Clubs cash in for bigwigs of Indian Football

Mumbai: The first day of Central Domestic Player Draft of the Hero Indian Super League held today, July 22, 2014 witnessed the Clubs going all out for the big names of Indian Football. Seven rounds of the Central Draft were held on Day 1, at the plush Palladium Hotel in Mumbai with last seven round due on Wednesday, July 23.

The Draft proceedings saw the participating six Club officials engage in a lot of permutations and discussion before making the final selection of their choice. It also spoke volumes about the interest and days of planning each Clubs had done ahead of the Draft and the interest the new concept in Indian Football is generating. Overall, twenty six Players who have donned the Indian National Team jersey in the last three years were drafted in by the Clubs on Day 1.

National Team midfielder Lenny Rodrigues was the first to be drafted in by Team Pune while his National Team partner in the midfield, ‘double cylinder’ Mehtab Hossain will travel down south to play for Kochi Blasters FC in inaugural edition of Hero Indian Super League. This will be the first time both Lenny and Mehtab would be seen displaying their trade for clubs outside of their hometowns, Goa and Kolkata respectively.

Besides, ‘Spiderman’ Subrata Paul was drafted in by Team Mumbai while Francis Fernandes will travel North to play for Delhi Dynamos FC.


National Team veteran Gouramangi Singh was drafted in by Team Bengaluru who also picked up 2013 AIFF Young Player of the Year Awardee, striker Jeje Lalpekhlua.

At the end of the seven rounds of Draft Day 1, the list of the drafted Players by each of the eight Hero Indian Super League clubs stay as follows:

Team Pune: Lenny Rodrigues, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Ashutosh Mehta, Joaquim Abranches, Pritam Kotal, Manish Maithani, Israil Gurung.

Team Mumbai: Subrata Paul, Lalrindika Ralte, Syed Rahim Nabi, Raju Gaikwad, Subash Singh, Ram Malik, Deepak Mondal.

Kerala Blasters FC: Mehtab Hussain, Sandesh Jhingan, Ishfaq Ahmed, Gurwinder Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Sushant Matthew, Godwin Franco.

Team Bengaluru: Harmanjot Khabra, Dhanachandra Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Gouramangi Singh, Shilton Paul, Denson Devadas, Khelemba Meitei.

Atletico de Kolkata: Cavin Lobo, Arnab Mondal, Denzil Franco, Rakesh Masih, Mohammed Rafique, Mohammed Rafi, Biswajit Saha.

Delhi Dynamos FC: Francis Fernandes, Robert Lalthamuana, Naoba Singh, Shylo Malswamtluanga, Shouvik Ghosh, Shouvik Chakraborty, Munmun Lugun.

Team Goa: Laxmikant Kattimani, Debabrata Roy, Gabriel Fernandes, Clifford Miranda, Jewel Raja Shaikh, Alwyn George, Narayan Das.

North East United FC: Kunzang Bhutia, Jibon Singh, Durga Boro, Aibor Khongjee, Zodingliana Ralte, TP Rehnesh, Boithang Haokip.