The Indian Super League (ISL) season is around the corner and it brings with it plenty of things to look forward to. All 11 teams have set up their camp in Goa and are on course to play the pre-season friendlies in order to attain the desired match fitness.
In what will be the seventh edition of Indian football’s premier competition, the teams will begin their campaign from November 20 with defending champions ATK Mohun Bagan taking on Kerala Blasters. In the wake of the pandemic, all the matches in ISL 2020-21 will be played behind closed doors in Goa, like the 2019-20 final, and the players are all set to be in a biosecure bubble.
What’s new in ISL 2020-21?
Unlike the previous season, ISL 2020-21 will see as many as 11 teams vying for the coveted title after SC East Bengal was inducted in the competition. Apart from that, ATK’s merger with Mohun Bagan now sees the two teams playing as one brand new identity - ATK Mohun Bagan FC.
As far as transfers are concerned, each team can only sign a minimum of five and a maximum of seven foreign players, and at least one of them should be from an Asian Football Confederation-affiliated country.
Furthermore, there are reports that each ISL team will require to add at least two development players -- born on or after January 1, 2000 -- in their matchday squad in order to provide the much-needed exposure to the Indian football players. Furthermore, the rule of having four foreign players in the starting XI stays intact.
List of teams in ISL 2020/21 and coaches
Here are all the 11 teams and their respective ISL coaches playing in the Season 7 of the Indian Super League:
- ATK Mohun Bagan - Antonio Lopez Habas
- Bengaluru FC - Carles Cuadrat
- Chennaiyin FC - Csaba Laszlo
- FC Goa - Juan Ferrando
- Hyderabad FC - Manuel Roca
- Jamshedpur FC - Owen Coyle
- Kerala Blasters - Kibu Vicuna
- Mumbai City FC - Sergio Lobera
- NorthEast United FC - Gerard Nus
- Odisha FC - Stuart Baxter
- SC East Bengal - Robbie Fowler
Foreign players in ISL 2020-21
This year’s Indian Super League season will see several new overseas stars, who have plied their trade in some of the biggest competitions in world football, including the Premier League and even La Liga. Here is the entire list of ISL’s foreign players:
ATK Mohun Bagan FC - Brad Inman, Roy Krishna, Carl McHugh, Edu Garcia, Javi Hernandez, Tiri and David Williams.
Bengaluru FC - Cleiton Silva, Deshron Brown, Kristian Opseth, Dimas Delgado, Fran Gonzales, Juanan and Erik Paartalu
Chennaiyin FC - Enes Sipovic, Eli Sabia, Memo, Rafael Crivellaro, Esmael Goncalves, Jakub Sylvestr and Fatkhullo Fathkuloev
SC East Bengal - Jacques Maghoma, Matti, Steinmann, Anthony Pilkington, Danny Fox, Aaron Holloway and Scott Neville
FC Goa - Alberto Noguera, Edu Bedia, Igor Angulo, Ivan Gonzalez, Jorge Ortiz and James Donachie
Hyderabad FC - Joao Victor, Aridane Santana, Fran Sandaza, Lluis Sastre, Odei Onaindia and Joel Chainese
Jamshedpur FC - Alex Monteiro, Peter Hartley, Nerijus Valskis, Stephen Eze, Aitor Monroy, David Grande and Nick Fitzgerald
Kerala Blasters FC - Facundo Pereyra, Bakary Kone, Gary Hooper, Sergio Cidoncha, Vicente Gomez, Costa Nhamoinesu and Jordan Murray
Mumbai City FC - Adam Le Fondre, Ahmed Jahouh, Hugo Boumous, Bartholomew Ogbeche, Mourtada Fall, Hernan Santana and Cy Goddard
NorthEast United FC - Benjamin Lambot, Kwesi Appiah, Idrissa Sylla, Khassa Camara, Luis Machado, Federico Gallego and Dylan Fox
Odisha FC - Diego Mauricio, Marcelinho, Steven Taylor, Diawandou Diagne, Cole Alexander, Manuel Onwu and Jacob Tratt
ISL 2020-21 venues
All the ISL 2020-21 matches will be played without spectators, with the venues being the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao, the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim and the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco da Gama.
The host venues for each ISL team is as follows:
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium: ATK Mohun Bagan, Bengaluru FC and FC Goa
GMC Athletic Stadium: Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City FC and Odisha FC
Tilak Maidan Stadium: Easy Bengal, Hyderabad FC, Jamshedpur FC and NoerthEast United
ISL 2020-21 schedule
The tournament is set to kick off on November 20, 2020, and the season will feature as many as 115 games, including the semi-finals and the final. While the doubleheaders will only be played on Sundays, the ISL 2020-21 league stage phase will run until February.
Click here for the entire schedule.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @IndSuperLeague
