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Last month 49 foreigners were drafted in the Indian Super League with eight city franchises making their choices from the pool made available to them by organisers IMG-Reliance. But several foreigners have been signed outside the international draft also by franchises on their own. Since these foreign signings were made by the franchises directly, they can be expected to become an integral part of the team. Sportskeeda lists five such foreigners that were signed outside the international draft.The list is not in any particular order and doesn’t include the marquee foreigners.
#1 Alexandros Tzorvas (NorthEast United)
The 32-year-old custodian played every minute of Greece’s 2010 World Cup campaign and was also a member of their Euro 2012 squad. Tzorvas brings plenty of quality and experience to a youthful NorthEast United squad. He has won the Greece Super League with Panathinaikos and has had spells in Italy with Palermo and Genoa. Last season Tzorvas was playing for Greek top tier outfit Apollon Smyrni. He will be one of three World Cuppers in the NorthEast United squad besides Joan Capdevila and Cornell Glen and will be expected to be the first-choice custodian for the John Abraham-co-owned franchise.
#2 Kristof Van Hout (Delhi Dynamos)
This 27-year-old goalkeeper from Belgium is considered to be the tallest professional footballer in the world with an imposing height of six feet ten inches. Hout was part of Belgium club Standard Liege’s Champions League squad in 2009-10 but rose to prominence during his second spell with another Belgian outfit Kortrijk. In 2012, he earned a big money move to Belgian giants Racing Genk and even featured in last season’s Europa League. Hout is one of two foreign goalkeepers in the Delhi Dynamos squad besides Marek Cech of Czech Republic and thus faces competition for a first-team place.
#3 Manuel Friedrich (Mumbai City FC)
The 34-year-old German centre-back will be the only foreigner in the ISL to have played in the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League as he was with Borussia Dortmund in that campaign. Friedrich started his career with Mainz before having spells with Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen. He has finished runners-up in both the German Bundesliga and Cup with both Leverkusen and Dortmund. Friedrich has also been capped nine times at senior international level. He famously scored a last-minute winner for Leverkusen against Chelsea in the 2011-12 Champions League. The Mumbai City FC defence will be built around the German and thus there will be huge expectations from him.
#4 Bruno Cirillo (FC Pune City)
Having played under compatriot and FC Pune City head coach Franco Colomba in the past, it was no surprise to see the 37-year-old Italian centre-back sign for the Pune franchise even before the international draft. A member of Italy’s Euro Under-21 winning squad in 2000, Cirillo started his career with Reggina before earning a move to Italian giants Inter Milan, where he spent just one season. Cirillo has spent the majority of his career in Italy but has also had stints in Greece and France. Last season he was with Greek outfit AEK Athens and will be expected to become an important member of FC Pune City.
#5 Borja Fernandez (Atletico de Kolkata)
The 33-year-old Spanish defensive midfielder was officially the first foreigner to announce that he is joining the ISL and unsurprisingly his team was Atletico de Kolkata, where La Liga champions Atletico Madrid are one of the co-owners. Borja is a youth product of Real Madrid and also played for the first team of the Spanish giants. But the former Spanish youth international failed to cement his place in the Real Madrid squad and thus moved to Valladolid. He also went on to play for Deportivo and was with Getafe last season. Borja is one of six Spaniards in the Kolkata franchise and is likely to be a first-team regular under Spanish head coach Antonio Lopez Habas.
