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India is known for its rich footballing culture and over the last few years, the ISL has become one of the highest viewed football leagues in the world. The average attendances for 2014, 2015 and 2016 editions of the tournament were 24,357, 27,111 and 21,003 respectively.
The league experienced a sharp growth in ratings after the 2016 season with over 216 million viewers on television throughout and the U-17 World Cup held in India earlier this year also recorded the highest attendance the tournament has ever seen.
The ISL needs to add more teams from cities which have a particular passion for the game and here we map out all the cities that can be considered in their expansion plans in the coming years to make it a more competitive tournament.
#1 Malappuram
Malappuram is a district in Kerala which is well-known for their love for the beautiful game. The city has shown its love for football on a number of occasions and boasts of the Malappuram District Sports Complex stadium which hosted the Federation Cup 2013-14 season along with Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
The average attendance at this venue for Federation Cup 2013-14 was around 21,000 which is its capacity, meaning that almost every game was sold-out. Malappuram has been the breeding ground for many budding footballers and their notable contribution to Indian football is none other than Anas Edathotika.
The city hosts many local tournaments including the Malabar Premier League which displayed the passion and support for the game in this particular region of Kerala. All these instances prove that a tournament of ISL's stature, if held in this town, could spark the attendance figures here massively.
#2 Imphal
The heart and soul of Indian football is in arguably in the North East and the love and affection for football in Manipur was brought to the nation's attention by Neroca FC. The club won the I-League 2nd division in 2016-17 and are now plying their trade in the first divsion this season.
Neroca played all of their home matches at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal, where the average attendance was around 12,000 for the I-League 2nd division matches. The stadium was tightly packed even during the club's pre-season friendlies as well.
Neroca FC are the only team from North East India to reach the final of the Durand Cup and the people in Imphal are passionate about football. A more recent statistic from their first home game of I-League 2017-18 with Chennai City FC revealed that the attendance was somewhere around 27,633. This goes on to show that any type of football tournament held in this town will invariably generate a lot of interest.
#3 Cuttack
Cuttack is a city in the eastern Indian state of Odisha and the notable club in the region is Samaleswari SC who play their home games at the Kalinga Stadium. Football is still developing in Odisha and this club is currently competing in the I-League 2nd division.
The Barabati stadium in Cuttack has also hosted the 2017 Federation Cup final between Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan. The huge turnout for the final showed the love for football in this city, which has hosted many prestigious tournaments including the 2012 Santhosh Trophy.
Odisha is still very much an unexplored territory in terms of football and with the right investment, India could possibly wake up a possible sleeping giant.
#4 Siliguri
Siliguri is a district across the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. The city is known for its passionate group of football fans. The Kanchenjunga stadium has hosted the 2012 Federation Cup final in the past and attracted as many as 35,000 people for the same.
The 2017 Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan took place in this stadium which was tightly packed with an attendance of about 30,000. This stadium also hosted the 2014 Santhosh Trophy which turned out to be a huge success. Many I League 2nd division matches were held in this stadium, that boasts of a capacity of around 35,000 in total.
The love for the game in West Bengal is very evident and the people of the city will not restrict themselves from further involvement if the situation arises.
#5 Kozhikode
EMS Corportation Stadium, Kozhikode
Kozhikode is a northern district in Kerala and the EMS stadium, the home of football in the region, has hosted the Sait Nagjee football tournament in the past. The tournament turned out to be a huge success and the final between Atletico Paranaense reserves and FC Dnipro reserves had a staggering attendance of 48,900.
This stadium has also hosted football matches of the 2015 national games and is currently the home of Gokulam Kerala FC for their debut season in the I-League. The Sait Nagjee tournament is one of the prestigious tournaments in the history of India and the love shown by the people of the region during the same makes it a leading contender for ISL's expansion plans.
The stadium boasts of an overall capacity of about 50,000 and Gokulam Kerala FC's first home game of the season against Chennai City attracted as many as 25,841 people in total.
