The Hero India Super League created a sensation when it was launched 3 years back by All India Football Federation along with Reliance-Img Foundation head Mrs. Nita Ambani. Due to unavoidable reasons, the start of the sporting event was delayed by a year but when the tournament was finally launched in 2014, it created waves across the countries. Fans from all over the nation were flocking to the stadiums to watch their teams in the action. With Bollywood actors such John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan along with cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni joining the league as team owners, we got a great mix of entertainment with Football.
ISL Start Date, Teams & Venues
The inaugural edition of the ISL started with 8 teams representing 8 Indian Cities – Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kerala and Goa as the teams playing in ISL 2016 with all of them continuing till the 3rd edition. Each team plays against the rest teams in a home and away in a round-robin format with the top 4 teams after the conclusion of the league stage facing each other in semifinals and finals to determine the eventual winner of the tournament. The final Indian Super League 3 Schedule was released by the organizers and the ISL 2016 Start date was confirmed as 1st October with the tournament kicking off in Guwahati.
ISL 2016 Opening Ceremony
The organizers had confirmed that a glittering ISL 2016 Opening Ceremony would precede the opening match of the tournament in Guwahati although they hadn’t revealed any details about who would be seen at the ceremony. The opening ceremonies held before the previous two editions highlighted what is going to happen in ISL 2016 inaugural ceremony. It included a mix of eminent Bollywood personalities performing live for all the football fans in the stadium. The ISL 2016 theme song ‘Lets Football’ is already very popular among the crazy ISL fans.
ISL 3 Schedule & Fixtures
Before the actual tournament began, all the football fans were eagerly waiting for the organizing committee to release the Indian Super League 2016 Fixtures to know about when their favorite teams would be playing at home in the tournament. The ISL kicked off with John Abraham-owned North-East United FC taking on Sachin Tendulkar-owned Kerala Blasters FC in the inaugural match of the ISL 2016 Edition on 1st October in Guwahati. The league matches took place until the 4th December where the top 4 teams advanced to the next round. The semifinals were a two-legged affair with the first leg played on 10-11 December with the return leg scheduled for 13-14 December. The ISL 2016 final is scheduled for December 18th, 2016.
Get ready to witness the fight between the ISL first season champion Atletico de Kolkata and the team that raised from nowhere – Kerala Blasters. The two cricketing legends Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar will be seen in the football ground battling each other. Get ready to witness this awesome fight on Sunday. You can watch Kerala Blasters vs Atletico de Kolkata final live streaming on Star Gold and Star Sports on Sunday. People can even book the tickets and watch this final directly from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi.
ISL 2016 Prize Money &Winner Prediction
The ISL 2016 Prize Money pot is capped at 15 Crore INR with the winning team taking home Rs 8 Crore. The runner-ups will get their hands on another 4 crore INR while the losing semi-finalists will take home 1.5 Crore INR each. Kolkata has already won the first season of this tournament. So it will be good to see whether Kolkata can keep up the hopes and become a winner as per ISL Season 3 Winner prediction. Kerala will also try their best to win their first Indian Super League title. So, witness the true football action live in this season of ISL.