In India, cricket is king, but football is rapidly becoming more and more popular in the country, and this is partly thanks to the success of the Indian Super League: India’s premier football league.
In this article, you will learn some very interesting facts about the Indian Super League that you (probably) weren’t aware of - so let’s get into it!
ISL is one of the fastest-growing football leagues in the world
The ISL is the fifth biggest football league in the world in terms of average audience attendance per match, and this number is growing every sæson, with a most recent 16% increase in attendance numbers when compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
Football has become the second most viewed sport in India after cricket in 2022, largely thanks to the success of the Indian Super League.
The popularity of the ISL and football in India is likewise demonstrated through the many new online football betting sites in India that have been popping up over the past five years. Here are some interesting stats which will put the popularity of the ISL into perspective.
Attendance Rate
The Indian Super League has an average stadium attendance rate of 27,111 people per match. This is a fairly large attendance rate which puts the ISL almost on par with major European leagues like the Spanish La Liga (27,700 spectators per match) Italian Serie A (22,164 spectators per match) and French Ligue 1 (21,029 spectators per match).
Viewership Rate
According to an analysis by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) the Indian Super League reached a record audience of more than 130 million viewers in the 2021 season, and surpassed previous seasons in terms of ratings, viewing time, and more.
Social Media Engagement
The Indian Super League has done a great job of building up engagement and following on various social media platforms: they have more than 800,000 followers on Twitter, which is more than the Italian Serie A.
The ISL is also the 4th biggest football league on Instagram measured by engagement. ISL clubs partner with big football clubs in Europe In a bid to improve their talent development, several ISL clubs have partnered up with high-profile European clubs
Many young players from ISL have had tryouts at larger European clubs and although no contracts have been signed so far, it seems to be a matter of time before we will start seeing young Indian stars playing at the highest levels of European football.
Borussia Dortmund & Hyderabad FC
One of the most prominent examples of club partnerships in India is that of Hyderabad FC which has partnered up with German Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund to improve the Indian teams academy and coach education.
From Hyderabad’s perspective, the partnership with Dortmund is obviously a massive scoop because Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in Germany. Some of the biggest names in world football, including Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland have all represented Dortmund at some point in their careers.
There is a lot that a fledgling club like HFC can learn from a club like Dortmund which has won the German Bundesliga 8 times and have several European football trophies in their cabinet.
The main aspect of the club partnership between HFC and BVB is youth development and coach training, which are areas that Jürgen Klopp’s former team has had a lot of success with over the years.
Rangers FC & Bengaluru FC
Another example is the partnership between Bengaluru FC and Scottish league champions Glasgow Rangers.
The partnership between Bengaluru and Rangers is multi-faceted and will involve a number of opportunities for both clubs.
From the perspective of Rangers, they are looking to tap into the Indian audience and capitalise on a market of 1.3 billion people in an effort to expand the global brand awareness of the club.
In addition, a scouting-link will be set up between the clubs which will enable Rangers to identify and recruit the best talents from the Karnataka-based club.
From the perspective of Bengaluru, the most important aspects of the partnership agreement will be the development of their academy, local soccer schools and grassroots programs which are lacking in many Indian franchise-based football clubs.
The ISL is a franchise-based football league
The ISL is a franchise-based football league, which essentially means that all the ISL teams were created when the league was established, and each team was put up for sale on an auction and subsequently purchased by wealthy investors or corporations.
As such, most of the ISL teams that are part of the league today were established in 2014 with the invention of the league itself. It is not possible for teams in a franchise league to be relegated to a lower league, and it is also not possible to be promoted to a higher league.
The franchise league structure is similar to what is used in the Indian Premier League (India’s biggest domestic cricket tournament), as well as other big sporting leagues around the world - particularly in the United States - such as the National Football League (NFL).
A franchise-based league is different from a promotion and relegation system such as the one that is used in most European football leagues like the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga, and so forth, where teams have the risk of being relegated to a lower division.
Franchise-based leagues such as the ISL are often criticised for not being competitive enough, because there is no risk of relegation to a lower division, no matter how poorly a team performs.
Most Indian Super League clubs are unprofitable
Despite all of the positive things we have mentioned in this article such as how the ISL is growing at a rapid rate and garnering interest among the biggest European clubs, everything isn’t sunshine and rainbows in the Indian Super League, where most clubs are losing money on an annual basis.
Although ISL clubs make money through a number of different income streams such as ticket sales, merchandise sales, sponsorships and broadcasting rights, clubs also have big expenses - namely player salaries and especially franchise fees.
Franchise fees are the biggest expense which is holding back ISL clubs from profitability. Between the 2014/15 and 2019/20 seasons, ISL clubs paid a total of 93 million US dollars in franchise fees to IMG Reliance, the current franchise-holder for the ISL.
In contrast, the clubs only earned a collective total of 65 million US dollars in broadcasting rights, which is by far the biggest income stream that most football clubs have.
Market value of ISL clubs remain low
Indian Super League clubs have very low market valuations when compared to professional top-tier European clubs.
The average value of the 5 biggest ISL clubs is just around 5.2 million US dollars.
In comparison, the 5 biggest English Premier League clubs are worth around 3246 million US dollars on average. A completely astronomical amount compared to the low valuations of professional Indian clubs.
To find English clubs with similarly low valuations, we have to go all the way down to the EFL League Two (the English 3rd division) where we find clubs like Tranmere Rovers and Colchester United which have market valuations in the area of 4.7 to 6.6 million US dollars.
The main reason behind this massive discrepancy between top-tier Indian clubs and English clubs is the fact that ISL players have very low evaluations compared to EPL stars like Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne.
Another reason behind the low valuations is the fact that ISL clubs own no assets and no infrastructure: they don’t own stadiums, academies, or football schools like many of the largest European clubs do.
The popularity of football in India is propelled by the ISL
There is no question that the Indian Super League has had a profoundly positive impact on Indian football as a whole, and will continue to propel the popularity of football in India to new heights over the next many years.
With that said, as we have disclosed in this article, the league has financial problems which must be addressed to ensure the profitability of the clubs over the long-term.
ISL clubs must renegotiate the exorbitant franchise fees that they pay to the league owners when these fees are up for renewal in the 2024-2025 season of the Super League.
If that happens, and if the interest and attendance of the league continue to grow, ISL clubs may have a chance to augment their profits in the coming years, which will be beneficial, not only for the league, but for football fans and for the sport in India as a whole.
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