The Indian Super League (ISL) is a source of pride for Indian football lovers. It is a forum for India’s up-and-coming football talents to demonstrate their abilities. Furthermore, it is as though an opportunity is knocking at our players’ doors. But have you looked into the origins of ISL? Today, we’ll look at the history of the Indian Super League and what it has accomplished in recent years.
Foundations of Indian Super League
IMG–Reliance, Star Sports, and the All India Football Federation formally debuted the Indian Super League on October 21, 2013. The bidding of ISL moved to 3rd March 2014, due to the rescheduling of the league. On top of that, the bidders included India’s some of the famous personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, John Abraham, etc. The selected cities/state were Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.
Sachin Tendulkar and PVP Ventures won the bidding for the Kochi franchise. Sourav Ganguly, along with some Indian businesspeople and Atlético Madrid of La Liga, won the bid for the Kolkata franchise. Meanwhile, Bollywood celebrities John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, and Salman Khan won the franchises in Guwahati, Mumbai, and Pune, respectively. Companies triumphed in Bangalore and Delhi, while Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar, and I-League team Dempo triumphed in Goa. Kolkata’s franchise, called Atlético de Kolkata, was founded on May 7, 2014. Later, Bangalore Titans, Delhi Dynamos, Goa, Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City, North East United, and Pune City established.
The inaugural season began on October 12, 2014. Starting with, Atlético de Kolkata defeating Mumbai City 3–0 at the Salt Lake Stadium. Fikru Teferra scored the game’s first goal. Balwant Singh of Chennaiyin FC was the first Indian to score. In the inaugural season of the league, Atletico de Kolkata won the title. They defeated Kerala Blasters to win the title.
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Recognition and expansion
During the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, attendances across the board outperformed experts’ and the domestic I-expectations. Because of the League’s owing to the match times, particularly on working days, and massive promotion. The competition’s television ratings were also good, as expected. It has better commentary, better telecasting, pre-match and post-match shows, as well as hourly reminders in various channels and social media interaction. Despite the history of Indian Super League success off the field, the tournament was panned in other areas.
on 11 May 2017, the ISL organisers accepted bids for 2–3 new franchises for the 2017–18 season. The bids was for ten cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram. On September 22, 2017, the competition officially announced that the season would be extended by two months, making the league five months long instead of three. The schedule would also shift from everyday matchups to contests between Wednesday and Sunday.
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Reliance Industries purchased out IMG’s holdings in the Football Sports Development the following year, just before the 2018–19 season. On June 1, 2020, ATK amalgamated with the football section of Mohun Bagan Athletic Club to form ATK Mohun Bagan Football Club. Further, on September 27, 2020, East Bengal entered the league as an expansion team, becoming the league’s 11th team.
So, this was the history regarding one of India’s most loved tournaments, The ISL. to know more topics like this, click here.
