The 2022-23 Indian Super League will work in domestic football’s favour

Kerala Blasters FC after their win against East Bengal FC at the opening fixture match of ISL 2022-23 (Photo: Kerala Blasters FC/Twitter)

On Friday, Kerala Blasters won the opening match of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23, 3-1, against East Bengal FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. But the tie was noteworthy for the around 35,000 fans who attended the match—for the first time in two seasons.

After these two editions of the ISL in front of empty stadiums and oppressive player bubbles that was necessitated by the pandemic, the 2022-23 season will provide a much needed boost to domestic sport. It’s already been further bolstered, post-monsoon, by the start of the Pro Kabaddi League on Friday in Bengaluru and the ongoing National Games in Gujarat. Like any sport, football feeds off spectators’ energy.

Kerala Blasters’ coach Ivan Vukomanović said after Friday’s game that “it was huge, it was priceless, when you have this kind of support, especially when you’re giving your everything on the pitch. In fact, these fans push you to do better, you have to give your everything for them, even the last drop of your sweat.

“If you keep believing in the things you want, you saw it personally, how the fans pushed us harder to do better after the first goal.”

“The last two-and-a-half years...were difficult,” Bengaluru FC’s Sunil Chhetri said in a media interaction before the team’s first match on Saturday. “The added motivation with fans is different and now we know the value of it.”

The 117 matches of this season, to be held between Thursday and Sunday every week with a focus on weekends, streamlines the schedule in line with international football leagues. The top six teams, half of the total participating number, will qualify for the play-offs in an inexplicable change to the format. The league stage will last for almost five months as the ISL aims towards extending its run for a longer stretch — like the European leagues do for about 10 months — though Indian footballers may not yet have the legs to take them through that kind of rigour. Each club will play 20 league matches — 10 each at home and away — unlike last year when all matches were held in Goa.

Mumbai FC coach Des Buckingham feels the schedule would have a positive impact because it allows the players more time while travelling to prepare and recover. “That should raise the quality of play,” he says over the phone, adding that personally for him, he is looking forward to seeing different parts of country while travelling with the team.

“As Greg Stewart (one of Mumbai FC’s new signings from Jamshedpur FC) mentioned, football without fans is not football. The bubble was surreal, playing in empty stadiums without atmosphere. In front of people, players feel that excitement. Players who want to achieve something, if they want to develop their careers, need to get used to playing in front of crowds.”

Besides the excitement of fans, the league is not without its under currents of drama. On 29 October, Kolkata will host the traditional Indian football derby, a match between ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC. The latter, having survived some turbulent times with sponsors, have brought in as coach Stephen Constantine, who managed the Indian team for several years and knows the country’s football as well as anyone else.

Hyderabad FC unexpectedly won the title last year, beating Kerala Blasters in a final that was played in front of fans at the Fatorda in Goa. Retaining the title will be a tough challenge for Hyderabad, which has kept the core of its team without any major signings.

“Defending the title is never easy,” says Hyderabad FC co-owner Varun Tripuraneni, over a call. “We have gone with continuity in the squad — from the management to the coaching staff (including manager Manolo Marquez). We have kept the core together. We lost a few players (to transfers), but that was bound to happen.”

League Shield winners Jamshedpur FC lost one of their star players, Stewart, to Mumbai, which makes the 2022-23 season an uphill one for them. Bengaluru FC recently won the Durand Cup, which augurs well for the team that has Chhetri, the talismanic striker who continues to be the country’s best at age 38. But Chhetri is modest—or self-deprecating—enough to admit that his aim is to get into playing XI in a team that also has Roy Krishna and Sivasakthi Narayanan.

“The biggest strength in Durand is we played as a team,” Chhetri said on Friday ahead of their first ISL game. “Shivasakthi was a superstar. It’s getting difficult, with youngsters pushing us and seniors feeling insecure. We have 26 good players and I am one of the people making sure I am in the first XI.”

Blasters’ opening night win is no surprise as the team, guided by the popular Vukomanović, was in the final last season, a final they were expected to win.

The new season also opens up opportunities for more engagement for teams, with fans and sponsors, which was missing in the previous couple of seasons. “Coming back home after winning title, there is a good buzz in city and expectations are high. It’s important to capitalise on the buzz,” says Tripuraneni.

“Being in the bubble sort of removes opportunities for regional brands to interact with club. You are pretty much looking at brands having logos for visibility from broadcast. With matches at home, brands can interact, which is a big plus from last year to this year. More importantly, it gives brands ground activation. Ticketing revenue is important, too. The first priority though is to ensure a full house; we need to work on strategies that ticketing becomes part of the business model.”

While the last two seasons were about players adjusting to bubbles and empty arenas, now with home and away matches in a longer season, this would be a test for all, one that will work in domestic football’s favour.