7th ISL: A Super League was had

The 7th Indian Super League (ISL) blew its final whistle on March 13, with Mumbai City winning its first championship title. Played as the tournament was in a ‘Covid year’ in empty stadia across Goa, the organisers did a sterling job.

The buzz before the season was focused on the two Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. It all began when 2019-20 I-League champions Mohun Bagan announced a merger with 2019-20 ISL champions ATK, forming a new entity, ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB). With Bagan in the ISL, obviously East Bengal fans demanded their participation. What followed was almost endless theatrics about who would invest in the red-golds to fructify their dreams of joining the ISL.

With East Bengal having just ended their association with previous investors Quess, finding a new one in these trying times was an uphill task. Amid much fanfare — and intervention by powers that be — they finally found an investor in Shree Cement.


The delay in finding an investor, however, ensured that SC East Bengal (SCEB) entered the league with a rather feeble team. ATKMB, on the other hand, entered with an almost unaltered side that won the sixth edition of ISL, winning coach Antonio Lopez Habas included. SCEB countered by appointing ex-Liverpool player Robbie Fowler as coach, and signing a few ex-Premier League and Australian League players.

Charismatic FC Goa coach Sergio Lobera moved to Mumbai City, carrying with him a host of talented players. Meanwhile, I-League-winning ex-Bagan coach Kibu Vicuna joined Kerala Blasters. Hyderabad FC made news while signing a host of very young and talented Indian players under coach Manuel Marquez Roca.

ISL 2020-21 started with a bang on November 20, 2020, with ATKMB facing arch rivals SCEB in the opener, winning 2-0. The mercurial Roy Krishna opened the scoring and went on to win the Golden Ball. In the final, a goalkeeping blunder by ultimate Golden Glove winner Arindam Bhattacharyya of ATKMB, allowed young Bipin Singh to slot home the matchwinner for Mumbai. Igor Angulo of FC Goa went on to bag the Golden Boot.

The story of this year’s ISL would be incomplete without highlighting the performance of two teams — Hyderabad FC, who offered some outstanding performances by Ashish Rai, Sana Singh, Akash Mishra, Liston Colaco, Hitesh Sharma and Mohammad Yasir; and Northeast United (NU), who made it to the semis under the only Indian head coach Khalid Jamil. NU also unearthed young talent like Ninthoi, Apuia and Rochharzella.

Here’s to the promise of more exciting football on Indian turf in the coming seasons.