List of Indian Super League marquees

Since its inception, the Indian Super League, one of the top footballing tournaments in India, has adopted the marquee player rule in which all eight teams signed one player to be their marquee player for the season. The rule allows ISL teams to pursue players who, in their prime, were considered superstars in the game. Their presence would help build attendances and fanfare throughout the league while also benefiting the players on the field performance wise.

Former Liverpool and Spanish international player, Luis García was the first marquee player in the Indian Super League when he signed for Atlético de Kolkata.[1]

History

Prior to the start of the Indian Super League, it was announced that all teams would include at least one marquee player in their side. Luis García was the first marquee signed when he was bought in by Atlético de Kolkata in July 2014.[1] The first season began with the inaugural class of marquee players being García at Atlético de Kolkata, former Brazilian international Elano at Chennaiyin, former Juventus and World Cup winning Italian forward Alessandro Del Piero at Delhi Dynamos, former Arsenal and World Cup winning France midfielder Robert Pirès at Goa, former England international goalkeeper David James at Kerala Blasters, former Swedish international Fredrik Ljungberg at Mumbai City, another former Spanish international Joan Capdevila at NorthEast United, and former French international and World Cup winner, David Trezeguet, at Pune City.[2] For Kerala Blasters, David James not only served as the marquee player but also as the team's head coach.[2]

After the first season, the ISL introduced a salary cap of 20 crore which also included marquee players in the cap.[3] Due to the new salary cap and various other reasons, only Elano was retained as a marquee player for the 2015 season.[3] Atlético de Kolkata decided to replace García with former Portuguese international Hélder Postiga.[4] Both Delhi Dynamos and Goa continued the run of bringing in Brazilian marquee players by signing former internationals Roberto Carlos and Lúcio respectively.[5][6] NorthEast United signed another former Portugal international in Simão Sabrosa while the Kerala Blasters bought in Carlos Marchena.[7][8] Mumbai City and Pune City signed Nicolas Anelka and former Chelsea forward Adrian Mutu respectively.[9][10] Both Carlos and Anelka would also serve as player-coaches throughout the season.

After the 2015 season it was announced that signing marquee players who also served as head coaches would be banned from happening in the Indian Super League.[11]

2016 Season Marquee Players

Year signed Team Marquee
2015 Atlético de Kolkata Portugal Hélder Postiga[12]
2016 Chennaiyin Norway John Arne Riise[13]
2016 Delhi Dynamos France Florent Malouda[14]
2015 Goa Brazil Lúcio[15]
2016 Kerala Blasters Northern Ireland Aaron Hughes[16]
2016 Mumbai City Uruguay Diego Forlán[17]
2016 NorthEast United Ivory Coast Didier Zokora[18]
2016 Pune City Mali Mohamed Sissoko[19]

Past marquee players

Year signedPlayerClub
2014Spain Luis GarcíaAtlético de Kolkata
2014–2015Brazil ElanoChennaiyin
2014Italy Alessandro Del PieroDelhi Dynamos
2014France Robert PirèsGoa
2014England David JamesKerala Blasters
2014Sweden Fredrik LjungbergMumbai City
2014Spain Joan CapdevilaNorthEast United
2014France David TrezeguetPune City
2015Brazil Roberto CarlosDelhi Dynamos
2015Spain Carlos MarchenaKerala Blasters
2015France Nicolas AnelkaMumbai City
2015Portugal Simão SabrosaNorthEast United
2015Romania Adrian MutuPune City
2016Iceland Eiður GuðjohnsenPune City

Marquee players by country

No. of players Country Players
4France FranceDavid Trezeguet, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pirès
3Brazil BrazilElano, Lúcio, Roberto Carlos
Spain SpainCarlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila, Luis García
2Portugal PortugalHélder Postiga, Simão Sabrosa
1England EnglandDavid James
Iceland IcelandEiður Guðjohnsen
Italy ItalyAlessandro Del Piero
Ivory Coast Ivory CoastDidier Zokora
Mali MaliMohamed Sissoko
Northern Ireland Northern IrelandAaron Hughes
Norway NorwayJohn Arne Riise
Romania RomaniaAdrian Mutu
Sweden SwedenFredrik Ljungberg
Uruguay UruguayDiego Forlán

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Atletico De Kolkata signs Luis Garcia for Indian Super League". Economic Times. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 Crocker, Sam (7 October 2014). "Indian Super League: club-by-club guide to the inaugural season". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 Cunha, Peter (28 July 2015). "Don't expect top marquee names, though 'player-managers' may continue". Scroll. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Postiga signs with Atletico de Kolkata". Atletico de Kolkata (Twitter). 29 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Chandra, Shikharr (5 July 2015). "Delhi Dynamos announce the signing of Roberto Carlos as head coach". Goal.com. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Lucio joins FC Goa as marquee". Goal.com. 7 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "Portugal's Euro 2004 finalist Simao Sabrosa signs for NorthEast United". FirstPost. 25 June 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Jitendran, Nikhil (19 September 2015). "Taylor reveals Kerala Blasters' ISL preparations going well". Goal.com. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "Mumbai City FC re-sign Nicolas Anelka". Times of India. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "Adrian Mutu joins Pune City as Indian Super League club's marquee signing". ESPN FC. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  11. ↑ Mergulhao, Marcus (16 January 2016). "ISL plans to get competitive marquees". Times of India. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Helder Postiga retained". Atletico de Kolkata (Twitter).
  13. ↑ "Chennaiyin FC sign John Arne Riise". Chennaiyin Football Club. August 18, 2016. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Delhi Dynamos FC's Florent Malouda returns as the Marquee player". Indian Super League. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  15. ↑ "Lucio returns to FC Goa". FC Goa (Twitter).
  16. ↑ Charles, Andy (28 July 2016). "Aaron Hughes joins Kerala Blasters as marquee player". Sky Sports.
  17. ↑ "Diego Forlan signs for Mumbai City". Mumbai City FC (Twitter).
  18. ↑ "Didier Zokora marquee NorthEast United". NorthEast United FC (Twitter).
  19. ↑ "Momo Sissoko signs as marquee". FC Pune City (Twitter).
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