India has always been a different country when it comes to perceiving football as a sport. With cricket taking all the limelight in the country of over a billion, other sports like football have often felt like an isolated brother in the family. Maybe, the Indian Super League (ISL) can change this perception.
What is Indian Super League (ISL)?
Indian Super League (ISL) is India’s unmatched football championship tournament involving eight franchisees namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata and Pune. The tournament is co-promoted by Reliance-IMG, Star India and All India Football Federation (AIFF).
The tournament will work as a roadmap in shaping India’s football future by giving the younger players a hand on experience with the football legends like Nicolas Anelka, Luis Garcia, Del Piero and so many more greats.
The main mission of the tournament is to make sure that India qualifies for 2026 FIFA world cup. The tournament will give the Indian players a chance not only to play with International greats but play on International facilities, develop a huge fan base in India and make sure that a lot of youngsters take up the sport seeing their future lies in the football field.
The association of Bollywood as well as great sporting personalities has made sure that ISL remains in the news. Here’s the official theme song of ISL that captures the essence of football in India beautifully.
Here is the complete list of teams that’ll be participating in the first edition of ISL:-
1) Mumbai City FC
Owner: – Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh
Key Players: – Fredrik Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka
Manager: – Peter Reid
For Full list of Squad visit this link
2) Atletico De Kolkata
Owner: – Sourav Ganguly, Atletico Madrid FC, Harshavardan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka and Utsav Parekh
Key Player: – Luis Garcia
Manager: – Antonio Lopes Habas
For Full list of Squad visit this link
3) Kerala Blasters FC
Owner: – Sachin Tendulkar and PVP Ventures
Key Players: – David James, Michael Chopra
Manager: – David James
Full list of Squad visit this link
4) Chennaiyin FC
Owner: – MS Dhoni, Abhishek Bachchan and Vita Dani
Key Players: – Elano, Marco Matterazzi
Manager: – Marco Matterazzi
Full list of Squad visit this link
5) FC Pune City
Owner: – Salman Khan and Wadhawan Group
Key Players: – David Trezeguet and Katsouranis
Manager: -Franco Colomba
Full list of Squad visit this link
6) FC Goa
Owner: – Virat Kohli and Venugopal Dhoot
Brand Ambassador: – Varun Dhawan
Key Player: – Robert Pires
Manager: – Zico
Full list of Squad visit this link
7) Delhi Dynamos FC
Owner: – DEN Networks
Key Player: – Alessandro Del Piero
Manager: – Harm Van Veldhoven
Full list of Squad visit this link
8) Northeast United FC
Owner: – John Abraham and Shillong Lajong
Key Player: – Joan Capdevila
Manager: – Ricki Herbert
Full list of Squad visit this link
ISL starts from October 12 where Atletico De Kolkata will take on Mumbai City FC at the Salt Lake Stadium. The final will take place on December 20. You can watch the live broadcast on Star Sports Network on television. For people wondering how to watch ISL matches online; here’s the link.
Although the league involves the owners that are more popular than the players involved in team, one can just hope and pray that people receive the league with utmost fanfare. High time we start making the isolated brother feel a bit at home; so as the motto states, “Come on India, let’s Football!”.
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