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The Indian Super League is almost upon us and the excitement is building as the D Day arrives in just over a week. Twice Champions ATK kick off the 5th Edition of the ISL when they welcome Kerala Blasters at the Salt Lake Stadium on 29th September and football fans will be hoping that the tournament reaches even higher standards of attractive, open, and entertaining football.
The last season of the Indian Super League saw a change in format, with 10 teams competing for the Trophy in a tournament that spread through 5 months of scintillating football. There were 95 matches played with 261 goals scored, averaging around 2.75 goals per game. There was a total attendance of 13,99,409 in the tournament. The tournament recorded 6 hattricks and was a goal feast like never before.
This season too, there are some fantastic goal scorers around, who will be hoping to score regular goals and fire their teams to the trophy. The Indian Super League has been home to some goal scoring superstars in the past 4 years and we look at the 7 highest goalscorers in the League here.
#7 Kalu Uche (Current Team - ATK)
#Career Goals in ISL – 17
The Nigerian Striker is a part of the ATK team this season and has scored 17 goals from 26 games. Uche first broke into the scene in ISL 2015/16 season, scoring 4 goals from 11 matches while playing for FC Pune City, before returning back to Almeria in the La Liga. He came to ISL last season, appearing in the colours of Delhi Dynamos. He scored 13 goals in the 15 matches he appeared in for the Delhi side, with a fantastic 0.87 goals per game ratio.
Uche has played in various clubs all over the world, most notably in Spain for Almeria, where, in his second season, he helped them secure a promotion to La Liga for the first time in the club’s history. At Almeria, he scored 39 goals in 172 appearances and has the distinction of scoring against Spanish Giants Real Madrid and Espanyol, whom he would later represent in a brief stint. Uche was a part of the Nigeria team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he scored 2 goals in the group stages.
ATK will be looking forward to Uche to lead their line this season and a repeat of his last season’s form could see the Kolkata side immensely benefit from their Nigerian striker’s presence.
#6 John Stiven Mendoza Valencia (Current Team - NA)
#Career Goals in ISL – 17
The Columbian forward first appeared in the 2014 season of the ISL, where he was a part of the Chennaiyin FC team. He scored 4 goals from 9 games in his debut season, however, it was in the next season that Mendoza left his mark on the ISL. He scored 13 goals from 16 games and recorded 3 assists, ending the season with an impressive 0.81 goals per game ratio, taking Chennaiyin FC straight to the ISL Trophy. However, Mendoza has not featured in the ISL since 2015.
Mendoza started his professional career at Columbian club Envigado and has also played for Brazilian side Corinthians. After the 2015 edition of ISL, where he played on loan for Chennaiyin FC, the Columbian spent a season at MLS side New York City, also on loan. Here, he scored 5 goals from 25 games. In 2017, he joined Brazilian side Bahia, playing 31 games and scoring 8 goals. In January 2018, Mendoza joined Ligue 1 side Amiens on a 3 year deal. He has scored 2 goals from 13 appearances in the Ligue 1 last season.
As of now, there have not been any reports of Mendoza joining Chennaiyin FC for the current edition of the ISL and it seems that he will not be adding to his goal scoring tally this season.
#5 Marcelo Pereira (Current Team - FC Pune City)
#Career Goals in ISL – 18
The Brazilian joined the Indian Super League for the 2016 edition, where he appeared for Delhi Dynamos and was an instant hit. He played 15 matches, scored 10 goals, recorded 5 assists and won the 2016 Golden Boot, which saw him move to FC Pune City last season. At Pune, Marcelinho, as he is also known, scored 8 goals and registered 7 assists in 17 matches. The Brazilian has played 32 games in the ISL till date, scoring 18 goals and setting up 12 others.
Primarily a second striker, Marcelinho likes to play in the wings, where he likes to drift in and score or set up his team mates. The Brazilian has played for a number of clubs in his career even appeared in the Europa league while playing for Atromitos. In the Preliminary round of the Europa League against AIK Solna in 2015, Marcelinho scored 1 goals and set up another in a man of the match performance.
Marcelinho will be returning to the Pune City line up this season and will be hoping to further improve his performance from last season.
#4 Ferran Corominas (Current Team - FC Goa)
#Career Goals in ISL – 18
The Spanish striker set the Indian Super League on fire last season, scoring an unbelievable 18 goals from 20 games and also registering 5 assists. He won the Golden Boot and also set the record for the highest number of goals scored by a player in a single ISL season. He also recorded the fastest hattrick in the ISL, scoring 3 goals within 8 minutes against Kerala Blasters. The Spaniard had 768 touches on the ball and completed 685 passes last season.
Corominas played 200 matches for the La Liga side Espanyol, scoring 24 goals, between 2003 and 2011. He went on to play for Osasuna next, on loan, before moving on to Girona in the Spanish second division, then returning to La Liga to represent Elche for 2 seasons. He played for Turkish side Doxa, scoring 8 goals in 22 appearances in the 2016/17 season, before moving to FC Goa last season.
This season, Coro will be looking to resume from where he left off last year and FC Goa will be counting on him to finally get their hands on the coveted trophy.
#3 Sunil Chhetri (Current Team - Bengaluru FC)
#Career Goals in ISL – 21
The Indian Skipper has 21 goals in 38 matches in the Indian Super League, with another 4 assists to his name. He had been a part of the Mumbai FC side for his first two seasons in the ISL. In the 2015 edition, Chhetri scored 7 goals from 11 games and also picked up 1 assist. The next season, he could only play 6 matches for Mumbai FC, where he registered an assist but could not score, due to his parent club Bengaluru FC’s involvement in the AFC Cup. Last season though, Chhetri was back with a bang, representing Bengaluru FC in their debut in ISL. He scored 14 goals in 21 matches and also registered 2 assists.
Sunil Chhetri is India’s highest goal scorer with 65 goals in 102 appearances. The influencial striker started his club career with Mohun Bagan and has played for all the heavy weights of Indian football, like JCT, East bengal, and Dempo before joining MLS side Kansas City Wizards for a short stint. In the ISL, Sunil Chhetri was the first Indian to score a hattrick in the 2015 season, where he also finished as the highest scoring Indian player in the league. Last season, he won the Hero of the League award for his fabulous performances.
This season once again, the charismatic captain will be appearing for Bengaluru FC and will be hoping to finally get his hands on the trophy.
#2 Jeje Lalpekhlua (Current Team - Chennaiyin FC)
#Career Goals in ISL – 22
The gifted Indian striker is currently the highest Indian goal scorer in the Indian Super League - he has scored 22 goals from 53 appearances. He has also registered 7 assists. Jeje has played all the four seasons in the ISL in the colours of Chennaiyin FC. Last season, Jeje scored 9 goals from 20 matches as Chennaiyan FC went on to be crowned the 2017/18 Indian Super League Champions.
Jeje was a part of the Indian Under-19 set up and has captained the team in the South Asian Games. He first made the news in the I-League on loan to Pailan Arrows, where he scored 14 goals in 16 appearances in total and has since featured for Pune, Dempo, and Mohun Bagan.
In 2014 he joined Chennaiyin FC on loan for the inaugural edition of the ISL. In 2015, he returned to his parent club Mohun Bagan and won the I-League. He joined Chennaiyin FC permanently in the same year and lifted his first ISL Champions Trophy. As a result of his endeavors, he was named the FPAI Football Player of the Year.
Jeje is once again a part of the Chennaiyin squad this season and will be hoping to be a part of the first team to retain the title.
#1 Iain Hume (Current Team - FC Pune City)
#Career Goals in ISL – 28
The Canadian striker is the Indian Super League’s all time leading goal scorer and has played in all 4 editions of the ISL, scoring 28 goals from 59 games, with a further 7 assists to his name. Hume was Kerala Blaster’s main man in the first season of the ISL, firing them to the Finals, only to be on the losing side and finishing the season with 5 goals and 3 assists. He was adjudged the ISL’s first Hero of the League.
He then shifted to Atletico de Kolkata next season and scored 11 goals from 16 appearance and registered 4 assists, yet it was not enough to win the league. Not to be defeated, Hume turned up for ATK in the 2016 edition of ISL again, scoring 7 goals from 14 games and finally getting his hand on the prize, as Atletico de Kolkata were crowned Champions for the second time.
Hume started his professional career with Tranmere Rovers FC, where he rose through the youth set up and played for 8 seasons, before moving on to Leicester City, then in the Championship. At Leicester, he played 132 games and scored 34 goals. He then played for Barnsley, Preston North End, with loan stints at Doncaster Rovers and Fleetwood Town, before joining the Indian Super League in 2014.
Last season, Hume shifted back to Kerala Blasters in the ISL and scored 5 goals from 13 appearances in a season which ended with a knee injury. This season, Hume will be appearing for FC Pune City for the first time and is racing to be fit in time to get his hands on the ISL Trophy again.
