Welcome to a new series here on Uncensored Sports. “Your New Favorite League” Will be a monthly/bimonthly series in which I’ll fill you in on some of the more obscure parts of my sports fandom. This article will be about the Hero Indian Super League, otherwise known as the ISL.
History: The ISL was formed rather controversially in 2013 in order to give India a true first tier professional league, with the first season being in 2014. With the slogan “let’s football” and a kick ass theme song, the ISL started with 8 teams. They were ATK, Chennaiyin FC, Delhi Dynamos, Goa FC, Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City, North East United, and Pune city. After much discussion with the AIFF, I-league, and AFC, it was decided in 2017 that the ISL and I-league would run simultaneously, with the ISL winner gaining a spot in the AFC Cup. After this, the ISL decided to add two teams for the 2017-2018 season, Jamshedpur and Bengaluru FC. In 2019, after controversy because they tried to sign a Chennai city player while he still had a contract with the club, Pune City came under heavy fire from the AIFF, and this led the club to relocate to Hyderabad and become Hyderabad FC. Also in 2019, due to struggles in getting the locals interested in the team, the Delhi Dynamos signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Odisha government, and so it was decided that the club would relocate to Odisha to become Odisha FC. And in 2020, the ISL added the two big Kolkata clubs, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, however, Mohun Bagan merged with ATK to become ATK Mohun Bagan.
Play quality and style: I would compare the quality of play to about a little worse then the CPL or USL, but that’s just a rough comparison. The style of play is still in development, as Indian football is in a transitional period, but there is a lot of similarities to the English and Spanish style of play, mainly due to the coaches of the league. One obvious blemish is the lack of good goalkeeping, due to the fact that teams can only have 5 international players, and most don’t use a spot for a keeper. Another dampener on the league is the terrible officiating, and I’m not being dramatic, ask any ISL fans and they’ll say the same. I would compare the quality to a slightly hungover dad who steps in as a sideline ref for a u9 game when one of the refs forgets to show up, maybe a bit worse. There is a lot of get it to the wing and cross it in as a style of attack, but some teams can put a few nice passes together, especially on the counter attack. The defending is pretty rough, most teams have to rely on offensive mistakes and/or a star defender, as the tackling is atrocious, however, some teams have a good style of team defense, but this is rare.
League structure– The league consists of two stages, a regular season, and a playoffs. In the regular season each team plays all of the other teams twice. The team in first place at the end of the season wins the league shield. The top four teams play in the semi-finals, a two legged series like in the Champions League. The winners of those play in the final, a single match at a neutral location.
Why you should follow this league– The ISL is clearly the future of Indian Football, and with the Indian football scene on the rise, now is the perfect time to hop on the bandwagon. While the quality of play may not be great, it’s palatable, and the league’s blemishes are what makes it so entertaining. While it is a lot of boot the ball and capitalizing on mistakes, there are some great players and plenty of bangers scored every week, though there’s probably 2 missed open goals for every goal scored. The refs suck, but at least they don’t have VAR. There is a level of professionalism around the league though. This is most evident in the broadcasts, which are very professional, great video quality, and some great play by play and color commentators. Though the best thing of all has to be the league song. Obviously this league has plenty of cons, but the pros are enough to make any true football fan fall in love with this league.
How to watch
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