8 football teams and their IPL equivalents

#2 Shanghai SIPG – Rising Pune Supergiant

Oscar became one of the most expensive players in football on moving to China

Shanghai SIPG Football Club are a recent phenomenon, founded in 2005, and have gained popularity in recent years due to the aggressive stance taken by the Chinese government to popularize football in China.

Rising Pune Supergiant are in their sophomore season and are a young team who were formed only because the IPL decided to expand the tournament. However, they are yet to click as a unit and win the league despite having one of the most expensive squads with players such as MS Dhoni, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis and Ajinkya Rahane.

Ben Stokes was bought for a record-price by Pune to improve the team’s fortunes

Shanghai are yet to win the Chinese Super League despite being the third-most valuable club and signing players such as Hulk and Ricardo Carvalho. The club’s coach, Andre Villas-Boas, pulled off one of the most expensive transfers in signing Oscar from Chelsea in order to improve the team’s chances of winning the league.

Similarly, Pune signed one of the best all-rounders in the world, Ben Stokes, for a whopping 14.5 crore to improve the team’s performances this season. So, it remains to be seen whether both the team’s fortunes change this year and whether the huge signings make the desired impact.