5 reasons why ISL season 2 was better than season 1

The second season of the Indian Super League came to a dramatic close as Chennaiyin FC came from behind to clinch a 3-2 win over FC Goa in the final. The league saw a total of 186 goals scored, immediately implying more entertainment for everyone and indicated that teams had become more attack-minded.The Indian players shed their inhibitions from season 1 and showcased all their talent very well, ensuring that they show a major improvement from last season. Coaches also experimented with tactics more in order to get their teams’ the best possible result.Overall, season 2 of the Indian Super League was much better than season 1 and here are 5 reasons why:

#1 All the best Indian players involved

Some of the best talents in India missed the inaugural season of the Indian Super League as I-League club Bengaluru FC refused to release their players but they couldn’t keep their players away this season. The Bengaluru FC players were part of the auction that was conducted in Mumbai in July and were sold for big money.

Bengaluru skipper Sunil Chhetri was sold to Mumbai City FC for Rs. 1.2 crore, which was the most expensive buy of the auction. The Indian skipper scored 7 goals in the season and was the highest scoring Indian player.

Not far behind was midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who was sold to FC Pune City for 1.05 crores. Lyngdoh enjoyed a brilliant season with Bengaluru as he scored 8 goals and assisted another 16 goals, and was also named as I-League midfielder of the season.

Though Lyngdoh played only 10 games for FC Pune City, he was one of their best players, scoring two goals and assisted another two.

Atletico de Kolkata signed Arata Izumi in the auction, and he turned out to be the biggest surprise of the season. The Japanese-born Indian footballer scored 5 goals to help his side reach the semi-finals.

Delhi Dynamos also didn’t want to miss out on some of the best Indian talents, as they signed Indian forward Robin Singh for Rs. 51 lac. He ended up scoring 4 goals in the tournament, helping his team reach the semi-finals.

#2 The ISL Fantasy League made things more interesting

Indian Super League got a lot more exciting with the introduction of the Fantasy League. Fans had the opportunity to create their own squad and challenge their friends by just logging in to the official website of the Indian Super League.

Once you selected your squad, you could also create leagues and invite your friends to join. The rules were very similar to the famous English Premier League fantasy game Fantasy Premier League.

Every participant was given a budget of 100 crore to pick their squad. You could select a maximum of four players from any team, make unlimited transfers before the first round of games and two free transfers from Round 2 to Round 14.

Any extra transfer cost you four points, but in case you need to shuffle your entire squad you could use your wildcard any time between Round 2 and Round 14, which would enable you to make unlimited transfers without any deduction of points.

Players’ price increased or decreased depending on their performances and one could also select a captain before each round; the captain’s points would get doubled.

Not surprisingly, John Mendoza, the Hero of the League, scored the highest here as well, with 126 points throughout the league. Golden Glove winner, Edel Bete was the goalkeeper who gave the highest points, with 82, giving fans great value for money, as his initial value was only 6.3.

#3 Increase in overall stadium audience

Never in India have we seen people filling up stadiums to watch a football match like it happened in the Indian Super League. The ISL experienced a 6.8% increase in stadium attendances this season.

A total of 1.58 million people flocked to the eight stadiums to watch matches last season while 1.63 million people visited the stadiums this season. Delhi Dynamos had the biggest increase in stadium attendance, from around from 15.7 k average attendance to 19.4k, a rise of about 23.5%.

Inaugural season champions Atletico de Kolkata recorded the second highest increase in numbers from 45k to 50.7k, which is around 12.2%.

Like last year, Kerala Blasters recorded the highest average attendance thise season too. Around 52k people watched Kerala Blasters play in every home game, an increase of 5.8% from last season.

NorthEast United were the only team to record a decline in average stadium attendance from 28.6k last season to 24.5k this season.

#4 Good calibre of foreign players

While the first edition of the Indian Super League saw the likes of Luis Garcia, Alessandro Del Piero, Marco Materazzi, Robert Pirès, Elano Blumer, Joan Capdevila, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Trezeguet, David James, Nicolas Anelka and Alessandro Nesta taking part in the tournament, clubs have signed marquee players more smartly this season.

The big names involved last season helped a lot in promoting the league, but on the pitch only Luis Garcia and Elano Blumer were successful.

Elano Blumer was retained by Chennaiyin FC and played a key role in their journey to the Indian Super League title. South African winger Sameehg Doutie also surprised a few as he scored 3 goals and assisted another 6 for Ateltico de Kolkata.

Champions League winner John Arne Riise also enjoyed a solid season for Delhi Dynamos, and was one of the best defenders in the league. Leo Moura, who was a youth product of Botafogo academy, had more assists to his name than any other player in the league this season, and also found the back of the net twice.

#5 More recovery time for players

Coaches and players complained about the recovery time between games last year with so much of traveling to do, players found it really difficult in such difficult conditions in India.

The inaugural season of the Indian Super League started on October 12th, 2014 and ended on December 20th, 2014. To try and minimise those problems this season, the organisers decided to start the second edition a bit early on October 3, 2015, with the final being played on December 20, 2015.

The second season also saw only one match per day, reducing the load further on players. Though it still was a tightly packed schedule, the little relaxation from the previous season helped teams a lot.

It enabled teams to plan well, with some team such as FC Pune City opting to rotate their players regularly to keep everyone fresh.