Champions from each league season:
The Indian Super League’s most successful team, Atletico de Kolkata, has won three championships.
Six Indian Super League (ISL) champions have won the coveted title at least once since the league’s debut in 2014.
Former ATK was the most dominant team in prior editions, winning the championship three times. The remaining teams that make up the ISL champions list are ATK Mohun Bagan, Hyderabad FC, Chennaiyin FC, Bengaluru FC, Mumbai City FC, and.
Following are the Indian Super League champions from each season:
ISL champion for 2014: Atletico de Kolkata
ATK, formerly Atlético de Kolkata, won the inaugural ISL season when they defeated Kerala Blasters 1-0 in the championship game thanks to an injury-time goal by Indian midfielder Mohammed Rafique.
After the league stages, ATK had placed third in the ISL standings under head coach Antonio Lopez Habas and star player Luis Garcia, four points behind league leaders Chennaiyin FC.
Eight teams competed in the 2014 season, with each team playing 14 regular-season games.
ISL champion for 2015: Chennaiyin FC
In a tantalizing 2015 ISL final at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa, Chennaiyin FC defeated FC Goa 3-2 after experiencing heartbreak in the 2014 ISL semi-finals.
Steven Mendoza, the hero of Chennaiyin FC who scored 13 goals in the regular season and was named the ISL Golden Boot winner, helped his team win the championship.
It’s interesting to note that Chennaiyin finished last in the league table at the beginning of the 2015 ISL season. After that, the ‘Marina Machans won four straight games to place third in the point standings and advance to the playoffs.
ISL champion for 2016: Atletico de Kolkata
ATK won the Indian Super League championship for the second time in 2016 after defeating Kerala Blasters in a dramatic penalty shootout at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Mohammed Rafi gave Blasters the lead in the 37th minute in front of the stadium’s estimated 80,000 spectators. Henrique Sereno, though, scored an equalizer for ATK just seven seconds later. After extra time, the game ended with a score of 1-1, forcing a penalty shootout.
Thanks to some outstanding saves from their goalie Debjit Majumder, ATK prevailed in the shootout 4-3 to win the championship twice.
ISL champion for 2017–18: Chennaiyin FC
ISL received the top-tier designation from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in this year, taking the place of the I-League.
Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC were added to the ISL, and a play-off spot in the AFC Cup is now up for grabs.
At Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, Chennaiyin FC, under by head coach John Gregory, defeated Bengaluru FC 3-2 to win their second ISL championship.
Bengaluru FC had previously amassed 40 points throughout the league stages from their 18 games to finish eight points ahead of Chennaiyin, who had placed second. The other two teams who made it into the 2017–18 ISL playoffs were Goa and Pune City.
ISL champion for 2018–19: Bengaluru FC
Bengaluru FC, which is led by Sunil Chhetri, was the heavy favorite to win the 2018–19 edition of the competition.
In the end, Bengaluru FC won their first championship by defeating FC Goa 1-0 in the championship match at Mumbai Football Arena. Rahul Bheke of Bengaluru FC scored the game-winning goal from a corner kick in the 117th minute.
Bengaluru had won the ISL league stages in the 2018–19 season, just like they had in the first iteration of the competition.
While Bengaluru defeated NorthEast United 4-2 over the course of two legs in the semifinals, Goa demolished Mumbai City 5-2.
ISL champion for 2019–20: Atletico de Kolkata
ATK rehired Antonio Lopez Habas as their head coach for the 2019–20 ISL season after two unsuccessful campaigns.
The choice worked out well because ATK beat Chennaiyin FC 3-1 in the 2019–20 ISL championship game to become the first team to win the ISL three times.
ATK custodian Arindam Bhattacharya displayed skill in the finals to assist the White and Red brigade in winning the coveted championship.
Roy Krishna and David Williams were the standout players for the winners throughout the competition.
ISL champion for 2020–21: Mumbai City FC
Sergio Lobera, the former head coach of FC Goa, was given control of Mumbai City FC to turn around the club’s woes before the seventh season of the Indian Super League. It ended up being a brilliant move, as Mumbai City FC defeated ATK Mohun Bagan 2-1 to claim their first ISL championship.
The Islanders are just the second side, behind Bengaluru FC in 2018–19, to win the league title and the championship game in the same year. Thus, Mumbai completed a unique hat trick by winning the ISL title, the League Winners Shield, and a spot in the 2022 AFC Champions League.
ISL champion for 2021–2022, Hyderabad FC
At the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa, Hyderabad FC defeated Kerala Blasters FC 3-1 in the penalty shootout to win their first Indian Super League championship.
Manolo Márquez’s Hyderabad had previously finished second in the league phase with 38 points from 20 games, five points behind Jamshedpur FC, who had won all 20 games. The Nizams later won 3-2 on aggregate against ATK Mohun Bagan in the ISL 2021–22 semifinals to secure their spot in the championship game.
Bartholomew Ogbeche, a striker for Hyderabad FC, was the team’s star player and won the Golden Boot for scoring 18 goals in 20 games.
ISL 2022–2023 champion: ATK Mohun Bagan
ATK Mohun Bagan defeated Hyderabad FC in the two-legged semifinals after placing third in the league stage.
In the championship match, they defeated Bengaluru FC on penalties at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa. The Mariners’ leading goal scorer for the season, Dimitri Petratos, scored twice in the championship game against the Blues to tie the score at 2-2 at the half and force a penalty shootout, which they won 4-3.
Noah Lee Ritter