Indian Super League: Fresh crisis averted after Kerala Blasters nearly lose home ground on eve of Mumbai City tie

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3 min readUpdated: Feb 21, 2026 09:52 PM IST

Ticket sales had taken a hit over the course of Friday and Saturday due to the uncertainty at a stadium that is known to be packed to the rafters during Kerala Blasters' ISL games. (X/Kerala Blasters)

A fresh crisis was averted at the last minute in the Indian Super League (ISL), with the Kerala Blasters nearly losing the right to play at their designated home venue just 24 hours before their first home game of the season against Mumbai City FC, scheduled to be played at 7.30pm on Saturday. The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), owners of the Kaloor Stadium, officially known as the Jawaharlal Nehru International (JNI) Stadium, raised the rent that they had asked from the Blasters for using the venue as their home ground just two days before the fixture by Rs 2.2 lakh per match.

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Additionally, the GCDA has also asked for a balance liability amount of just over Rs 22 lakh from the deposit that the Blasters had submitted last season, giving them a deadline of 4pm on Saturday to make the payments. A series of meetings took place over the course of the last two days leading up to the deadline. However, they didn’t lead to any breakthrough.

The trouble started at 11.30am on Saturday, when a routine pre-match press conference was cancelled. The journalists, Kerala Blasters coach David Catala and midfielder Rowllin Borges had all assembled at the spot where the conference was set to happen when security guards entered the stadium and asked them to leave. The authorities then proceeded to lock the stadium gates and even closed down some of the offices that the Blasters had set up within to prepare for Sunday’s fixture. Officials of the club and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) were also asked to leave.

ℹ️ An update#KeralaBlasters #KBFC #YennumYellow pic.twitter.com/DdxCyVBsvn

— Kerala Blasters FC (@KeralaBlasters) February 21, 2026

It emerged later in the day that the GCDA had agreed for the Blasters to hold the match as scheduled and that the club will make a total payment of Rs 28 lakh within a week. “In the end, football is the winner. We will take to the field against Mumbai City FC tomorrow (Sunday) for our first home game of the season,” Kerala Blasters said in a statement.

It is understood that the players weren’t affected over the course of the events on Saturday, with both sides conducting their training sessions at the Blasters’ training facility situated about 10km away from the stadium. However, ticket sales had taken a hit over the course of Friday and Saturday due to the uncertainty at a stadium that is known to be packed to the rafters during Kerala Blasters’ ISL games.

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