Mumbai City FC's strong pre-season

Mumbai City FC won five of their first six games last season but couldn't sustain that form and finished fifth in the league. To go one step further, they have signed last season's Hero of the League winner, Greg Stewart, from Jamshedpur FC. They have also added Rostyn Griffiths, Alberto Noguera, and Jorge Pereyra Diaz to their squad, and have the most experienced foreign contingent in the ISL, with a combined 253 Hero ISL games between them.

Mumbai City FC had a strong pre-season phase, making it to the Durand Cup finals and ending as runners-up to Bengaluru FC. Des Buckingham, Mumbai City FC's head coach, said that their seven games in that tournament served as great preparation heading into the new ISL season and was exactly what they had wanted. With their season officially kicking off on Sunday, Buckingham said his team was excited to play in front of fans again.