The truncated ISL 2025-26 season will start on Saturday. (X | ISL)

New Delhi: “Why don’t you write something positive?” said an irate Indian football official to this reporter. It was the plea of a frustrated representative who had done plenty at the grassroots level but was trying to please multiple stakeholders in the administrative chaos that is Indian football.Picture this. Only two days before the Indian Super League, the country’s top football division, was set to get underway on February 14, members of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Executive Committee were voting on whether to keep it a 14-team league or expand it to 15 by including Churchill Brothers.

That plea from Churchill Brothers was unanimously rejected, keeping Inter Kashi in the top division after a legal quagmire that remains unresolved. The league will therefore remain a 14-team competition with a single round-robin format, featuring 91 matches across the 2025–26 season.Yes, the 2025–26 season is finally getting underway in February 2026, five months later than originally planned. The February 14 start date was reached only after the intervention of the Sports Ministry, which wanted the delay to not affect the country’s ambitious bid to host the 2036 Olympics.All this transpired because Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the Reliance-backed company that launched and ran the ISL since 2014, saw its Master Rights Agreement (MRA) with the AIFF end in December 2025.The AIFF, stalled by court visits and constitutional updates, neither contemplated its options leading up to this deadline nor moved to renew the association.In the interim, uncertainty prevailed over if, or when, the season would get underway. While administrators twiddled their thumbs, foreign players departed to keep their careers going. Clubs were forced to let them go to recover some costs and to respect the players’ wishes.When the season finally received a start date, organisers struggled to get stadiums in playable condition. Odisha FC will only begin training for the new season on February 17 and, with no home venue confirmed, their opening fixture against Punjab FC on February 16 has been postponed. Kerala Blasters, who at one point considered shutting shop, had no clarity on which city they could feasibly play in.After extensive back-and-forth, the AIFF readied an interim fixture list, which was officially announced just a week before the league’s start. With FanCode on board as the digital broadcaster, the linear television announcement with Sony Sports Network will only take place on the day the season begins.

Not just doom and gloom

Now for the positives amid the gloom. All stakeholders, including clubs, players, fans, sponsors and even the AIFF, deserve credit for ensuring the season was not lost. They showed maturity for the greater good.Most players have agreed to take pay cuts to keep the ball rolling, quite literally. The same applies to club owners and CEOs who have agreed to invest in a truncated season, aware that revenues will not match previous years, but have returned for the greater good.Even the AIFF, which has faced heavy criticism and could serve as a case study in administrative mismanagement, can argue that its hands were tied by legal disputes and warring factions. The fact that it eventually managed, through multiple mediators, to get everyone moving in the same direction is commendable.

More drama in store?

Unsurprisingly, the drama and court visits may not be over. As the AIFF circulated the League Rules on the eve of the season’s start, it made clear that relegation will be implemented as per the latest Constitution.This comes barely two weeks after clubs wrote to the Sports Ministry seeking Force Majeure for the season, effectively requesting a pause on relegation.Subsequently, the club that goes down could take the legal route later if the issue is not addressed for now.

QUICK REFRESHER

Clubs: FC Goa, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Odisha FC, East Bengal, Jamshedpur FC, SC Delhi, Punjab FC, Mumbai City FC, Bengaluru FC, Kerala Blasters, Inter Kashi, Mohammedan SC, NorthEast United, Chennaiyin FC1st match: Mohun Bagan Super Giant vs Kerala Blasters on February 14 at 5 pm2nd match: FC Goa vs Inter Kashi on February 14 at 7:30 pmPrize money for winner: Rs 1.25 crorePrize money for runner-up: Rs 75 lakhPrize pool for 2025–26 season: Rs 2 croreLive streaming: FanCodeLive on TV: Sony Sports Network

Zac Gallen is heading back to the desert. Gallen and the Arizona Diamondbacks are closing in on a one-year contract worth $22.025 million, according to a report from The Athletic. About $14 million would be deferred. The deal matches the $22.025 million qualifying offer Gallen rejected in November. The team has not yet announced the signing, which is pending a physical.

Gallen, 30, is coming off a 2025 season in which he didn’t live up to his established standards, hence settling for a one-year contract despite finishing in the top 10 of the National League Cy Young voting three times in his career. 

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For his career, Gallen has pitched to a 119 ERA+ and an FIP of 3.65 across parts of seven MLB seasons. Over that span he’s compiled a WAR of 20.7, and he’s topped 30 starts and 180 innings in three of the last four seasons. Gallen spent the last six seasons and change with the D-backs, who acquired him from the Miami Marlins in July 2019 in exchange for Jazz Chisholm Jr. 

Earlier in the offseason, CBS Sports ranked Gallen as the No. 18 available free agent in the class of 2025-26. Here’s part of R.J. Anderson’s write-up: 

“Gallen salvaged what he could with a good 11-start closing stretch, but an otherwise miserable walk year makes him feel like a strong candidate to accept the qualifying offer (if one is tendered) and try again in 2026. Otherwise? He’s a candidate to sign a one-year deal elsewhere and modify his arsenal in an attempt to push back against a trend that has seen his performance slip in each of the past two years.”

Before Gallen’s return, FanGraphs estimated Arizona’s 2026 payroll at $173 million. That is just south of the franchise record ($177 million in 2024), so Gallen will push the club well into uncharted payroll territory. The D-backs will neither gain nor forfeit draft picks to re-sign their own qualified free agent.

Arizona brought Merrill Kelly back earlier this offseason, and now they’ve reunited with Gallen. Those two will join lefty Eduardo Rodriguez and righties Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt in the rotation. Corbin Burnes, last offseason’s big free-agent splash, is expected to return from Tommy John surgery at midseason.

The D-backs went 80-82 last season and missed the postseason by three games. They sold at the trade deadline, most notably sending Kelly to the Texas Rangers and Eugenio Suárez to the Seattle Mariners, though they kept Gallen.

Gallen was originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. He went to the Marlins with Sandy Alcantara as part of a December 2017 deal that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis.

Retired wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson believes that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s stint with the Miami Dolphins might be coming to an end. After a disappointing 2025 season, there is uncertainty regarding his future.

On Friday’s episode of Jordan Schultz’s podcast, the Super Bowl XXXVII champion said that Tagovailoa still has a chance at redemption. However, he needs the right coach and team to help guide him out of this hole.

“The guy, if he can stay healthy, and he finds the right coach in the right system, is Tua,” Johnson said. “Because he’s done it at high level at Alabama. I’ve seen the Miami Dolphins winning when he’s healthy. And I’ve seen the Miami Dolphins without him.

“And that tells me if he got the right coach in the right situation that understands the player, you can work miracles with him. I don’t need him to carry the team. I just need him to drive the bus and not sideswipe cars. And if he can do that, he’s a guy I think in the right situation, he gets out to places you’re trying to go.”

The Dolphins drafted Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. However, in just six years, he’s suffered multiple concussions, raising concerns about his longevity in the league. Despite this, the team decided to give him a four-year, $212.4 million extension in 2024.

During that season, Tagovailoa suffered his third concussion in two years, which sidelined him for a couple of games. The Dolphins missed the playoffs and finished second in the AFC East with an 8-9 record.

This season, they once again failed to make the postseason after a 7-10 campaign, finishing third in the AFC East. Tagovailoa played in 14 games and recorded 2,660 yards and 20 TDs passing with 15 interceptions and 30 sacks. He was then benched in favor of rookie Quinn Ewers for the last four games.

Last month, the Dolphins decided to fire coach Mike McDaniel after four seasons. They named ex-Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Halfey as his replacement.

ALSO READ: “Welcome to hell Tua Tagovailoa” “Doomsday hire”: NFL fans react as Dolphins sign Super Bowl-winning coach as pass-game coordinator

ALSO READ: Mike McDaniel says Tua Tagovailoa’a 2024 concussion “really narrowed my focus” during introductory presser as Chargers OC

Dolphins GM gets honest about Tua Tagovailoa’s future with the franchise

On Thursday, Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan shared his thoughts on the team’s quarterback situation involving Tua Tagovailoa.

He said that they plan on acquiring a quarterback at this year’s draft. However, they have not yet finalized whether they plan on retaining Tagovailoa after his disappointing 2025 season.

“Of course, we’ll be looking at other quarterbacks in the draft,” Sullivan said as per PFT. “But look, Tua was in my officec the other day, if I’m being perfectly frank. We had a great conversation. Tua has been a very good player in this league. He’s done a lot of really good things for the Miami Dolphins You guys should be proud to have him and having had him.

“I don’t know what the future holds right now, and I told Tua that. We’re working through some things. What I can tell you is that we are going to infuse competition into that room, whether Tua is part of the room, whether he’s not part of the room. … We’re getting close to a decision. And when we do, we’ll let Tua know whether he’s gonna be a part of this or not.”

In six seasons, Tua Tagovailoa played in 78 total games and has recorded 18,166 yards and 120 TDs passing for the Dolphins.