INTERNET DESK:Indian Football became in top signing foreign players in 2017 among the Asian countries. Indian Super League (ISL) has been very successful in last three seasons as the viewership crossed 216 million but, in the fourth season viewership drooped to just 81 million in first week of the league.
Indian clubs successfully signed 158 players in 2017 season. One of the major reasons which led to this was the addition of two teams to the ISL – Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC.
Equally important was the fact that I-League, which runs parallelly to ISL, relaxed its rules and allowed clubs to register six foreign players in their squads instead of five.
China saw a drop of incoming players for the restriction imposed on the clubs as incoming transfer dropped 10.1% in 2017.
While Thailand and Saudi Arabia have seen a huge increase in incoming transfer 26.5% and 32.9% respectively.
India 158 (+32.8%)
Japan 152 (+18.8%)
China PR 143 (-10.1%)
Thailand 124 (+26.5%)
Saudi Arabia 113 (+32.9%)
Indian clubs spent $36.3 million in total and became third behind China and Japan. India already signed 11 international signings in ISL club in the winter transfer window.