ISL 2021/22: How many minutes have the Asian foreigners played?

The Indian Super League (ISL) had made it mandatory for its clubs to sign at least one foreign player from AFC affiliated countries from the 2020/21 season.

In the 2021/22 season, as many as 12 foreign players from the AFC region were registered in the league.

Among the 12 Asian players to feature this season, Hyderabad FC's Joel Chianese got the maximum game time. The Australian attacker, who in his second year of contract with the Nizams, appeared in 18 games during the league stage and played 1041 minutes. In those 18 games, he scored four goals, provided three assists and was one of the best performing Asian foreigners. However, Chianese was not a part pf the matchday squad for Hyderabad's first leg semifinal tie against ATK Mohun Bagan which they won 3-1.

After Chianese comes Chennaiyin FC's Mirlan Murzaev from Kyrgyz Republic, who clocked 1036 minutes in 19 matches. He managed to score two goals and provided two assists.

The player who had the best goals-to-minute ratio in the league was Jamshedpur's Jordan Murray. The Australian moved from Kerala Blasters this season and appeared in 15 matches in the league stage but mostly as a substitute. He played only 611 minutes but managed to score four goals. In Jamshedpur's first leg semifinal tie against Kerala Blasters, Murray once again came on as a substitute and played the last 25 minutes. In total, he has 636 minutes under his belt so far.

East Bengal were the only club that registered two Asian foreign players during the season. Australian defender Tomislav Mrcela was initially a part of their squad but with just two matches to go into the season, he parted ways with the Red and Golds.

The team management was then forced to register Nepalese defender Ananta Tamang for the last two matches. Tamang was given game time in their final tie against Bengaluru FC where he played for 90 minutes. He was the Asian foreigner with the least minutes in his kitty during the season.

Here, we take a look at the number of minutes each Asian foreign player played during the league stage.