Preview Defending champions Atletico de Kolkata have won the rights to be the first club to pick their choice of player in the domestic draft of the first ever Hero Indian Super League Player Auction and Draft in Mumbai. The Domestic Player Draft features 112 players. Clubs will be making the most of the best available players in the Domestic Player Draft to complete their respective 13 player signing in this category. A team like FC Goa, which already have 11 domestic players signed through retention or in free market, will participate only in the first two rounds of the draft to pick up two players. [caption id=“attachment_2336134” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
Founder and chairperson of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) Nita Ambani with Sunil Chhetri and other football players. PTI[/caption] Mumbai City FC will be the only club which can participate in all seven rounds of the domestic player draft to complete their requirement of 13 domestic player signings as they have signed just six players till now. Each club has a purse of Rs 21 crore. A club can spend maximum of Rs 5.50 crore on domestic players’ signing so as to complete its requirement of 13 domestic players, while for international and marquee player signing they can spend upto a maximum of Rs 15.50 crore. Any unsold player from the auction list will go into the Player Draft and will be available to be picked by the ISL Clubs at the base price. The minimum squad size for a club is 22 players. Each club is allowed to increase their squad size to 26 players, by adding four more players. A club can sign the additional four players under the ‘Additional Player’ allocation through open market with maximum two international players. A club buying players at auction will also be considered in the ‘Additional Quota’. The bid price at which a player is bought by a club at auction, will be considered from the International Player Salary Cap i.e. Rs 15.50 crore. The auction will be an open auction with each domestic player being individually presented in person. The auctioneer shall ask for bids, starting from the base payer fee of each player, with each subsequent bid request being at least of the increment stated. Each club will have to ensure that it has three goalkeepers in its squad of 26 players. It is recommended that each club have two Domestic and one international goalkeeper. As of date, 64 players have been signed by the eight clubs through retention or in free market. A total of 40 domestic players will be selected through the draft so that the clubs will have 13 domestic players by the end of the draft process. Each club is mandated to have two domestic player under the age of 23 years old (called ‘Developmental Player’) among with 13 domestic players. It is optional for clubs to bid on a domestic player in the Auction. A club may buy up to four domestic players at the auction. Any domestic player bought at the auction will be counted in the ‘Additional Player’ allocation over and above the 13 domestic players that each club must accumulate by the end of the draft. Other than the celebrity club owners, that includes former India cricket captain Saurav Ganguly who is to be present, each club would be represented by their head coach/assistant coach and technical staff during the Auction and Draft. A lot many players in the Draft list command base prices which are in excess of Rs 20 lakh. The highest among them are free agents are: T Saran Singh (Rs 33 lakh) and Keegan Pereira (Rs 32 lakh). Some others are: Gurjinder Kumar (Rs 27 lakh), Augustin Fernandes (Rs 26 lakh), Nicolas Colaco and Gilbert Oliveira (both Rs 23 lakh), all of them on loan from Salgaocar, and free agents Beevan D’Mello (Rs 24 lakh) and Zakeer Mundampara (Rs 23 lakh). Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Paul has been pegged at a base price of Rs 22.50 lakh. A majority of players have been fixed with base prices below Rs 10 lakh. Each franchise club has been given a salary cap of Rs 20 crore for the season to be spent on the players. The Player Draft list has 15 goalkeeers, 35 defenders, 52 mid fielders and 11 strikers to choose from. Goalkeepers: L Ralte, Soram Polrel, Nidhin Lal, Amrinder Singh, Lalit Thapa, Nikhil Bernard, Albino Gomes, Luis Baretto, Abhra Mondal, Ravi Kumar, L Premkumar Singh, L Bishojit Singh, Kunzang Bhutia, Debjit Majumder and Shilton Paul. Defenders: Keegan Periera, Chinta Chandrashekhar Rao, Justin Stephen, Prabir Das, Rahul Bheke, Avinabo Bag, Matthew Gonsalves, Raju Yumnam, Salam Ranjan Singh, Munmun Lugun, Zohimnglinna Ralte, C Lallawmzuala, Lalchhawnkima, Lalhmangaihsanga Ralte, Reagan Singh, Augustin Fernandes, Brian Mascheranas, Gilbert Oliviera, Nicolau Colaco, Keenan Almeida, Ngouba Singh, Samuel Shadap, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Jessel Carneiro, Shouvik Ghosh, Sukhen Dey, Sadsh Singh, Zodingliana Ralte, Samir Naik, Deepak Devrani, Govin Singh, Biswajit Saha, Naoba Singh, Anupam Sarkar and Rakesh Masih. Midfielders: Shankar Sampingiraj, Shilton D’Silva, Slam Hanghal, Malemnganba Meitel, Gunashekar Vignesh, Fulganco Cardozo, Alwyn George, Germanpreet Singh, Abhinash Ruidas, Lalkamal Bhowmick, Sehnaj Singh, Collin Abranches, Reisangmei Vashum, Ashutosh Mehta, Sampath Kutty Mani, Dhanpal Ganesh, Fanai Lalrempuia, Lalramluaha Hmar, Nikhil Kadam, Vellington Rocha, Marlangki Suting, Calvin Lobo, Prohlad Roy, Mohammad Rafique, Bikash Jairu, Karma Tsewang, Thangjam Saran Singh, Zakeer Mundampara, Joseph Lalfakzuala, Beevan D’Mello, Cajetan Fernandes, Peter Carvalho, Pratesh Shirodkar, Rowllin Borges, Velito Cruz, C Laldinmawia, Malsawmtluanga, A Sushil Meitei, Loken Meitei, Pradeep Mohanraj, Aayushman Chaturvedi, Brandon Fernandes, Bineesh Balan, Tirthankar Sarkar, Manish Bhargav, Jalson Vales, Tapan Maitry, Steven Dias, Prateek Shinde, Gurjinder Kumar, Sushant Matthew and Asif Kottayil. Strikers: Beikhokhei Beingaichho, CK Vineeth, Uttam Rai, Thongkhosiem Haokip, Aslon Oliveira, Sumeet Passi, Victorino Fernandes, Pankaj Moula, Manandeep Singh, Durga Boro and Milagres Gonsalves. PTI