ISL: How many different nationalities will be represented in the Indian Super League?

Over the last eight years, not only has the Indian Super League has been global stars play in the league but also the presence of professional footballers from countries that usually one person would not remember if it was for the beautiful game.

The ISL from its inception has seen legends like Alessandro Del Piero, Marco Materazzi, Luis Garcia, David James, Tim Cahil, Florent Malouda, David Trezeguet, Robert Pires and many more to have come to India, and set the stage on fire. Apart from some of the global football nations like Spain, Brazil, and England, we have also seen players like Ian Hume (Canada), Nerijus Valaskis (Lithuania), and Roy Krishna (Fiji) become an absolute crowd favorite and cast a spell on Indian football with his magic.

Football is the global game, and India slowly and steadily is taking steps towards making a mark on the global stage. The inclusivity of the Indian Super League and the quality of scouting has made us witness stars from countries who are not known for football take over the football stage in India. We have seen players like Belfort Kervins (Haiti), Cy Goodard (Japan), Lucian Goian (Romania), Guðjón Baldvinsson (Iceland), Panagiotis Triadis (Greece), and players from African nations like Uganda, Guinea Bissau play in the top tier of Indian football.

The new Indian Super League is upon us, and Indian football fans just cannot wait to see their favorite team take the field. The transfer window is almost complete, and every club has signed their foreign contingent, except Northeast United FC. They are yet to confirm their final foreigner who belongs to the AFC category. In this edition of the ISL, we will see 31 different countries excluding India being represented through football players. Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Congo, Malaysia, and Iran will be getting featured for the first time, through, Mirlan Murzaev, Prince Ibara, Liridon Krasniqi, and Iman Basafa respectively.

Spain, Brazil, and Australia have a combined of 33 players, with European giants Spain with 16, and Brazil with 10 players. The sole representative of England will be Jamshedpur FC's captain Peter Heartly, while Mathias Courier marks the return of representation of Martinique from 2014. Persosevic, Prce, and Leskovic will be the three Croats, in between a lot of European nations.

Jorge Pereyra Diaz is from Argentina, while Federico Gallejo and Adrian Luna are from Uruguay. Bhutan, Kyrgystan, Iran, Malaysia, and Australia are the five Asian nations that we will this season, compared to Australia, Japan, and Tajikistan last year.

The quality and diversity of foreign players are increasing year by year, and the impact they have on Indian players is supreme. It's great to see such a wide range of nationalities represented in the ISL.

Here are list of 31 countries from which players will be taking part in the Indian Super League 2021-22 season:

1. Spain
2. Brazil
3. Australia
4. Fiji
5. Finland
6. France
7. Ireland
8. Congo
9. Gabon
10. Irand
11. Hungary
12. Poland
13. Croatia
14. Serbia and Montenegro
15. Kyrgyzstan
16. Netherlands
17. Nigeria
18.Slovenia
19. England
20. Lithuania
21.Scotland
22. Argentina
23. Bosnia
24. Bhutan?
25. Uruguay
26. Morocco
27. Senegal
28. Jamaica
29. Martinique
30. Mauritania
31. Malaysia

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Who will be the foreigner to watch out for let us know in the comments below?