Aug 2 (Reuters) - Former India captain Sunil Chhetri has urged Tata Group to reverse its decision to shut down Indian Super League club Jamshedpur FC, saying the conglomerate's exit from top-flight football would be a major blow to the sport.
Jamshedpur announced on Friday that they would withdraw from the ISL, which is yet to confirm a start date for the 2026-27 season and remains without a broadcast partner.
The league, now operating under a club-led management model, has struggled to gain momentum, with India ranked 138th in the world.
"The League will have a team less, but the season will go on. However, not having the TATA group involved in the top tier of Indian football -- that would be a disaster with no alternative," Chhetri wrote on X.
"I can only request and hope that the think tank at TATA picks their heart over head and reconsiders this call. It might be a poor business decision, but it will be the one Indian football needs the most at this hour."
Founded in 2017, Jamshedpur won the ISL League Winners' Shield in 2021-22 and reached the final of the domestic Super Cup last year.
The ISL staged a shortened season last year after the All India Football Federation and Reliance Industries ended a 15-year commercial partnership amid a Supreme Court case over the implementation of a new AIFF constitution.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
