Kolkata: Sepp Blatter was visibly surprised. “Senior to FIFA,” he said on seeing that Mohammedan Sporting were founded in 1891, 13 years before the organisation he headed was born. FIFA president Blatter was visiting some of the oldest extant football clubs in Asia, all within the radius of 1km on the Kolkata Maidan. This was in 2007.

2024-25 will be the first time Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting will be part of the Indian Super League (ISL), the 11th edition of which starts on September 13. Mohammedan Sporting will join the other two, who have been in ISL since 2020-21, by virtue of winning the I-League last term. “It is a nice family to be part of,” said their Russian coach Andrey Chernyshov.

This will be the first time since 2013-14 that all three will be in India’s top tier league. “It is a big thing for the city and good for football in India,” said East Bengal coach Carles Cuadrat. “This could encourage more players from Bengal,” said Souvik Chakraborty, the East Bengal central midfielder ahead of his 11th ISL season.

A former Soviet Union international, Chernyshov had a storied career as player and coach – he was associated with Spartak Moscow as both – and delivered the I-League in his second attempt. He accepted this would be more difficult. “Though we play to win, we would need to get the feel of the ISL first,” said Chernyshov.

With an overhauled roster where nearly 20 of the 28 players, including three of the six foreigners, are new and many of them young, Mohammedan Sporting will have their task cut out. They begin at home against Durand Cup champions NorthEast United on September 16 before hosting FC Goa five days later. A tough initiation will be made more difficult by training beginning only around two weeks ago.

“A lot of tactical work still needs to be done. We are not in a position to think about the first match yet,” said Chernyshov at an ISL media day here on Wednesday. With the best Indian players and foreigners who are an upgrade on the I-League, Chernyshov said he hoped the team would settle down after five rounds.

For perspective, consider this: it took Punjab FC 12 rounds to get their first win in 2023-24 after qualifying for ISL by winning I-League in 2022-23. “We lost lots of points in the last minutes,” said Serbian striker Luka Majcen. Lesson learnt, they are aiming for the top-six this time, he said.

Along with a new coach in Panagiotis Dilmperis, who replaced Staikos Vergetis, one Greek for another, Punjab FC have also Mushaga Bakenga, a Norwegian striker once famous enough for Erling Haaland to want a photograph with. “He was 17 then. Two years later, I wanted to reach him and could not. Things change,” said Bakenga, 32.

The media day being an opportunity to interact with seven clubs, seven coaches and over 20 players had them speaking on issues ranging from Khalid Jamil being asked how it felt to be the only Indian coach –“aap nazar mat lagao (do not cast an evil eye),” the Jamshedpur FC coach said with a straight face – to Chakraborty accepting he needed to work at “not touching players in training” to cut down on being booked.

To all talk of the oversized impact of imports, Odisha FC coach Sergio Lobera said: “Seven Indians need to be on the pitch. Without a good group of Indian players, it is impossible to win.” Indian players also need to trust themselves more, said the Spaniard. Brandon Fernandes, Amey Ranawade and Manvir Singh are some of those who got their first national team call-up while at clubs coached by Lobera.

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