The 2017 season of the Indian Super League is set to feature 10 teams battling for top honours as two new teams join the football league. Tata-owned Jamshedpur and JSW-owned Bengaluru FC will compete in the ISL alongside the existing 8 teams in the competition.
The organizers of the ISL, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), had invited bids for team franchises in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Durgapur, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Siliguri, and Thiruvananthapuram. The bids from Jamshedpur and Bengaluru were selected.
While Jamshedpur will be an entirely new team, Bengaluru FC is a team which has ample experience in football, having participated in the I-League and have won a title in the four years they have participated. The Bengaluru-based team will be facing off against North Korea’s April 25 Sports Club in the AFC Cup inter-zonal semifinal on August 23 and September 13.