Jamshedpur FC’s decision to withdraw from the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) season was taken after an internal strategic review and was not influenced by the uncertainty surrounding the league’s commercial future, Tata Steel Vice President (Corporate Services) D B Sundara Ramam said on Tuesday.
The club’s withdrawal comes at a time when the ISL is facing an uncertain future following the expiry of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL). However, Sundara Ramam said the decision had been under consideration well before those developments.
“The current decision has nothing to do with whatever changes have happened in the last one year. Our decision has been independent of that,” Sundara Ramam told PTI in an exclusive interview.
He said Tata Steel would have reached the same conclusion even if the previous commercial arrangement governing the league had continued.
“Even if the earlier long-term agreement continued, our decision would have been the same because this was an internal decision. We thought our bandwidth should be focused on our strength, which is grassroots football development.”
Jamshedpur FC, one of the founding clubs of the ISL in 2017, will bring the curtain down on a nine-year stay in the country’s premier football league. During that period, the club won the League Winners’ Shield in the 2021-22 season under Owen Coyle and reached the ISL final in 2024-25.
According to Sundara Ramam, Tata Steel began reviewing its football strategy last year before deciding to return its focus to grassroots development through the Tata Football Academy (TFA) and community programmes.
“We thought we should go back to our legacy of grassroots development because our football ecosystem has been there since 1987. ISL has been there for only around a decade.
“It was a well thought-through and calculated move. We should work where we have strength, connecting with the community, nurturing young talent and preparing them to play at higher levels.”
He stressed that the move was not driven by financial considerations.
“I would say it was not even a financial decision. It was a strategic decision on where we wanted to focus our bandwidth.”
Sundara Ramam said Tata Steel remained committed to football despite stepping away from the ISL.
“We are not stepping away from football. We are stepping back into the space where Tata Steel has made its biggest contribution to Indian football for decades.
“Football is only one part of our sports ecosystem. We support 19 different sports, including hockey, archery, climbing, swimming and athletics, and we have achieved considerable success in many of them.”
He said the company’s long-standing strength lay in identifying and developing talent from the grassroots.
“Our strength has always been connecting with the community, identifying young talent and preparing them to represent clubs, states and the country.”
Founded in 1987, the Tata Football Academy has produced several India internationals, including Renedy Singh, Carlton Chapman, Deepak Mondal, Gouramangi Singh and Syed Rahim Nabi.
“We started the Tata Football Academy in 1987. Since then, we have trained around 275 cadets, over 150 have represented India and 26 have captained the national team at various age groups.
“Since starting our football grassroots programme in 2017-18, we have reached nearly 6,700 children. That ecosystem will continue and, in fact, receive greater focus.
“We thought, why don’t we channelise our entire energy and time into our academies? That’s where we have achieved success over several decades.”
Sundara Ramam also rejected suggestions that the decision stemmed from differences with the AIFF.
“There has been no disagreement with the AIFF on participation fees or any other issue. We continue to enjoy excellent relations with them. This was purely a strategic decision.”
He said the withdrawal was cleared through Tata Steel’s corporate approval process before the club informed stakeholders.
“This is a corporate-run club. It is not something one individual can decide. Once we got the board’s clearance, we informed the AIFF, the players and everyone concerned.”
Reiterating Tata Steel’s commitment to Indian sport, he added: “Sports is a way of life in Tata Steel. We will continue to promote different sports. That commitment remains unchanged.”
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