Bhubaneswar: Misfortune comes with its kith and kin, Odisha’s only professional Indian Super League (ISL) club Odisha FC suffered devastating Kalinga Super Cup 2025 season and faced relegation from the Indian Women’s League (IWL) and finally the Club Licensing Committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Thursday rejected the license of Odisha FC.
Odisha FC the runners up of 2023-2024 finished seventh in this season 2024-25. However, the IWL defending champion Odisha FC women’s team relegated by finishing seventh.
AIFF concluded the evaluation process for the Premier 1 License for the 2025–26 season. Altogether 15 clubs applied for the license. The AIFF rejected the license of Odisha FC due to multiple failures across A and B criteria.
Odisha FC owner Rohan Sharma expressed frustration over lack of Odisha Government support, he took to social media on Thursday to publicly express his deep disappointment with the Odisha state government over ongoing challenges faced by the club—challenges he believes could jeopardize its future in the state.
In a heartfelt and candid series of tweets, Sharma outlined how Odisha FC is on the verge of failing club licensing for the upcoming season, primarily due to the lack of official access to both the Kalinga Stadium and the club's designated training grounds.
Despite repeated efforts—including personal visits to Government offices and formal letters requesting a meeting—Sharma claims there has been no acknowledgment or willingness from the Government to engage in dialogue. "Despite multiple requests both in person and letters no one from the government has acknowledged or granted a meeting," Sharma stated, revealing that he even travelled to Delhi to speak with senior ministers in hopes of resolving the situation.
The State Government has yet to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Odisha FC and the Odisha Government. Sharma said the authorities are insisting on an outdated version of the agreement from 2019, which he feels is not reflective of the current needs of the club or the broader football ecosystem in Odisha. He expressed “It feels like the government doesn't want us in Odisha, which is quite sad. We have tried to be as polite and respectful as possible to build bridges."
The Sports and Youth Services Department stated that the Odisha FC performed miserably in the Kalinga Super Cup and IWL season. To avoid their failure they are putting the blame on the Odisha government. In this context several meetings were held between the Sports Department and the Odisha FC club management for the development of the football ecosystem in Odisha. For the signing of MoU the 22nd October 2024 date was fixed, but the Odisha FC Club management did not turn up”.
