The Indian Super League on Saturday officially confirmed the promotion of Mohammedan Sporting Club, one of Kolkata’s “Big 3” football institution, to the ISL, making it the newest member of India’s top-tier league.
Starting from the 2024-25 season, Mohammedan SC, one of the oldest active football clubs in the nation, will compete in the ISL, bringing the total number of clubs in the ISL to 13. This promotion follows Mohammedan Sporting’s 2023-24 I-League title-winning campaign.
Mohammedan SC won the I-League 2023-24 with 52 points, securing 15 wins and seven draws. The Kolkata club lost just twice during their successful campaign, scoring 44 goals and conceding just 22. They will become the third club from the City of Joy in the Indian Super League. The 133-year-old club thus became the second club after Punjab FC to earn a promotion to the ISL from the second-rung I-League.
Crucially, the fact that the ISL ranks for the upcoming season now number 13, also means that Reliance-controlled Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), commercial partners to the All India Football Federation, has postponed the implementation of relegation in the ISL for AT LEAST another season.
This decision means that the Asian Football Confederation’s roadmap for the professional organisation of the game in India, “agreed upon by all stakeholders” in September 2020, which had slated that relegation in the ISL would kick off from the 2024-25 season, has been given the go-by.
For the record, meanwhile, ISL 2024-25 will begin with the same teams that ended last season, with Mohun Bagan Super Giant facing Mumbai City FC on September 13, in Kolkata.
For ISL 2024-25 schedule from September to December, click here…
