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What's the story?
Indian Super League outfit Kerala Blasters have become the Indian club with the highest social media following, according to a report by Digital Sports Media that took into account the digital following of football clubs across the world.
European heavyweights Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United lead the list of clubs. Kerala Blasters, one of the most widely-followed ISL clubs, are ranked 80 according to the survey.
The context
The results of the research took into account the clubs' various social media channels, including their official Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, Google Plus and Youtube.
A cumulative calculation was done at the end and saw all eight ISL clubs inside the top 150. Kerala Blasters are followed by Atletico de Kolkata. NorthEast United are the lowest-ranked ISL club on the list, at the 143rd position.
The heart of the matter
The ISL gained instant popularity upon its inception in 2014 and ranked among the world's top leagues in terms of attendance in its very first season. Next season, the league will undergo a massive facelift with more teams joining the roster of franchises and the extension of its duration.
Kerala Blasters are ahead of former European champions like Celtic, Steaua Bucharest and PSV Eindhoven, another pointer of the ISL's grand success in its three years of existence. According to the report, Kerala Blasters have a digital following of 2.5 million across all platforms, while ATK in second place have a 2 million following.
What's next?
With the ISL set to undergo a big retooling next season, expect the league to gain more popularity in the coming years. As a byproduct of the league's popularity, its clubs are also earning more and more followers with every passing day.
However, there is still a fair distance for the ISL to catch the bigwigs of European football. Spanish champions Real Madrid, for example, have ten times more social media following than ISL champions ATK, which isn't a surprise at all.
Author's take
The ISL's popularity can be gauged by these rankings, and it can now be safely assumed that Kerala Blasters are the most-followed football club in India, despite being founded only three years ago. With the advent of the ISL, the potential of the Indian football market is slowly beginning to be harnessed and seeing all the ISL clubs inside the world's top 150 digitally followed clubs must rank as a high for the premier Indian domestic league.
