User:ArsenalFan700/Indian Super League

The Indian Super League (ISL) is a men's professional football league in India. For sponsorship reasons, the league is officially known as the Hero Indian Super League. One of the top football leagues in the country, it currently shares the top spot in the Indian football league system with the I-League. The league comprises of 10 teams and will run for five months from November to March starting with the 2017–18 season.

Founded on 21 October 2013 in partnership with IMG, Reliance Industries, and Star Sports, the Indian Super League was launched with the goal of growing football in India and to increase the country's exposure to the sport. The league's first season took place in 2014 with eight teams. During the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, the league operated without official recognition from the Asian Football Confederation, the governing body for the sport in Asia. The league also operated along the same lines of the Indian Premier League, the country's premier Twenty20 cricket competition, with the league campaign lasting for only two to three months and matches being held every day. However, before the 2017–18 season, the league earned recognition from the AFC, expanded to ten teams, and extended it's schedule to five months.

Unlike most football leagues around the world, the Indian Super League does not use promotion and relegation, instead choosing to grow the league through expansion, similar to Major League Soccer in the United States. Since the league's inaugural season, two teams have been crowned champions. Atlético de Kolkata won the title for the second time during the 2016 season. The title meant that they have the most championships in ISL history as they were also crowned champions in 2014. Chennaiyin are the only other club to be crowned champions after they won in 2015.

Origins
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, being founded in 1888. Despite India's early history in the game, the country's first nationwide football league did not begin until the semi-professional National Football League commenced in 1996. Prior to the creation of the National Football League, most clubs played in state leagues or select nationwide tournaments.

Ten years after the formation of the National Football League, the All India Football Federation, the governing body for the sport in India, decided to reformat the league as the I-League in an effort to professionalize the game. However, during the following seasons, the league would suffer from a lack of popularity due to poor marketing and poor quality of football.

In September 2005, the AIFF signed a 10–year television and media contract with Zee Sports. The deal would see Zee broadcast the National Football League and I-League, as well as other tournaments organized by the AIFF and select India international matches. However, in October 2010, the deal between the AIFF and Zee Sports was terminated five years early after differences between both parties related to payment and how to grow the game in India.

A couple months later, 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. The deal gave IMG–Reliance exclusive commercial rights to sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting, merchandising, video, franchising, and the right to create a new football league.

As commercial partners for the AIFF, IMG–Reliance were responsible for the marketing and organization of the I-League. However, in February 2012, it was revealed that I-League clubs were not happy with the federation's commercial partners and believed IMG–Reliance had done little to try and promote the country's then top domestic football league. However, the AIFF reassured the clubs that the federation, as well as IMG–Reliance, had plans to improve the league prior to the 2012–13 season and maybe even revamp the tournament along the lines of Major League Soccer of the United States.

In June 2013, word had come out that IMG–Reliance were planning to start their own franchise-based tournament for 2013 and also divide the I-League into two conferences. This idea was not well received by I-League clubs who decided to refuse to loan any of their players for the IMG–Reliance proposed tournament or sign any players already contracted to the company. However, by August 2013, it was revealed that IMG–Reliance had signed the required amount of players needed to start their own tournament and that the tournament would have the backing of the AIFF.

Foundations
The Indian Super League was officially launched on 21 October 2013 by IMG–Reliance, Star Sports, and the All India Football Federation. The league was announced to take place from January 2014 to March 2014. A few days later however, on 29 October 2013, it was announced that the ISL would be postponed to September 2014.

At first, it was announced that bidding for the eight Indian Super League teams would be complete before the end of 2013 and that there was already high interest from big corporations, Indian Premier League teams, Bollywood stars, and other consortiums. However, due to the rescheduling of the league, the bidding was moved to 3 March 2014. It was also revealed around this time that not only would bidders need to comply with a financial requirement but they would also need to promote grassroots development plans for football within their area. Finally, in early April 2014, the winning bidders were announced. The selected cities/state were Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. 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. 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.

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

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

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. The inaugural final was held on 20 December 2014 with Atlético de Kolkata becoming champions after defeating Kerala Blasters 1–0 at the DY Patil Stadium.

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

During the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, attendances across the league had exceeded expectations of pundits and of the domestic I-League. Television ratings were also strong for the league as well as social media interaction. However, despite the general success off the pitch, the league 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. Indian players would play for both an ISL team and an I-League club while the I-League continued to suffer from lack of visibility compared to the ISL. India head coach Stephen Constantine had called for both the ISL and I-League to either run together at the same time or merge.

On 18 May 2016, IMG–Reliance, along with the AIFF and I-League representatives met during 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 relegated to the second division. The ISL would also expand by two teams and continue to operate without promotion and relegation but run for 5–7 months instead of 2–3. The idea was not entertained by the I-League representatives.

In June 2017, IMG–Reliance, the AIFF, I-League representatives, and the AFC met in Kuala Lumpur in order to find a new way forward for Indian football. 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. A couple weeks later, the AIFF proposed that both the Indian Super League and I-League run simultaneously on a short–term basis with the I-League winner qualifying for the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup qualification spot going to the ISL champion. 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. It was also stated that the league would now run for five months starting with the 2017–18 season and the league would expand to 10 teams.

A month before, on 11 May 2017, the ISL organizers started to accept bids for 2–3 new franchises for the 2017–18 season. The bids would be for ten cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvanathapuram. 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. A month later, on 12 June, it was announced that I-League side, Bengaluru FC, and Tata Steel (for Jamshedpur) had won the bidding for the new teams.

Competition format
From the 2017–18 season, the Indian Super League will run from November to March. Prior to that season, the league ran from October to December. The regular season would begin in October and end by early December while the finals would take place within the next two to three weeks. The regular season would be fourteen matches long, with each team playing each other twice. The top four sides at the end would qualify for the finals. The first round of the finals would see the first placed team take on the fourth placed team while the second placed team would face the third.

During the finals, the first round was played in a two-legged format with both teams playing each other at their home venues. At the end of the two matches, the team which lead on aggregate would move on to the final. The final was a single-leg match which took place in a neutral venue. If scores were tied on aggregate in the first round or in the final, 30 minutes of extra time would be used to determine the winner and finally, if still tied, penalties. For the 2017–18 season, it is still unknown whether a finals format would still be used.

Teams
Currently, the Indian Super League consists of ten teams from nine different states in India. Unlike other football leagues, the ISL does not use promotion and relegation but instead uses expansion like Major League Soccer of the United States. The league features two main derbies which include the Southern derby between Chennaiyin and the Kerala Blasters, and the Maharashtra derby between Mumbai City and Pune City. In 2017, the league added two new clubs for the first time when Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC expanded in.

As of the 2016 season, each team could have a maximum of twenty-five players on their roster and a minimum of twenty-two. A maximum of eleven players could be foreign with a minimum requirement of eight per team. Each team were also made to sign at least one marquee player who must have been league approved. The rest of the players must be domestic Indian players, two of which must be developmental under-23 players.

Ownership
Just like the Indian Premier League, the Indian Super League has a similar ownership model where the teams are owned by prominent businessmen, as well as celebrity owners from bollywood and cricket. The Indian Super League owners act as the league's "League Partners". British professional services group, Ernst & Young, were hired to draw up a criteria for the team bidding process and they were required to approve the potential owners. In April 2014 the owners were announced. Bollywood stars such as Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, and Salman Khan were bid winners, as well as cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Football clubs such as Atlético Madrid and Shillong Lajong were also bid winners.

Despite careful selection, the Indian Super League has had trouble in the past with team ownership. In August 2014, two months before the inaugural season, Sun Group, the owners of the Bangalore franchise, dropped out of the league after the league rejected their potential tie-up with then I-League club Bengaluru FC. Later that month, it was announced that another Bollywood star, Abhishek Bachchan, would take over the last franchise spot and move the team from Bangalore to Chennai.

The league had its first ownership switch within a team on 1 June 2016 when the Kerala Blasters announced their new ownership structure. Along with Sachin Tendulkar, the team bought in businessman Nimmagadda Prasad and film stars Allu Aravind, Chiranjeevi, and Akkineni Nagarjuna after PVP Ventures withdrew their stake in the team.

Stadiums
Since the league began in 2014, there have been a variety of stadiums used to host matches. Two stadiums, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, are mainly used as cricket stadiums. Three other stadiums are athletic stadiums which are primarily used to host football matches in the I-League: the Fatorda Stadium in Goa, the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, and the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. Three other venues were used which don't primarily host top-tier professional football: the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Assam, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.

For the 2016 season, two new stadiums were used in the league, the Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai and the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata. The Mumbai Football Arena replaced the DY Patil Stadium for Mumbai City. Atlético de Kolkata moved to the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium after the Salt Lake Stadium was being renovated for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Sponsorship and revenues
On 18 July 2014, it was announced that Hero MotoCorp would be the first title sponsor of the Indian Super League. The deal is scheduled to last for three-years from 2014 to 2016. On 30 September 2014, a week before the first season, it was announced that German sports manufacture, Puma SE, would be the official ball supplier of the Indian Super League. The company provides balls for matches and training sessions.

The league relies heavily on a central sponsorship pool. League stakeholders, Star Sports and IMG–Reliance, manage the central sponsorship pool and market the league to potential investors and sponsors. Twenty percent of the money gained in the central sponsorship pool goes towards organizing the league while the rest is divided among the teams. Despite successfully gaining a lot of money through central sponsorship in 2014, 100% of the revenues were used by the league to improve infrastructure and facilities, which meant that the teams lost money during the first season. The next season saw a change, however, with the central sponsorship pool doubling to around 100 crore due to new league–wide sponsorships with corporates such as Flipkart and DHL Express. Teams were also able to increase their intake in sponsorships in 2015 with shirt sponsorship deals worth double from the previous season and around nine advertisements allowed on team kits. Teams in the league had also signed shirt manufacturing sponsorship deals with companies such as Adidas and Puma.

For the 2016 season, it was projected that the league would gain more sponsors compared to the previous season, especially since the league would occur during the Indian festive periods. For kit sponsorships, each team is allowed to have six sponsorships on the kit, with teams like Atlético de Kolkata regularly filling those spots.

On 23 July 2017 it was announced that Hero MotoCorp would extend their deal as the title sponsors of the Indian Super League for another three-years. The company would spend $25 million on the league during those three years according to Nita Ambani, the league chairperson.

Trophy
The Indian Super League trophy was unveiled on 5 October 2014, by Nita Ambani, the founder and chairperson of Football Sports Development. 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".

Designed by Frazer and Haws, the trophy stands 26 inches tall. The logo on the top band has the ISL colours assigned to it and the handles are ornately carved and embellished with 24 carats gold gilt to imbue a sense of pride, when held up.

Media coverage
With Star Sports being one of the organizers of the Indian Super League, they also serve as the official broadcasters of the league in India. The goal of Star Sports for the league was to "use its superior content creation, packaging and presentation expertise to attract and retain viewer interest." In September 2014 it was announced that Star Sports would broadcast the ISL through eight channels in five different languages in an attempt to reach 85% of the Indian television audience, the first of its kind in Indian sporting history.

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. 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 other top-tier football league, drew on TEN Action and even the Premier League. 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. 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.

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

Player records
Statistics below are for all-time leaders. Bold indicates active ISL players.