MUMBAI: The first season of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) was indeed a success for the sport in India as it achieved a rare status of being the fourth-most watched football leagues in the world.
Now in its second edition, the controlling body of the ISL, the Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL), formed through a joint venture between IMG-Reliance and Star India, has decided that the ISL clubs will have player’s salary cap of Rs 20 crore for the second season to be held this year.
The board has also decided that the ISL will have an auction for Indian players who have played in the senior national teams but missed out on the inaugural ISL season.
Each club will be eligible to add only one such player from the auction list consisting of maximum 12 to 15 players. Those not picked through auction will form part of the Domestic Players Draft.
Commenting on the development, an Indian Super League spokesperson said that the new set of rules are defined to encourage clubs in player retention, assist them in managing player costs and provide a level playing field for each club to prepare for the second season with a reasonable and broadly equitable chance of winning the league in 2015.
“The inaugural year of the ISL brought to fore many new faces of Indian football other than the known international names. The league encourages the Clubs to retain such players to help them build an identity and fan base,” added the spokesperson.
In terms of player retention, a number of decisions have been taken at the first Governing Council to review the inaugural season. The Governing Council committee consists of all eight ISL participatory club representatives and officials from FSDL.
For marquee players it has been decided that each club must have a minimum of one marquee player. Clubs can retain their marquee player from the inaugural season but are free to sign one from the open market, with prior approval from the League. For international players, clubs can retain a minimum of one and maximum of five international players. Additionally, clubs are allowed to contract international players by themselves through the market directly.
It has also been decided that a minimum of one and maximum of six domestic players can be retained by a club. Players, who are not part of the retention list of clubs, can be signed by any ISL club in the open market until April 2015. In case they are still without contract, such players will be listed in the Domestic Draft.
Each club is to have a minimum of 22 players, with a mandatory two developmental players in the squad. Each team would consist of one marquee, eight international and 13 domestic players including the compulsory two under-23 developmental players. A club can have a maximum squad size of 25. Additional quota of three players can have maximum two international players it has been decided.
