PTI: The Indian Super League on Monday announced the complete list of 49 international players who will to go into the next week’s ‘central player draft pool’, to be held in Mumbai.
The comprehensive list boasts of experienced footballers and young promising talents from across the world with an average age of 28 years, having played 8197 competitive matches in various leagues globally with an average of 186 appearances per player.
The 49 international players represent countries like Spain (9 players), France (8), Czech Republic (8), Brazil (5), Portugal (5), Colombia (4), South Korea (2), and one each from Argentina, Canada, Serbia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, England, Greece and Cameroon.
Scouting of international players’ for the Hero ISL was aimed at providing the opportunity for each club to fill in the key positions in their respective team.
These international players will form the spine of each team’s line-up and bring in quality to raise the football standard in the country.
“We are thrilled with the calibre of international players who will be participating in the Hero Indian Super League this season. They have the quality, skill, determination and ambition to thrive in India and ensure a great playing product to entertain the fans. These players have committed to play in India given their excitement and belief in the future of Indian football,” Andy Knee, VP, IMG football said.
“Our expert player team has scoured the global football player market to attract the best possible players at the agreed salary levels on behalf of the Hero ISL clubs,” he added.
ISL have a total of 56 international players, of which 49 will be picked through the international player draft, while the remaining have already been contracted directly by the four clubs, Delhi Dynamos FC (Mads Junker & Morten Skoubo), FC Pune City (Emanuele Belardi & Bruno Cirillo), NorthEast United FC (Isaac Chansa & Cornell Glen), Atletico de Kolkata (Borja Fernandez), under the provision of signing maximum two international players by the clubs on their own.
International Players Pool:
Striker: Michael Chopra (England), Arnal Llibert Conde Carbo (Spain), Diego Fernando Nadaya (Argentina), Eduardo Silva Lerma (Spain), Iain Hume (Canada), Ivan Bolado Palacios (Spain), Luis Alfredo Yanes Padilla (Colombia), Miguel Bruno Pereira Herlein (Portugal), Miroslav Slepicka (Czech Republic), Pedro Adriano Veloso Gusmao (Brazil).
Goalkeepers: Andre Matos Dias Pereira (Portugal); Apoula Edima Edel Bete (Cameroon); Gennaro Bracigliano (France); Jan Seda (Czech Republic); Marek Cech (Czech Republic).
Defenders: Andres Felipe Gonzalez Ramirez (Colombia), Erwin Spitzner (Brazil), Henrique Dinis Oliveira Dias (Portugal), Ilias Pollalis (Greece), Massamba Lo Sambou (Senegal), Raphael Romey (France), Sylvain Monsoreau (France), Tomas Josl (Czech Republic), Gregory Arnolin (France), Bernard Mendy (France), Pavel Cmovs (Czech Republic), Youness Bengelloun (France), Johann Letzelter (France), Cedric Hengbart (France), Jairo Andres Suarez Carvajal (Colombia), Jose Miguel Gonzalez Rey (Spain).
Midfielders: Park Kwang-Il (South Korea), Bojan Djordjic (Sweden), Bruno Augusto Pelissari de Lima (Brazil), Cristian Hidalgo Gonzalez (Spain), Edgar Carvalho Figueira Marcelino (Portugal), Francisco Javier Fernandez Luque (Spain), Gustavo Marmentini dos Santos (Brazil), Victor Herrero Forcada (Spain), Jan Stohanzl (Czech Republic), Omar Andres Rodriguez Martinez (Colombia), Saidou Mady Panandetiguiri (Burkina Faso), Bruno Herrero Arias (Spain), Bruno Filipe Tavares Pinheiro (Portugal), Guilherme Felipe de Castro (Brazil), Pavel Elias (Czech Republic), Jakub Podany (Czech Republic), Jofre Mateu Gonzalez (Spain), Do Dong-Hyun (South Korea).
