India's Tata Steel offload top-flight club Jamshedpur for $1

Tata Steel divested its entire ownership in Indian Super League (ISL) team Jamshedpur FC to Goa-based club Churchill Brothers for a nominal fee of 100 Indian rupees ($1.05), just two weeks after the conglomerate announced its exit from the league. Churchill Brothers, champions of the ISL twice, will assume the club's license to participate in the premier ISL division.

The 12 players and two coaches associated with Jamshedpur will continue their careers with Churchill Brothers. The Tata Steel vice president expressed relief that the agreement allows the players and coaches to continue playing club football.

Jamshedpur's players had previously implored the club's owners to reconsider the decision to shutter the team, which had won the ISL League Winners Shield in the 2021-22 season and the domestic Super Cup the previous year. Following the announcement, Jamshedpur fans took to the streets in protest, but the Tata Group's decision ended their hopes.

The city of Jamshedpur, located in the Eastern state of Jharkhand, now loses its sole top-flight football team, with Churchill Brothers hailing from the soccer-oriented state of Goa, nearly 2000 km away.

Jamshedpur remains eligible to compete in the Durand Cup, where they will face Mohun Bagan in the quarter-finals on Monday. Tata Steel's withdrawal from the ISL comes less than a year after the All India Football Federation's commercial partnership with Reliance ended. The league has yet to release the fixtures for the current season. Tata Steel thanked the AIFF and Churchill Brothers for their cooperation in facilitating a smooth transition.