Indian Super League

The Indian Super League, officially known as the Hero Indian Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in India. The league is one of the top-tier football leagues in India, the other being the I-League. It features eight franchise teams from all around India. The league runs from October to December, with a finals series determining the champion.

The Indian Super League was founded in 2013 in an effort to make football a top sport in India and to make Indian football a major player worldwide. Unlike the majority of football leagues around the world, the ISL does not use the promotion and relegation system. Instead, it uses a franchise system in which eight teams were created to participate in the league.

The inaugural season of the league started on Sunday October 12, 2014 and concluded on Saturday December 20, 2014. Atlético de Kolkata won the final by beating Kerala Blasters with a fabulous corner goal in the in the last gasp winner.

History
On 9 December 2010, the All India Football Federation signed a 15-year, 700-crore deal with Reliance Industries and the International Management Group of the United States. The deal gave IMG-Reliance exclusive commercial rights to sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting, merchandising, video, franchising, and rights to create a new football league. This deal came about after the AIFF ended their 10-year deal with Zee Sports five years early back in October 2010.

The Indian Super League was officially launched on 21 October 2013 by IMG-Reliance, STAR Sports, and the AIFF. It was also announced that the league would take place from January 2014 to March 2014. However, on 29 October 2013, it was announced that the ISL would be postponed to September 2014. Also in October, it was announced that former Manchester United player and France international Louis Saha had become the first marquee signing for the Indian Super League.

The first team to be launched officially was the Kolkata franchise as Atlético de Kolkata on 7 May 2014. Then, on 7 July 2014, the team announced the first head coach signing in Indian Super League history when they signed Antonio López Habas. The next day, Kolkata also announced the first official marquee signing in the Indian Super League when they signed UEFA Champions League winner Luis García. A few days later, on 16 July, the second marquee signing was announced with Guwahati's Northeast United signed 2010 World Cup winner Joan Capdevila.

Competition format
The Indian Super League regular season runs between October and November with the finals series being played in December. During the regular season, the teams play each other twice on a home and away basis. The top four teams at the end of the season qualify for the semi-finals. The semi-finals are played in a two-legged format with the winners moving onto the one-legged final.

The Indian Super League also consists of controlled rosters. Each team must sign at least one marquee player while they must also sign seven other foreigners. Of the seven foreign players, only two can be signed directly by the club with the other five coming from the foreign player draft. Each team must also have 14 Indian domestic players, four of whom must be local to the city.

Media coverage and sponsorship
STAR Sports, who are a part of the group who founded the Indian Super League, broadcast the ISL officially through India. The network use their expertise to take the league to millions of households and also monetise the content on and off the field. The goal is to get people in India excited by football and make them more aware of it.

On 18 July 2014 it was announced that Hero MotoCorp had signed a three-year agreement with the Indian Super League organizers to become the title sponsor of the league. This thus made the Indian Super League known officially as the Hero Indian Super League.

On 19 September 2014 it was announced that the Indian Super League (ISL) would be the first sporting event in the country to be backed by a never-before seen, ubiquitous broadcast platform plan, with the potential to reach around 85 per cent of India’s television audience.

International coverage
On 15 September 2014 Fox Sports announced that they would telecast the matches of Indian Super League in Australia, cashing in on the popularity of former Sydney FC marquee and Italy international, Alessandro Del Piero.

Eurosport 2 telecast the ISL matches in Europe, except the UK. Star TV UK will air it in United Kingdom.

On 30 September 2014 it was announced that Puma would be the official match-ball supplier of the Indian Super League. All matches will be played using the Puma evoPower 1 ball.

Trophy
The Indian Super League trophy was unveiled on 5 October 2014 in Mumbai by IMG-Reliance chairperson Nita Ambani. The trophy was also unveiled by all eight marquee players for the 2014 season.

The trophy was designed by Frazer and Haws and stands at twenty-six inches tall with the logo on the trophy featuring the colours of the Indian Super League