As the ISL gets a reboot, here’s all you need to know about the new rules in place

After Bengaluru FC made the first move to retain skipper Sunil Chhetri and Udanta Singh, CK Vineeth on Tuesday announced on social media that he was quitting the two-time I-League champions after being retained by Kerala Blasters FC.

Mumbai City FC has also retained young goalkeeper Amrinder Singh while the other clubs are also working overtime to seal the deals to retain players of their choice before the July 7 deadline following which the ten franchisees can concentrate on the Indian players draft scheduled to be held on July 23.

With ISL expanding to 10 teams and likely to be played over a five month period, the teams will have to re-jig their policies and plans according to the new ISL draft rules.

The Field takes a look at some of the important rules that have been circulated to the teams:

A maximum of five players can be retained

Each team can retain a maximum of five players – two senior squad members and three u-21 developmental players. Apart from Tata Steel, who will have a team in Jamshedpur, all other clubs have a squad from which they can retain two senior players. If they do so, Tata Steel will be the only club to pick players in the first two rounds of the draft to ensure level playing field.

If any franchisee retains U-21 players who have already represented India then that club would lose that many draft pick rounds.

Apart from these developmental players, all other Indian players will have to be picked through the draft process.

Squad size reduced to 25

The maximum squad size from this season has been reduced to 25 from 27. However, each club will have to register a minimum of 22 players – 15 Indians and 7 foreigners – and at least two of them have to be development players. The salary cap for each club is Rs 18 cr.

The teams will directly sign the foreign players and the final list will have to be submitted before September 12 and a full squad list by October 15. Having a marquee player is not a mandatory requirement and even if the club signs a marquee player, he would be treated as yet another foreigner. The clubs also have a choice of having an additional foreigner in the squad. But only the salary of the marquee player won’t be considered in the total purse.

The clubs also have to sign their head coach before July 15 and it is mandatory for each club to have at least one Indian assistant coach (goalkeeping coach can also be considered an assistant coach if he is an Indian).

Six Indians on the pitch

From the next season, ISL has decided to add another mandatory Indian player on the pitch with the number going up to six. This has been done to give the Indian players more exposure since one ISL club will get a spot in the AFC Cup next year where a team can field only four foreigners including one of Indian origin.

Domestic players can be changed only after a series of five games

Domestic players in the squad may change only after every five ISL matches (i.e. 24 hours before the 6th, 11th match). The teams are therefore encouraged to form youth/second teams to ensure that they have players to replace in case of injuries as the ISL and I-League would be running simultaneously and transfer/loan of players won’t be possible during the period. The salaries of these squad players can be up and above the Rs 18 crore cap.