Indian Super League

Football in India has existed in many forms since the game first arrived in the country during the 19th century with the first nationwide club competition, the Durand Cup, beginning in 1888.[5][6] Despite the long history of the game in India, the country's first nationwide football league did not begin until the semi-professional National Football League commenced in 1996.[7] Before the creation of the National Football League, most clubs played in state leagues or select nationwide tournaments.[7]

In 2006, the AIFF, the governing body for the sport in India, reformatted the league as the I-League in an effort to professionalise the game.[8] However, during the following seasons, the league suffered from a lack of popularity due to poor marketing.[9]

In September 2006, the AIFF signed a 10-year television and media contract with Zee Sports. Zee would broadcast the National Football League, later the I-League, and other tournaments organised by the AIFF and selected India's international matches.[10] However, in October 2010, the deal between the AIFF and Zee Sports was terminated over payment and marketing disagreements.[11]

On 9 December 2010, it was announced that the AIFF had signed a new 15-year, ₹700 crore deal with Reliance Industries and the International Management Group.[12]

The Indian Super League was officially launched on 21 October 2013 by IMG–Reliance, Star Sports, and the All India Football Federation.[13] The competition was announced to take place from January 2014 to March 2014, but was postponed shortly thereafter to September 2014.[14]

At first, it was announced that bidding for the eight Indian Super League teams would be completed before the end of 2013 and there was already high interest from major corporations, Indian Premier League teams, Bollywood stars, and other consortia.[15] However, due to the rescheduling of the league, bidding was delayed to 3 March 2014.[16] It was also revealed around this time that bidders would need to comply with financial requirements as well as promote football development within their area.[17] Finally, in early April 2014, the winning bidders were announced.[18] The selected cities/states were Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.[18] Former India cricket player Sachin Tendulkar, along with PVP Ventures, won the bidding for the Kochi franchise. Another former Indian cricket player, Sourav Ganguly, along with a group of Indian businessmen and La Liga side Atlético Madrid, won the bid for the Kolkata franchise.[18] Meanwhile, Bollywood stars John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, and Salman Khan won the bid for the Guwahati, Mumbai, and Pune franchises respectively. Bangalore and Delhi were won by companies while Goa was won by a partnership between Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar, and I-League side Dempo.[18]

The first team to be launched officially was the Kolkata franchise as Atlético de Kolkata on 7 May 2014.[19] On 7 July 2014, the team announced the first head coach in league history, Antonio López Habas.[20] The next day, Kolkata also announced the first official marquee signing in the Indian Super League, UEFA Champions League winner Luis García.[21]

Eventually, all eight teams were revealed as Atlético de Kolkata, Bangalore Titans, Delhi Dynamos, Goa, Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City, NorthEast United and Pune City.[22][23] However, on 21 August 2014, it was announced that due to Bangalore's owners dropping out, Chennai would be given a franchise instead.[24] The team was eventually named Chennaiyin FC.[25] At the same time, the original marquee players were Luis García, Elano, Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires, David James, Freddie Ljungberg, Joan Capdevila, and David Trezeguet.[22]

The inaugural season began on 12 October 2014 at the Salt Lake Stadium when Atlético de Kolkata defeated Mumbai City, 3–0. The first goal was scored by Fikru Teferra.[26] The first Indian to score in the league was Balwant Singh for Chennaiyin FC.

The first-ever ISL match being played at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan.

For the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, the competition operated without official recognition from the governing body for football in Asia, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and world football governing body FIFA.[27] In October 2014, then FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke stated that the world governing body only recognised the ISL as a tournament, not a league. The official league for football in India remained the I-League.[28] With no recognition from the AFC, the teams also couldn't participate in Asian club competitions, the AFC Champions League or the AFC Cup.[28]

During the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, attendances across the competition exceeded the expectations of pundits and of the domestic I-League mainly due to the timing of the matches, mostly on working days, and extensive promotion.[29] Television ratings were also strong for the competition, due to better commentary and telecasting, pre-match and post-match shows, as well as hourly reminders in various channels and social media interaction.[29] However, despite the general success off the pitch, the competition drew criticism in other areas. Due to the need to accommodate the ISL into the Indian football calendar, the I-League season was shortened and went from having an October to May schedule to January to May schedule.[30] Indian players would play for both an ISL team and an I-League club while the I-League continued to suffer from a lack of visibility compared to the ISL.[31] India's then head coach Stephen Constantine had called for both the ISL and I-League to either run together at the same time or merge.[32]

2016 ISL Final at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kochi

For the first three seasons Atlético de Kolkata emerged as the dominant team by finishing in the top four every year, and winning the Final twice (2014 and 2016) by defeating Kerala Blasters both times.[33][34][35][36]

On 18 May 2016, IMG–Reliance, along with the AIFF and I-League representatives met at a meeting in Mumbai. During the meeting, it was proposed that starting from the 2017–18 season, the Indian Super League become the top-tier football league in India while the I-League be reformed as League One and be restructured as the second division. The competition would also expand by two teams and continue to operate without promotion and relegation, as stated earlier due to the 15 crore attraction of the FSDL each year, but run for 5–7 months instead of 2–3.[37] The idea was not entertained by the I-League representatives.[37]

In June 2017, IMG–Reliance, the AIFF and the I-League representatives met with the AFC in Kuala Lumpur in order to find a new way forward for Indian football.[38] The AFC were against allowing the ISL as the main league in India, while I-League clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan wanted a complete merger of the ISL and I-League.[38] A couple weeks later, the AIFF proposed that both Indian Super League and I-League run simultaneously on a short–term basis with the I-League champion retaining the AFC Champions League qualifying stage spot and the AFC Cup qualifying stage spot going to the ISL champion.[39] The proposal from the AIFF was officially approved by the AFC on 25 July 2017, with the ISL replacing the domestic cup competition, the Federation Cup, a true knockout cup competition.[40] It was also stated that the competition would now run for five months, starting with the 2017–18 season, expand to 10 teams.[39]

A month before, on 11 May 2017, the ISL organisers started to accept bids for 2–3 new franchises for the 2017–18 season.[41] The bids would be for ten cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram.[41] It was also clarified that if Kolkata were to win at least one bid that the new Kolkata side would have to play away from the city for only two seasons.[41] A month later, on 12 June, it was announced that I-League side, Bengaluru, and Tata Steel (for Jamshedpur) had won the bidding for the new teams.[42]

On 22 September 2017, the competition announced officially that it would be extending its season by two months, thus making the league last for five months instead of three. The competition would also go from having matches played daily to being played between Wednesday and Sunday.[43]

The next year, before the 2018–19 season, it was reported that Reliance Industries had bought out IMG's shares in the Football Sports Development. IMG realising that the robust business model will soon be exposed, pulled out, thus giving Reliance Industries 65% ownership while Star Sports retains 35%.[44] In this season, Bengaluru had achieved the feat of being the first club to win the final after topping the league standings. Following the 2018–19 season, Pune City was disbanded in 2019. The club's franchise rights were then transferred to an ownership group which founded Hyderabad FC.[45] In August 2019, Delhi Dynamos became the first ISL club to relocate when it moved from Delhi to Bhubaneswar and rebranded as Odisha FC.[46]

On 14 October 2019, the AFC held a summit in Kuala Lumpur, chaired by the AFC Secretary General Windsor John, which involved key stakeholders from the AIFF, the FSDL, the ISL and the I-League clubs, and other major stakeholders to propose a new roadmap to facilitate the football league system in India.[47] Based on the roadmap, that was prepared by the AFC and the AIFF at the summit and approved by the AFC Executive Committee on 26 October in Da Nang, in 2019–20 season the Indian Super League will attain the country's top-tier league status and run parallelly with I-League, allowing the Indian Super League premiers to play in AFC Champions League and the I-League champions to play in AFC Cup.[48] In addition, starting from the 2022–23 season the I—League lost top-tier status and the Indian Super League became the country's sole top-tier league. The champion of the I-League will stand a chance to be promoted to the Indian Super League with no participation fee, basis fulfilling sporting merit and the national club licensing criteria to be set out by the AIFF, but there will not be relegation from Indian Super League up to the 2023—24 season. In its recommendation for 2024–25, it was agreed to fully implement promotion and relegation in between the two leagues, and abolition of the system of two parallel leagues.[49] The club finishing at the top of the Indian Super League table was crowned the season's premier, and Goa became the first to achieve the title in 2019–20 season.[50]

Another key recommendation by the AFC in the roadmap was to open a pathway for two I-League clubs’ entry into Indian Super League by the end of the 2020-21 season, subject to the criteria being fulfilled.[47] Therefore, efforts were taken early on by the organisers to include two historic clubs– Mohun Bagan and East Bengal into the league, which succeeded in the following season. Before the start of the 2020–21 season, the owners of ATK merged its brand with the football section of Mohun Bagan to become ATK Mohun Bagan on 1 June 2020 and entered the league. On 27 September 2020, after securing investment from Shree Cement, East Bengal joined the league as an expansion team, thus becoming 11th team in the league.[51]

Following the Indian football roadmap, Indian Super League become the sole top-tier league in the country from 2022–23 season.[48]

The regular season of Indian Super League runs from October to late February or early March (since the 2017–18 season).[52] The competition consists of 22 rounds that follows a double round-robin format, with each club playing the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at their opponents' stadium, for a total of 20 matches each.[53] Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the regular season being crowned ISL Premiers and awarded the League Winners Shield (introduced during 2019–20 season).[54]

At the completion of the regular season, the team with the most points is declared the Premiers and presented with the League Winners Shield, automatically qualifying for the playoffs along with the runners-up. At the same time, the next best four clubs qualify to play qualifying playoffs to join the top two in the playoffs. The position of each team is determined by the highest number of points accumulated during the regular season. If two or more teams are level on points, the following criteria are applied in order until one of the teams can be determined as the higher ranked:[55]

1. Highest number of points accumulated in matches between the teams concerned;
2. Highest goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
3. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
4. Highest goal difference
5. Highest number of goals scored
6. Lowest number of red cards accumulated;
7. Lowest number of yellow cards accumulated;
8. Toss of a coin.

The Indian Super League approved the 3+1 rule in 2020, a rule limiting the maximum number of foreign players a club was allowed to 3, plus one player of Asian origin. This rule was implemented from the 2021–22 season to increase participation of domestic players.[56]

The top two clubs at the conclusion of the regular season automatically progress to the ISL playoffs. The playoffs culminate with the ISL final, where the winner is presented with the ISL Cup. In the qualifiers, the third-through-sixth ranked teams play a single-elimination match hosted at the higher ranked team's venue, with the two winners of those matches joining the first and second ranked teams in two-legged semifinals played over two weeks (since 2022–23). The two winners of those matches eventually meet in the final hosted at a pre-decided venue.

Indian Super League teams can qualify for the top Asian club competitions – the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup – through their performance in the league. Before the 2017–18 season, the league was not recognised officially by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the governing body for football in Asia, so for the first three seasons no ISL team was eligible to participate in Asian competition.[57] However, in June 2017, it was announced that the AFC, along with FIFA, would recognise the Indian Super League and allow clubs to participate in the AFC Cup starting in 2019.[58]

Bengaluru became the first Indian Super League club to participate in Asian competition when they participated in the 2018 AFC Cup.[59] The club qualified while still an I-League club and through winning the Federation Cup in 2017 but participated in the tournament as an ISL team after entering the league before the 2017–18 season.[59] In March 2018, Chennaiyin became the first ISL side to qualify for the AFC Cup directly through the league. They qualified for the 2019 edition after winning the 2018 ISL final.[60]

In October 2019, it was announced that the AFC had approved the proposed roadmap from the AIFF, which includes allowing the Indian Super League champion to qualify for the AFC Champions League qualifiers.[61] A couple months later, in December 2019, it was officially announced by the AFC that they would be expanding the Champions League group stage from 32 teams to 40 and that the Indian Super League premier shall qualify directly for the group stage from the 2021 edition onwards.[62] In total 3 spots in AFC club competitions are awarded to India based on the AFC club competitions ranking, including one for the winner of the Indian Super League Final in the AFC Cup qualifying play-offs and one for the champions of I-League, the other top-tier league, in the AFC Cup group stage.[63] In February 2020, Goa became the first ISL club to qualify for the Champions League after they became the ISL Premiers of 2019–20.[50] From the 2022–23 season has I-League ceased to be a top-tier league; hence, the AFC Cup group stage berth is now awarded to the winners of the Super Cup.

Extracted from the 2022 ranking of nations by their AFC club points[64]

Rank 2022	Rank 2021	Change	Region	Association	2019	2020[lower-alpha 4]	2021	2022	Total	100%	Places in AFC Champions League (GS+PO)		Places in AFC Cup (GS+PO)
											GS	PO	GS	PO
12	9	-3	6 (E)	Thailand	5.050	0.000	8.500	11.110	24.660	40.261	1	1	1	0
13	12	-1	7 (W)	Tajikistan	3.000	0.000	13.953	5.240	22.195	36.237	1	0	1	1
14	17	+3	8 (W)	India	3.217	0.000	6.857	10.545	20.627	33.677	1	0	1	1
15	13	-2	9 (W)	Iraq	8.300	0.000	3.250	7.450	19.000	31.020	1	0	2	0
16	7	-9	7 (E)	China	17.350	0.000	0.800	0.500	18.650	30.449	1	0	1	1

Updated on 5 October 2022
Notes:

In February 2018 it was announced by the AIFF that the Super Cup would be replacing the Federation Cup as Indian football's annual knockout football competition.[65] Before the Super Cup, Indian Super League clubs did not play official matches outside of ISL (exception being Bengaluru in the 2018 AFC Cup) so the Super Cup was the first time clubs in the league played in an official cup tournament.[66] The Super Cup was contested by all ten sides in the ISL and the top 10 sides from the I-League, the other top flight league in India, during its initial seasons.[66] The top six teams from both leagues qualify automatically for the tournament proper while the bottom four participate in qualifiers.[67] Till now, both the editions of the tournament has been won by ISL clubs; namely Bengaluru and Goa.

From 2019 onward, ISL clubs began to participate in Durand Cup on invitation.[68] ATK, Bengaluru, Chennaiyin, Goa and Jamshedpur were the first ones to participate in the tournament, and 2019 Durand Cup was eventually declared as the de facto domestic cup tournament for that season after Super Cup was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.[69] In its next edition, Goa became the first club from ISL to win the cup.[70] From 2022 onwards, AIFF and FSDL made it mandatory for all the clubs to participate in the Durand Cup, commencing at the beginning of every football season, thereby to fulfil the minimum number of games played by top-tier clubs set by AFC.[71]

In June 2021 it was proposed by the organisers of ISL after a meeting with the CEOs of all the ISL clubs, that a new developmental league, called the Reliance Foundation Development League, would be introduced in 2022.[72] This new league would consist of the youth and reserve teams of all the ISL clubs, with aim to develop young players as there has been a limited number of competitions and leagues outside the ISL since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The teams would predominantly feature U-21 players with few overage players allowed as well.[73] The inaugural season of the proposed two-month league was to be held in Goa inside a bio-secure bubble between January and March, following the same medical and safety procedures for 2021–22 ISL season, but got postponed to April 15.[74] Out of all the ISL clubs, ATK Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, NorthEast United and Odisha didn't participate due to lack of youth teams, thus only seven clubs took part in the league along with Reliance Foundation Youth Champs football team. The league concluded on 12 May with Bengaluru topping the table and becoming the inaugural champions. Along with Bengaluru, Kerala Blasters qualified for Premier League's NextGen Cup 2022 in the UK as the top two teams in the league.

The AIFF has broken down ‘Vision 2047’ into six four-year strategic plans.[75] The first of these will cover the period through 2025. According to this plan, starting with the 2026 Indian football season, 40 clubs will participate in the ISL (14 clubs), I-League (14 clubs) and I-League 2 (12 clubs). Moreover, 60 clubs will participate in five zonal leagues with a minimum of 12 teams in each zone.[76]

The following 12 clubs will be participating in the 2023–24 Indian Super League.

Bengaluru

Chennaiyin

Goa

Hyderabad

Jamshedpur

Kerala Blasters

Mumbai City

NorthEast United

Odisha

Punjab

Kolkata

Kolkata teams:
East Bengal
Mohun Bagan SG

Locations of the Indian Super League teams

Star Sports, one of the organisers of the Indian Super League, also serves as the official broadcasters of the league in India.[95] In September 2014, it was announced that Star Sports would broadcast the ISL through eight channels in five languages in an attempt to reach 85% of the Indian television audience.[96]

The first match of the Indian Super League, between Atlético de Kolkata and Mumbai City on 12 October 2014, reportedly drew a television audience of 75 million people.[97] The first week reportedly drew 170 million people in total. These numbers were 12 times more than what India drew for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and around 20–30 times more than what the I-League, India's then top-tier football league, drew on TEN Action and even the English Premier League.[97] Overall, at the end of the first season, it was reported that the ISL drew a total of 429 million viewers across India, just a bit lower than the Pro Kabaddi League, and two and a half times more than the FIFA World Cup.[98] It was also reported that 57% of the viewers were women and children and that the Star Sports website gained 32 million visits during the tournament.[98]

The league experienced a sharp growth in ratings after the 2016 season with over 216 million viewers on television throughout.[99] The 2016 final between ATK and the Kerala Blasters reportedly drew 41 million viewers which was a 41% increase on the number of viewers who saw the 2015 final between Chennaiyin and Goa.[99] Ratings in rural India meanwhile drew 101 million viewers.[99]

For the 2017–18 season, Star Sports broadcast the league on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2HD in English. The broadcasters also televised the matches in Bangla, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and other languages through various channels.[100] The league is also streamed online via Disney+ Hotstar, Star India's online streaming service, and Jio TV.[100]

ISL 2019–20 season viewership recorded a 51 percent growth. At the end of the season, the league recorded a 51 per cent jump in viewership among the urban affluent sports savvy audience of M15+AB Urban as per BARC's report.[101]

ISL 2020–21 season saw a growth of 16% pan-India viewership from last 2019–20 season's viewership numbers.[102]

ISL 2021–22 season & ISL 2022–23 season continue to gain steady growth in Media coverage & television viewership. From 2022-23 season Home-away format for clubs are back hence ISL clubs played home matches and attract full house matches in stadiums.[103][104][105]

The matches are being aired on Sports18 Khel (Hindi), Sports18 1 SD & HD (English), VH1 SD & HD (English), Surya Movies (Malayalam), News18 Kerala (Malayalam), DD Bangla, and Colors Bangla Cinema (Bengala).

As of 8 October 2023[112]

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Apps	Years
1	Pritam Kotal	146	2014–
2	Amrinder Singh	141	2015–
	Mandar Rao Dessai	141	2014–
4	Lenny Rodrigues	139	2014–
5	Sunil Chhetri	136	2015–
6	Narayan Das	132	2014–
7	Harmanjot Khabra	131	2014–
	Sandesh Jhingan	131	2014–
9	Rahul Bheke	130	2015–
10	Lallianzuala Chhangte	122	2016–

Player transfers may only take place within transfer windows set by the AIFF and approved by the FIFA. The two transfer windows run from June 9 to August 31 and from January 1 to January 31. Player registrations cannot be exchanged outside these windows except under specific license from the AIFF, usually on an emergency basis; if a player is injured and ruled out for at least two months, the club can permanently replace him, also if the club terminates the contract of a registered player, then a replacement can be signed.[113] Although loan transfers and registrations can take place even outside the transfer windows.

During the initial seasons, the no. of foreigners in a squad varied from 7–10, which was gradually reduced as the league achieved AFC and FIFA recognition, and the organisers emphasised more on developing Indian players. As of 2021–22, a club can have a maximum squad strength of 35 men, including at most 6 foreigners (1 of them must belong to an AFC member nation) and 3 registered goalkeepers.[114] A club can also have an injury replacement for a domestic player.[114] If a club registers less than 35 players by the end of the window, they can still fill the quota post the stipulated date provided the player is a free agent. FSDL also mandated the clubs to sign at least 4 under-21 players, with minimum 2 of them being a part of the matchday squad.[114] Previously, it was also mandatory for the clubs to get the approval of the league for three of their foreign signings, wherein players who have played a minimum of 1000 minutes last season were automatically approved. But this rule was later scrapped and the clubs no longer need to approach the organisers for approval.

Bartholomew Ogbeche is the all-time top scorer in Indian Super League history.

As of 8 October 2023[115]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Apps	Ratio	Years
1	Bartholomew Ogbeche	63	98	0.64	2018–2023
2	Sunil Chhetri	57	136	0.42	2015–
3	Coro	48	57	0.84	2017–2020
4	Roy Krishna	43	85	0.51	2019–
5	Marcelinho	34	87	0.39	2016–2022
6	Cleiton Silva	30	60	0.5	2020–
	Hugo Boumous	30	98	0.31	2018–
	Lallianzuala Chhangte	30	122	0.25	2016–
9	Iain Hume	28	69	0.41	2014–2019
10	Diego Maurício	28	51	0.55	2020–

Bold denotes players still playing in the Indian Super League.

Every club has to follow a squad salary cap of ₹16.5 crores (≈ $2.2 million), which includes individual performance bonus (exclusive of team bonus), agent/intermediary fee and other arrangements with the players, although loan wages and transfer fees are not included within the salary cap. A club has an option to sign a marquee player, through the League's approval, whose salary is excluded from the stated salary cap. Failing to follow the regulations, a club may risk deduction of points, possible fines and/or sanctions by the league.[116]

The Indian Super League cup was unveiled on 5 October 2014, by Nita Ambani, the founder and chairperson of Football Sports Development.[117] At the trophy unveiling occasion, Mrs. Ambani said, "It's a momentous day for all of us today as I stand along with the world's footballing legends to unveil the pride of Indian Super League. As these role models have inspired hundreds of thousands of players worldwide, I am sure the ISL trophy will also stand as a symbol of aspiration for many youngsters in an emergent India".[117] On 19 February 2020 the FSDL unveiled the League Winners Shield for the ISL premiers to be awarded from 2019–20 season onwards.[118]

Designed by Frazer and Haws, the ISL cup stands 26 inches tall. The logo on the top band has the ISL colors assigned to it and the handles are ornately carved and embellished with 24 carats of gold gilt to imbue a sense of pride when held up.[117] The League Winners' Shield, weighing approx. 5 kg with a diameter of 22 inches draws inspiration from global football traditions and design tones of the ISL cup. The wreath carved around the silver football symbolises the victors of The Beautiful Game.

In addition to the League Winners' Shield and the ISL Cup, the organisers also issue other awards throughout the season. A Man of the Match award, referred as the Hero of the Match due to sponsorship reasons, is presented to the player who had the most impact in an individual match.

Monthly awards are also given for the Hero of the Month and Emerging Player of the Month. These are also issued at the conclusion of each season for the Hero of the League and the Emerging Player of the League[119]

The Golden Boot is awarded to the top goalscorer of each season, the Winning Pass of the League award is presented to the top assist provider of each season and the Golden Glove is awarded to the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in a season.