Second season of ISL to begin on 3 October this year

The Hero Indian Super League (ISL) is back for its second season after a successful first year in 2014. The league attracted an average of 26,505 spectators to its matches over 10 weeks, making it the fourth post popular league in the world by that measure. The only three leagues to top it are: Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and the English Premier League. The eight-franchise league will kick off on October 3 and end on December 20, 2015. Atletico de Kolkata will begin the defense of their title down south against losing semi-finalists Chennaiyin FC in the league’s opening game. [caption id=“attachment_1771399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of ISL logo. PR[/caption] Runners-up Kerala Blasters, the team owned by Sachin Tendulkar, will try to go one better than last time starting with a home game against North-East United FC on 6 October. Mumbai City FC’s first game will be a much-anticipated ‘Maha Derby’ - as it was billed by ISL last season - against FC Pune City, to be played on October 5 in Mumbai. The anticipation this time around from fans would be to see if the ISL can woo bigger stars than they managed to last time around. The Indian players, many of whom will be a part of the World Cup qualifiers beginning in June, would also be keen to perform well and catch the attention of foreign clubs. The complete list of fixtures can be found here.