Midfielder Muhammed Nemil is recovering from injury, said FC Goa coach Juan Ferrando, but proof of his ability came in the Durand Cup with a cleverly chipped goal against Jamshedpur FC. This will also be the first time a player from the Reliance Foundation Young Champs, which is an off-shoot of ISL, has been named in the first team squad. The rise in price of Indian outfield players now is similar to what happened in 2017-18 when the reduction in foreigners led to a spike in salaries of Indian goalkeepers. It also explains why FC Goa zeroed in on ball-playing central defender Anwar Ali, whose heart condition had precluded him from being involved in ISL so far, and why ATKMB are said to be keen on Chinglensana Singh to fill a Sandesh Jhingan shaped hole left by the India central defender moving to Croatia. Mumbai City FC were rumoured to have paid over ₹2 crore - the maximum in ISL history - to NEUFC for 21-year-old midfielder Lalengmawia Ralte and ATKMB were said to have almost touched the ₹2 crore mark to get inverted winger Liston Colaco from Hyderabad FC. But given that the available pool of Indians is small due to the lack of structured youth development programmes, this is also why two of the three biggest transfers in 21-22 involved Indians. This will mean more Indian players in the teams’ spine as opposed to many of them being used in the wide areas of the pitch. I am looking forward to ISL clubs trusting the quality of Indian players and here’s wishing the clubs and players a very good season.”Īlso supporting the move, Marco Pezzaiuoli, the new coach at Bengaluru FC, said: “Even Sunil Chhetri was young at one time you need to give players the chance to develop.” “Last year, Hyderabad FC often played with three or four foreigners and it didn’t hurt them at all. “This will mean I can see more youngsters,” said India head coach Igor Stimac over the phone from Split, Croatia. Habas will not need reminding that his worst night with an Indian team came with four foreigners in the AFC Cup inter-zonal semi-final where ATK Mohun Bagan lost 0-6 to FC Nasaf. How this rule impacts coaches-from 36-year-old newbie Des Buckingham at reigning champions Mumbai City FC to Antonio Lopez Habas, who is 64, and with ATKMB-will be the thing to watch this season. “Time for Indian players to step up,” said Brandon Fernandes, the India and FC Goa attacking midfielder. It was pruned to five in 2017-18 when the league expanded to 10 teams but 2021-22 is when it is being brought in line with Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regulations which follows the 3+1 rule on imports with one player compulsorily being from Asia. ISL began with teams allowed six foreigners in the playing 11. The number of development players (those born on or after January 1, 2000) on the roster too has been upped to four with at least two needed in match day squads, exactly double of what it was in 2020-21.Īnd there will be seven Indians on the pitch, always. In the storied rivalry of Kolkata’s two clubs, Arindam Bhattacharya will be the first to have got the armband at SC East Bengal in the season he moved from ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB). Five of the 11 teams have named an Indian as captain or, if they have decided to have multiple skippers, kept one as an option. In Khalid Jamil, there will be an Indian head coach- a first since ISL began as a two-month tournament in 2014-after NorthEast United (NEUFC) decided that the Mumbaikar deserved more than an interim position for guiding them to the semi-finals last term. A new season of the Indian Super League (ISL) begins on Friday, one that will be the most Indian of all eight iterations of the competition that is now the country’s most important football event.
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