Inter Kashi may pull out

Inter Kashi are considering pulling out of the Indian Super League after legal fights over their promotion turned into a financial crisis. (timesnownews.com) Times Now reported on April 25 that the Varanasi club’s owners have already spent about Rs 4.5 crore on legal proceedings, with the number of cases said to be in double digits. (timesnownews.com) The latest flashpoint is a Delhi High Court petition from Churchill Brothers, which alleges Inter Kashi breached All India Football Federation rules by staging home matches in Kalyani, West Bengal, instead of Varanasi. (timesnownews.com) This fight started at the end of the 2024-25 I-League season, when Churchill Brothers finished on 40 points and Inter Kashi on 39, with promotion to the Indian Super League attached to first place. (indianexpress.com) Inter Kashi challenged the standings after saying Namdhari fielded an ineligible player against them, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the All India Football Federation not to declare a champion until arbitration was complete. (indianexpress.com) The case later swung decisively in Inter Kashi’s favor. The federation said the Court of Arbitration for Sport set aside its May 31, 2025 appeal decision and ordered the points table adjusted to declare Inter Kashi champions. (the-aiff.com) That ruling lifted Inter Kashi to 42 points, two ahead of Churchill Brothers on 40, and cleared the club for promotion on sporting merit, subject to Indian Super League financial and technical requirements. (outlookindia.com) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Inter Kashi officials told Times Now they had informed the federation that their academy and youth team are based in Kashi and that they had paid charges to play outside Uttar Pradesh. (timesnownews.com) The club was founded in 2023 and markets itself as Uttar Pradesh’s only national-level football club, which makes the threat of an exit a sharp reversal less than three years into its life. (indianexpress.com) (interkashi.com) For now, the story is not that Inter Kashi have left the league. It is that a club promoted after winning in court is now saying the cost of staying in the system may be too high. (timesnownews.com)