ISL 2018-19: 5 former Premier League stars who you didn't know played in the Indian Super League
Hero Indian Super League, the best competitive football league of India commences on 29 September, with a high profile fixture between Atletico de Kolkata and Kerela Blasters FC at the monumental Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata to kick off this 5-month long football extravaganza.
ISL is the biggest stage of Indian football, where the best and brightest of Indian football go head to head over the course of excitement filled 5 months to earn the right to be called the champions of India.
With only 4 years of history behind it, the league can't boast about attracting the talented players just yet nor does it have the ridiculous amount of money like the Chinese Super League has to offer to the European stars.
Well, the league does lack a certain star power in its ranks, but did you know that former Premier League winner and Champions League winners had competed in the league? It's true, much to the delight of Indian fans, some of their childhood-stars had graced the league with their presence over the years.
With that being said, let's take a look at the Premier League stars who had tried their luck in the ISL, so far.
#5 John Arne Riise
John Arne Riise, the most capped Norwegian footballer of all time arguably had the best spell of his career at Liverpool.
In his 7 years with the Reds, he would go on to become a club legend and one of the best left-backs to ever put on the Reds jersey.
It was in 2015, the second season of ISL that Riise decided it was time to move on to India. He spent the entire 2015 season with Delhi Dynamos and then moved back to his hometown club Aalesund.
But, that move didn't work out and in 2016 again he found himself playing in the ISL, but this time with the now two-time champions, Chennaiyin FC. After his two-month contract expired he decided it was time to hang up his boots from professional football.