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The managers will be looking to lead their teams in winning the ISL 2015 trophyThe biggest footballing extravaganza in India is all set to kick off on October 3, 2015. The stage is set for the eight biggest football clubs in India to once again fight for the prestigious Indian Super League trophy. It’s that time of the year when people in a cricket crazy nation will be more interested in filling up football stadiums to catch a glimpse of some of the biggest names in world football. The inaugural season of the Indian Super League was a huge success, as for the first time in India some of the biggest names in football like Luis Garcia, Alessandro Del Piero, Marco Materazzi, Robert Pirès, Elano Blumer, Joan Capdevila, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Trezeguet, David James, Nicolas Anelka and Alessandro Nesta played in the tournament. For the first time in India, a football tournament was telecast and promoted so extensively. We take a look at 5 reasons why the second edition of the league will only get better.
#1 Audience
Never in India have we seen people filling up the stadiums to watch a football match like it happened in the Indian Super League. A total of 1.58 million people flocked to the eight stadiums to watch the match, and it was also watched by a record 429 million viewers on Television making it the fourth most popular league in the world after the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
The defending champions Atletico de Kolkata enjoyed massive home support, and the crazy football lovers of Kolkata recorded an average attendance of 45,000. Sachin Tendulkar co-owned Kerala Blasters were the biggest surprise of the league, as they recorded the highest average league attendance of 49,000. The numbers are just going to increase this season, with clubs having established themselves already. Few of the clubs have tied up with local supporters organisations to make season tickets available to fans at a discounted price.
#2 ISL Fantasy League
Indian Super League got a lot more exciting with the introduction of the Fantasy League. Now you can assemble your own squad and challenge your friends by just logging in to the official website of the Indian Super League.
Once you select your squad, you can also create leagues and invite your friends to join. The rules are very similar to the famous English Premier League fantasy game Fantasy Premier League.
Every participant will get a budget of 100 crore to pick all players. You can select a maximum of four players from any team, and make unlimited transfers before the first round of games, and two free transfers from Round 2 to Round 14.
Any extra transfer will cost you four points, but in case you need to shuffle your entire squad you can use your wildcard any time between Round 2 and Round 14, which will enable you to make unlimited transfer without any deduction of points.
Players price might increase or decrease depending on their performances. You can also select a captain before each round and his points will be doubled. The deadline for each match day is 5.30 pm IST.
#3 Best Indian Players
Some of the best talents in India missed the inaugural season of the Indian Super League as I-League club Bengaluru FC refused to release their players, but they couldn’t keep their players away this season. The Bengaluru FC players were part of the auction that was conducted in Mumbai in July and were sold for big money.
Bengaluru skipper Sunil Chhetri was sold to Mumbai City FC for Rs. 1.2 crore, which was the most expensive buy of the auction. Not far behind was midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who was sold to FC Pune City for 1.05 crores. Lyngdoh enjoyed a brilliant season with Bengaluru as he scored 8 goals and assisted another 16 goals, and was also named as I-League midfielder of the season.
Defending champions Ateltico de Kolkata also signed Rino Anto of Bengaluru FC for Rs. 90 lakh, who had a base price of Rs. 17.5 lakh. Chennaiyin FC also signed Thoi Singh of Bengaluru FC for Rs. 86 lakh. Delhi Dynamos also didn’t want to miss out on some of the best Indian talents, as they signed Indian forward Robin Singh for Rs. 51 lakh.
Royal Wahingdoh’s Jackichand Singh, who was recently involved with the national side, was also signed by FC Pune City for Rs. 45 lakh.
#4 Better Marquee players
While the first edition of the Indian Super League saw the likes of Luis Garcia, Alessandro Del Piero, Marco Materazzi, Robert Pirès, Elano Blumer, Joan Capdevila, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Trezeguet, David James, Nicolas Anelka and Alessandro Nesta taking part in the tournament, clubs have signed marquee players more smartly this season.
The big names involved last season helped a lot in promoting the league, but on the pitch only Luis Garcia and Elano Blumer were successful.
Elano Blumer has been retained by Chennaiyin FC for another season, but Atletico de Kolkata have replaced fan favourite Luis Garcia with Helder Postiga. The Portuguese international, who recently turned 33, is definitely one of the best signings of the season.
Delhi Dynamos have replaced 40-year-old Alessandro Del Piero, with Champions League winner with Liverpool John Arne Riise. The 35-year-old is known for some of the absolute screamers he had scored in the past and is a great addition for the Delhi outfit.
FC Goa has replaced Robert Pires with Brazilian legend Lucio while Kerala Blasters have replaced 45-year-old David James with former Spanish international and World Cup winner Carlos Marchena. Adrian Mutu has signed for Pune City FC to replace Juventus legend David Trezeguet.
Nicolas Anelka was retained by Mumbai City FC as their Player Manager for the upcoming season.
#5 More Recovery Time
Coaches and players complained about is the recovery time between games, with so much of traveling to do players found it really difficult in such difficult conditions in India. The inaugural season of the Indian Super League started on October 12th, 2014 and ended on December 20th, 2014. The organisers have decided to start the second edition a bit early on October 3, 2015, with the final being played on December 20, 2015.
Mads Junker, who played for Delhi Dynamos last season complained about the recovery time last season which saw a lot of players like Elano Blumer, Luis Garcia, and other foreign players finding it difficult to stay match fit or getting injured.
He said: “In future, I would like ISL matches to be spread a little bit more. Two months is too short for a tournament of such a magnitude. With so much of travelling and training in between playing matches, recovery time for players is less. In Europe too I have played, but over there it is a little more spread out in the calendar, which gives you the breathing space between games.”
This season there will be just one game played each day at 7 pm IST, and there is also a sufficent gap between games during the semi-final and final.
