Franchises retain 41 Indian footballers for 2015 ISL

The Indian Super League (ISL) franchises have retained a total of 41 footballers and signed 23 more from the open market in a step towards building their respective squads for the second edition of the tournament later this year.

All the eight franchises have submitted on Friday, within the stipulated deadline, the list of retained Indian players as well as open market signings, an ISL release said on Sunday.

The franchises had a retention quota of minimum of one and maximum of six Indian players.

Franchises Chennaiyin FC, FC Goa, FC Pune City and Kerala Blasters FC have exercised the maximum allowed retention clause by retaining six Indian players each from their previous squad.

Delhi Dynamos and NorthEast United FC have retained five each, defending champions Atletico de Kolkata retained four players and Mumbai City FC continued the services of three.

Each franchise is allowed to have a squad of 22, comprising 13 Indian and 9 international players including one marquee signing. Additionally, a franchise can sign 3 more players from the open market which can include maximum of 2 international player.

Indian player signings will be completed in the month of July through an auction followed by draft of unsigned players.

The 2015 ISL is scheduled to kick-off in September and stretch till December 2015.

The Indian players list:

Atletico de Kolkata--

Players Retained : Arnab Kumar Mondal; Baljit Sahni; Denzil Franco; Nallapan Mohanraj.

Signings from open market: Nadong Bhutia; Jewel Raja; Sushil Kumar Singh; Syed Rahim Nabi; Clifford Miranda.

Chennaiyin FC--

Players Retained : Jayesh Rane; Abhishek Das; Harmanjot Singh Khabra; Jeje Lalpekhula; Dhanachandra Singh; Balwant Singh.

Signings from open market: Godwin Franco; Mehrajuddin Wadoo.

Delhi Dynamos FC--

Players Retained : Francis Fernandes; Anwar Ali; Syhlo Malsawmtluanga; Robert Lathlamuana; Souvik Chakraborty.

Signings from open market: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury; Seiminlen Doungel.

FC Goa--

Players Retained : Romeo Fernandes; Mandar Rao Desai; Laxmikant Kattimani; Narayan Das; Debadrata Roy; Bikramjit Singh.

Signings from open market: Pronay Halder; C.S. Sabeeth; Denson Devadas; Joaquim Abranches; Raju Gaikwad.

FC Pune City--

Players Retained : Lenny Rodrigues; Arindham Bhattacharya; Ravanan Dharmaraj; Israil Gurung; Pritam Kotal; Manish Maithani.

Signings from open market: Gourmangi Singh.

Kerala Blasters FC--

Players Retained : Sandesh Jhingan; Ishfaq Ahmed; Mehatab Hossain; Gurwinder Singh; Saumik Dey; Sandip Nandy.

Signings from open market: Mohammed Rafi; Nirmal Chettri; Ramandeep Singh.

Mumbai City FC--

Players Retained : Subrata Paul; Subhash Singam Singh; Lalrindika Ralte.

Signings from open market: Gabriel Fernandes; Kingshuk Debnath; Rowlin Rodrigues.

NorthEast United FC--

Players Retained : Rehnesh TP; Aiborlang Khongjee; Robin Gurung; Boithang Haokip; Alen Deory.

Signings from open market: Sanju Pradhan; Holicharn Narzary.