Of course the timing was deliberate. As the millions of Indian followers of the Premier League got psyched up for last month’s Arsenal-Liverpool match at the Emirates, the Delhi Dynamos announced the signing of John Arne Riise and, in case the vicarious prestige was not potent enough, the announcement was accompanied by footage of Riise being presented with his new club’s jersey by none other than Ian Rush. The club had staged a similar stunt the previous week in the run-up to the Manchester City-Chelsea match, when they trumpeted their recruitment of Florent Malouda.

The Premier League is enormously popular in India and the nascent Indian Super League (ISL) is unashamedly keen to profit from its reflected glory as it strives to embed a strong domestic championship. The initial signs are promising: last year the inaugural ISL, campaign, in which Atlético de Kolkata won the title, enjoyed average attendances of more than 26,000, which, going solely on that metric, made it the fourth-best supported league in the world. On top of that was an average television audience of 29 million per match. Build on that success for the second season, which kicks off this weekend, and the ISL is well on the way to sustainability.

The Premier League is not the only prop being used to publicise the ISL, which also reaches for stars from elsewhere: the Dynamos, for instance, are managed by Roberto Carlos and begin their campaign on Saturday against Zico’s FC Goa; and the club owners probably attract even more attention, with each ISL team backed either by Bollywood actors or cricketing icons such as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.



“And we encourage the owners to bring as many of their celebrity friends as possible to matches,” says Andy Knee of the IMG group that runs the ISL, whose games are prefaced by firework displays and punctuated by music to mark key events for crowds accustomed to constant stimulation. “Whatever the reason that people turn up, whether it is to see their favourite celebrities or to enjoy the music and atmosphere, our job is to persuade them to stay for the football,” says Knee.

The ISL is a commercial enterprise. It aims to make money by providing entertainment through football presented in a way that many Indian sports fans seem to like: a short-form, two-month, eight-team league with matches every day and no end of glitzy accessories. But it has critics, notably from the I-League, India’s other championship, the long-established one featuring clubs with decades of tradition but relatively few resources.

John Arne Riise trains under the gaze of the Delhi Dynamos head coach Roberto Carlos. Photograph: Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images

The coexistence of two leagues is a quirk and many people, including the India national team manager Stephen Constantine, argue that for Indian football to progress properly, the leagues should merge. There are no plans for that to happen any time soon but that does not preclude cross-fertilisation between the leagues. The I-League is the main national league in the eyes of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the one through which clubs qualify for continental competitions. But the AIFF also supports the ISL, whose contribution to promoting football in the country is undeniable. Many I-League clubs are now adjusting their views. A significant difference between the forthcoming ISL season and the first one is that it will feature top Indian players signed on loan from I-League teams who previously refused to cooperate.

In July the ISL generated huge interest and excitement by holding its first player auction, similar to the ones run by cricket’s Indian Premier League, with each team bidding for the services of India internationals. The two ISL clubs from Maharashtra, Pune City and Mumbai City were the most eye-catching spenders as they sought to improve on poor debut seasons. The former forked out more than £150,000 to land last season’s I-League player of the year, Royal Wahingdoh’s winger Jackichand Singh, and the best midfielder in the I-League, Eugeneson Lyngdoh of Bengaluru FC, while Mumbai City paid the highest single price for a player to lure India’s captain, Sunil Chhetri.

Those acquisitions means that Monday’s Maha derby will entice interest for reasons beyond famous imports, although it will also be fascinating to see how Mumbai City’s player-manager takes to his new role, as it is not one for which Nicolas Anelka seems obviously cut out. His counterpart in the Pune City dugout will not combine management with playing – wags might suggest that, at 49, David Platt is not too old for the ISL but, in fact, a conscious effort has been made to attract younger overseas players than last year. “The likes of Alessandro Del Piero and Freddie Ljungberg were fantastic from a marketing point of view but this year teams have tried to sign marquee players who will bring more on the pitch,” says Knee.

ISL stars Florent Malouda, Helder Postiga, Elano Blumer, Lucio, Adrian Mutu and Nicolas Anelka pose for a group selfie during the competition’s media launch. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

At Delhi Dynamos Riise and Malouda, both 35, will be joined by the 21-year-old Adil Nabi, who was West Bromwich Albion’s young player of the season last season and became, in the summer, the first player to move (on loan) directly from a Premier League club to the ISL. Dyanmos have also signed the 25-year-old India international Robin Singh, whom they will loan back to Bengaluru FC in the I-League next season.

Each ISL club is also contractually bound to run a player-development academy, although so far their efforts are concentrated in a central one in Mumbai for which IMG has hired coaches from Brazil and the Netherlands. “The ISL has proven that football is very popular in India and we think Indian football will benefit from it,” says Knee, who reckons the ISL is helping pave the way for an enduring legacy to the 2017 Under-17 World Cup, the first global football tournament to be hosted by India.