The Indian Super League

ISL has reportedly trounced the IPL with respect to fees paid to marquee players, with Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero securing Rs 11 crore

Between October and December this year, eight teams will square off in the first ever Hero Indian Super League, a football tournament along the lines of cricket’s IPL. The League comprises Atlético de Kolkata, Chennaiyin FC, Delhi Dynamos FC, FC Goa, FC Pune City, Kerala Blasters FC (Kochi), Mumbai City FC and Northeast United FC (Guwahati).

In the same spirit as the IPL, teams are required to have a number of foreign players: a primary marquee player, along with seven others, five of whom must be chosen from a pool selected by the ISL. There are already a number of impressive names in the mix; Kolkata has Luis García as their marquee, while Guwahati boasts of Joan Capdevila; David Trezeguet plays for Pune, while Alessandro Del Piero is with Delhi. The ISL has reportedly trounced the IPL with respect to fees paid to marquee players too, with Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero securing Rs 11 crore

As in the IPL, celebrities hold major stakes in most of the ISL football teams. Sachin Tendulkar is part owner of the Kochi franchise, while Sourav Ganguly is with Kolkata (as is La Liga giant Atlético Madrid), John Abraham with Guwahati, Ranbir Kapoor with Mumbai, and Salman Khan with Pune.

In the opening match held at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the home team routed Mumbai City FC by a margin of 3-0.Between 12 October and 10 December, each team will play all others twice in the league stage (playing home and away matches), earning three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a loss. Between 13 and 17 December, the top four teams from the league stage will play off in a two legged semi-final (First vs Fourth and Second vs Third). The final will be played on 20 December.

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