THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

Indian Super League attracts international players from across continents

Hero Indian Super League (ISL)

Hero Indian Super League (ISL)

The Hero Indian Super League (ISL) is set to bring the world football flavour to India as experienced international footballers and young promising talents from across four continents – Europe, South America, Africa and Asia – would descend on Indian soil for the first time to set pace to the beautiful game in India.

Theleague organisers IMG-Reliance and Star India today announced the names of 27 players for the ‘Central International Player Draft Pool’ representing countries like Spain, Czech Republic, South Korea, France, Brazil, Colombia, Senegal and Burkina Faso.

The Hero Indian Super League has signed 30 overseas players, including the earlier announcements of three namely Jairo Suarez, Andrés González (Colombia) and Bojan Djordjic (Sweden). The ‘International Player Draft’, to be held on August 21, 2014 in Mumbai will feature 49 overseas players and will witness the eight ISL clubs putting their expertise to test in selecting seven international players each for the squad of 22.

Of the 30 players, the Indian fans will witness the Spanish style of football with six players from the country, including Jofre Mateu Gonzalez (34) and Victor Herrero Forcada (28) – both a product of FC Barcelona’s prolific youth system – plying their trade for the ISL clubs. South Korean duo Do Dong-Hyun (20) and Park Kwang–Il (23) will bring the Asian appeal to ISL, while six experienced players will represent the Czech Republic.

The Hero Indian Super League has also roped in the services of five promising young Brazilian players from Atletico Paranaense, namely Erwin Spitzner (20), Gustavo Marmentini dos Santos (20), Guilherme Felipe de Castro (22), Bruno Augusto Pelissari de Lima (21) and Pedro Adriano Veloso Gusmao (22). The league has closed on the remaining 19 overseas players and is in the process of receiving the contract documents from the respective identified players.