diamond Harbour FC, who came to the first tier after being promoted from Ileague 2 top the chart with 7 wins, 22 points from 9 games. Whereas, Shillong Lajong and Rajasthan United with 5 wins and 17 points each are at number 2 and 3 respectively. Sreenidi Deccan are at fourth spot with 4 wins and 15 points, Chanmari FC secured fifth with 3 wins and 11 points, Dempo SC narrowly secured sixth and last spot in the championship round with 2 wins and 9 points.
In the championship round, teams placed from 1 to 3 will get 3 home games, while, teams finishing from 4 to 6 will get only 2 home games.
The Championship Round will see 15 matches starting from April 24 with venues including Aizawl, Shillong, Kalyani, Hyderabad, Goa.
Relegation Round
The remaining or bottom 4 teams of the season will play for survival, relevance, with the bottommost team will be relegated and demoted to Ileague 2 next season.
The relegation stage will have 6 matches starting from 29 April, all at Deccan Arena, Hyderabad – a centralized and neutral venue.
The 4 bottom teams are Aizawl FC, Real Kashmir, Gokulam Kerala and Namdhari FC – who’re placed at bottom with a single win in 9 games and 7 points.
It will be interesting to see who gets promotion to ISL next season in intense battle of Top 6 and which team fails to survive and gets relegated.
