Indian football had a sorry end to the 2023-24 season. Apart from seeing all-time Indian top scorer Sunil Chhetri retire from international football, the Indian men’s football team underwent an acrimonious split with former head coach Igor Stimac after the Croatian failed to take India to the third round of the 2026 Fifa men’s World Cup qualifiers.
The disappointment could be offset with the upcoming season of the Indian Super League, the 11th since its inception in 2014, promising to be the most competitive and unpredictable one so far.
With Mohammedan SC’s promotion from the I-League, the Indian Super League will feature 13 teams with close to 150 matches to be played until summer next year.
NorthEast United FC’s surprise win over defending champions and heavy favourites Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the Durand Cup final has shown a glimpse into what fans could expect from the ISL this season.
The pre-season has provided plenty of drama, chief among them the controversy behind Anwar Ali’s attempted move from Mohun Bagan to arch rivals East Bengal.
Defending ISL Cup champions Mumbai City FC have lost a host of key players but are still a force to be reckoned with while former champions Chennaiyin FC and Bengaluru FC have dipped heavily into the transfer market to challenge for titles once again.
What is new this season?
The three giants of Kolkata football will play in the ISL this season with Mohammedan SC securing promotion from the I-League, to join Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in the top-tier.
Since Bagan and East Bengal’s entry into the ISL a few years ago, Mohammedan had been reduced to the sidelines. Unlike its fellow Kolkata clubs who entered the ISL by paying the franchise fee, Mohammedan took the longer route by playing in the lower leagues and winning their way to the top tier.
It will not be an easy debut for Mohammedan but the Kolkata club can draw inspiration from Punjab FC’s performance last season when the 2022-23 I-League champions – who were the first to be promoted to the ISL – finished within three points of a playoff spot.
The ISL has also done away with its Asian quota rule which mandated each team to have at least one player from an Asian Confederation among its six foreign signings. The league has also introduced a “home grown player” category which allows clubs to exclude up to three Under-23 players, who have been in the books of an ISL club for the preceding three years, from its salary cap.
Each club will also need to have an Indian assistant manager. The league has also introduced a concussion substitute following the precedent set by other leagues around the world.
The Indian Super League was supposed to introduce relegation this season according to the roadmap drawn up by the Asian Football Confederation in 2019. However, that has been postponed for the time being with All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey stating that I-League, the second tier of men’s club football, was a long way away from matching the ISL’s quality.
The Favourites
With their spending in the off-season, it is hard to look past defending League Shield champions Mohun Bagan. The club have an embarrassment of options in attack, signing A-League all-time top scorer Jamie Maclaren from Australia’s Melbourne City to partner the clinical Dimitri Petratos.
The Mariners have also managed to lure in former Mumbai City FC forward Greg Stewart just months after the Scottish player left Mumbai to play closer to his home. The defending champions also boast an exciting Indian core in midfield with Anirudh Thapa and new signing Lalengmawia “Apuia” Ralte expected to dictate play.
Defending ISL Cup winners Mumbai City FC are still a force to be reckoned with despite the exodus of first-team players over the summer. Key players Rahul Bheke, Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Alberto Noguera left to join Bengaluru FC. While Apuia joined Mohun Bagan, promising forward Gurkirat Singh joined Chennaiyin FC.
The Islanders’ coach Peter Kratky has put his faith in Indian players with the club tying down talisman Lallianzuala Chhangte to a new deal while also signing midfield metronome Brandon Fernandes from FC Goa. The Islanders have shored up their midfield by signing Jeremy Manzoro from Jamshedpur FC and former Barcelona and Arsenal player Jon Toral.
The Challengers
In what could be Chhetri’s final season, Bengaluru FC have gone all out in the transfer window to build a team which could give Chhetri one last shot at winning another title with Bengaluru.
Apart from signing Bheke, Diaz and Noguera from Mumbai, Bengaluru have also signed Mohammed Salah from Punjab and Spanish winger Edgar Mendez. The Blues have retained many of their key Indian players as well.
There are also hopes that forward Sivasakthi Narayanan recaptures his form from two seasons ago and play a key role in Bengaluru’s title charge.
One of the busiest teams in the off-season has been Chennaiyin FC, with the two-time champions making some good signings to build a competitive side.
Though they have seen Rahim Ali move to Odisha FC, the Chennai side have signed four forwards in Gurkirat Singh, Kiyan Nassiri, Wilmar Jordan Gil and Daniel Chima Chukwu. Former Mumbai City goalkeeper Mohammad Nawaz is a shrewd capture for Owen Coyle who will also rely on the title-winning experience of fullback Mandar Rao Desai.
Before they were slapped with a two-window transfer ban for their role in the Anwar Ali transfer saga, East Bengal were winning the transfer window. Not only were they signing Anwar Ali from arch rivals Bagan, they had also made a couple of marque signings in Dimitrios Diamantakos and Jeakson Singh from Kerala Blasters, Madih Talal from Punjab FC and Hector Yuste from Mohun Bagan.
However, the financial and sporting repercussions of signing Ali, who has also been handed a four-month ban, has put a damper on spirits at East Bengal. But the Red and Gold Brigade have a solid team and in Carles Cuadrat, a coach who knows how to win titles.
The biggest win for FC Goa in the off-season was holding on to coach Manolo Marquez for at least a year before he takes over full time as the Indian men’s national team coach.
The Gaurs did lose key players in winger Noah Sadaoui and midfielder Brandon Fernandes but have made decent signings in the form of forward Armando Sadiku and the Spanish pair of Iker Guarrotxena and Borja Herrera.
Key to Goa’s chances of success will be how Marquez manages to juggle his dual role.
Odisha FC shifted a host of Indian players in the off-season and focused on strengthening a few key areas. They have bolstered their midfield by signing Frenchman Hugo Boumous, Raynier Fernandes, Rohit Kumar and Givson Singh and added the talented Rahim Ali in attack.
The Underdogs
Khalid Jamil, one of the two Indian coaches in the ISL, came mighty close to taking Jamshedpur FC to the playoffs last season but a poor run of results towards the end dashed their hopes. Despite losing star player Jeremy Monzoro, Jamshedpur have signed known talents in Javi Hernandez, Javi Siverio and Jordon Murray which should help the Red Miners mount a challenge for a playoff spot.
NorthEast United FC ended their trophy drought when they beat a full strength Mohun Bagan side in the Durand Cup final. The Highlanders have kept faith in coach Juan Pedro Banali who took them within a point of the playoffs last season. Though they haven’t made a big splash in the transfer market, NorthEast United will be pleased to have kept hold of their top scorer from last season, Parthib Gogoi.
It has been a less than ideal pre-season for the Kerala Blasters. The highly popular Ivan Vukmanovic left the club as coach after three relatively successful seasons where he led the club to the playoffs in each season.
The Blasters also saw the departure of midfielder Jeakson Singh and forward Diamantakos to East Bengal. They did complete the signing of Sadaoui fairly early on but were left scampering to find another striker to replace Diamantakos.
Spanish forward Jesus Jimenez joined the club a day before the deadline day closed and the pressure will be on him to hit the ground running.
Making up the numbers
Hyderabad FC endured a torrid season last time around with financial issues surrounding their owners, forcing a host of first-team players to leave the club due to non-payment of salaries. The club was rescued in the summer with the BC Jindal group acquiring it. However, the club have not signed any players with coach Thangboi Singto facing an uphill battle to keep the former champions off the bottom of the points table.
Despite a promising start to life in the ISL, Punjab FC will find it difficult to repeat their performances from last season with the likes of Talal and Gil moving on to bigger teams.
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