7 most successful players to have played in the Indian Super League
The success of any league in the World is gauged by the quality of players it manages to attract. The English Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga have all built credibility and following based on the kind of names they have managed to bring in.The same goes for the ISL as well. The league has managed to pull some of the biggest names ever to grace the game and this has been a major reason behind the success of the league. The ISL managed to redefine stadium attendance in Indian football, managing to garner an attendance of about 1.58 million and became the 4th largest attended league in the World in just its first season.The TV numbers too were as high as 127 million viewers, a lot of which can be attributed to the star names and the quality they bring along.While there is a long list of big name arrivals, here are the 7 most successful players to have played in the ISL:
#7 Carlos Marchena
Not the kind of name to get you jumping with joy, but Carlos Marchena has had a very neat, subtle, yet successful career, where he went about doing his job without making much noise. There is hardly anything the Spaniard has not won, with his trophies including the Euros, La Liga, UEFA Super Cup and the biggest of them all, the FIFA World Cup.
The Spaniard is a team man and has put himself on the line numerous times to protect his team’s goal. He hasn’t won many individual accolades in his career, with his only standout achievement being getting named in the Euro 2008 team of the tournament.
His most successful club stint was with Valencia, where he achieved the most success and spent a lion’s share of his career, featuring in 230 games. He won the La Liga twice with them, along with the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. He also won the Copa del Rey in the 2007-08 season.
His career with Spain saw him win the Euros in 2008 and the FIFA World Cup in 2010. Though he has now left the Kerala Blasters, he did make one appearance for them as their marquee signing.