Chennaiyin lift Indian Super League Title

Forced to shift base to another venue due to flood in their home city, Chennaiyin FC were crowned the Hero Indian Super League Champion after they beat FC Goa 3-2 in a drama filled summit clash, in which three goals were scored in the last four minutes.

In a befitting grand finale of the ISL second season which saw 186 goals scored in 60 matches as compared to 121 last year, the Chennaiyin vs Goa clash at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium saw as many as five goals, all of them coming in the second half of the edge of the seat match. Bruno Pelissari put Chennaiyin ahead in the 54^th minute but Goa equalized within four minutes with Haokip finding the target.

Gonzalez then put Goa ahead for the first time in the 87^th minute in what looked like to be the winning goal. But under dramatic circumstances Goa goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani conceded an own goal in the 90^th minute to level the score before Chennaiyin striker Mendoza found the target in the first minute of the injury time to stun the home supporters of Goa. For Chennaiyin, coached by Italian World Cup Winner Marco Materazzi, the triumph was all the more remarkable as they had to shift to Pune for their semi-final first leg after their home venue was devastated by flood.

They were also struggling in the early part of the league and needed four wins on the trot in their last four matches to qualify for the semi-finals. But it was heartbreak for Goa FC who looked the most attacking side in the season under Brazilian legend Zico, who is not expected to return for the next season. The winner got richer by Rs 8 crore while FC Goa got Rs 4 crore. The two semi-final losers got Rs 1.5 crore each.

Indian Super League

The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional football league in India. The league is one of the top tier football leagues in India, the other being the I-League. The league features eight franchise teams from all around India. The ISL runs from October to December with a final determining the champion.

It was founded in 2013 in an effort to make football a top sport in India and to make Indian Football a major player worldwide. The league operates along the lines of the Twenty20 cricket Indian Premier League and Major League Soccer of the United States. ISL does not use the promotion and relegation system but instead a franchise system in which eight teams was created to participate in the league.

The first season was played in 2014, which was won by Atletico de Kolkata by beating the Kerala Blasters by 1-0. The second season of ISL kicked off from 3^rd October 2015 and final will take place on 20^th December 2015. This season, one team will play 14 matches against the other seven sides twice. In total there are 56 games played during the regular season before the top 4 games go into the finals.

There are eight teams from different regions of the country. Eight teams are Atletico de Kolkata, Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters, Delhi Dynamos, Goa FC, Mumbai City, North East United and Pune City. In first season, Elano from Brazil & Chennai scored the maximum number of 8 goals. ISL will boost up football awareness in India and will Indian football team to find more players so that India can register a place in FIFA top tournaments.