After three successful seasons of promoting football in the country and finding new talent, Indian Super League is now bringing two new teams. ISL, which previously consisted of 8 teams will now include two new teams in the tournament, Jamshedpur and Bengaluru. The owner of Jameshedpur franchise is Tata Steel Limited while that of Bengaluru is Jindal South West (JSW) group.
According to a statement of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the organisers of the ISL,
“The ISL, in its fourth edition, will witness an expanded five-month module with number of participating clubs increasing to 10 from its original eight founding member city clubs. The inclusion of two new clubs came through the ‘Invitation To Bid’ tender process floated by FSDL last month. An independent panel along with consulting firm EY evaluated the bids to present its report today to the panel, in the presence of All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Das.”
Mohun Bagan and East Bengal were also said to be participating in ISL but their several conditions to AIFF prevented their participation in the league.
Previously, ISL consisted of 8 teams that were Atletico de Kolkata, NorthEast United, Delhi Dynamos, FC Goa, Mumbai City FC, FC Pune City, Chennaiyin FC and Kerala Blasters.