User:ArsenalFan700/Indian Super League (2019)

The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional football league sanctioned by the All India Football Federation. One of the top football leagues in India, the ISL currently shares the top spot in the Indian football league system with the I-League. The league comprises of 10 teams and has a regular season that runs from October to February, with each team playing 18 games. The top four teams then compete in the playoffs in March to determine the champion. For sponsorship reasons, the league is currently known as the Hero Indian Super League.

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 (AFC), 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, three teams have been crowned champions: ATK, Bengaluru, and Chennaiyin. ATK and Chennaiyin have won two titles each while Bengaluru are the most recent title winners, having been crowned champions after the 2018–19 season.