Top 10 defenders with most goals in ISL

There are four Indians and six foreigners in the list.

The Indian Super League has been growing ever since its inception. Many foreign and former domestic players have been associated with the league in its eight years' history. These eight years have seen numerous goals being scored in the league, many of which were scored by defenders.

Here, we will take a look at 10 defenders who have the most number of goals in ISL history.

10. Pritam Kotal - 5 goals

Firstly, we will talk about ATK Mohun Bagan defender Pritam Kotal. He began his ISL career with FC Pune City in 2014. However, he first scored for Delhi Dynamos in the 2017-18 season and bagged two goals in total for the club. In 2018, he moved to the erstwhile existing ATK, where he scored once in two years.

Since 2020, he has been playing for ATK Mohun Bagan after ATK and Mohun Bagan merged to form their current team. Appearing in 44 matches for the Green & Maroons, he has scored twice. Overall, in 121 ISL appearances, he has netted five goals.

9. Juanan - 5 goals

Another defender with five goals in ISL is Juanan. Juanan is a Spanish footballer who plies his trade as a centre-back. He played in India for the likes of Bengaluru FC and Hyderabad FC. He spent six seasons in India, from the beginning of 2016 till 2022. During this tenure, he played for Bengaluru for five seasons and for Hyderabad in the previous season.

In his spell with Hyderabad, during the 2021-22 season, he appeared in 21 games but failed to score. All of his five goals came for Bengaluru FC between 2018-2021 in 86 appearances.

8. Lucian Goian - 5 goals

Lucian Goian is the last person on our list with five goals. He is a Romanian professional footballer who also plays as a centre-back. He spent four years in India in two stints. In his first stint, he played for Mumbai City between 2016 and 2019. He appeared for the Islanders in 50 games and scored three goals.

In his second stint, during the 2019-2020 season, he plied his trade for Chennaiyin FC. He made 20 starts for the Marina Machans and scored twice for them. In total, he scored five goals in ISL from 70 games.

7. Bernard Mendy - 5 goals

Bernard Mendy is a former French footballer who played as a right-back. He played for Paris Saint-Germain between 2000 and 2008 and appeared 189 times for the French side. Later, he had stints in India with Chennaiyin FC and East Bengal. He first appeared for Chennaiyin FC in 2014 and played 13 games. He scored once in this stint.

Mendy returned to Chennaiyin in 2015 and scored twice in 14 games. After a loan stint at the then I-League side East Bengal, he returned to Chennaiyin to score twice in nine appearances. Overall, Mendy's stay in India saw him scoring five goals in 48 games.

6. Adil Khan - 6 goals

Adil Khan is a veteran Indian defender who began his career in 2008 for I-League side Sporting Clube de Goa. His first ISL appearance was for Delhi Dynamos in 2014, where he played seven games. He continued to play in the I-League for three more years. He again signed for an ISL club in 2017, this time for FC Pune City.

For the side, he appeared in 35 matches and scored six goals. From 2019 onwards, he has been a part of Hyderabad FC for whom he has played 19 games. He also enjoyed loan spells at FC Goa and East Bengal between 2021-2022. Surprisingly, he has never scored for any ISL side other than FC Pune City.

5. Peter Hartley - 6 goals

Peter Hartley is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Jamshedpur FC and captains the side. In India, he has played only for Jamshedpur. He joined the team in 2020 and has appeared 43 times for the side. In all these games, he found the opposition's net six times, with one coming against NorthEast United this season. Notably, that goal helped the Men of Steel earn their first win of the ISL 2022-23 season.

4. Mandar Rao Dessai - 6 goals

Mandar Rao Dessai plays as a left-back for Mumbai City and was previously a part of the Indian national team. He holds the record for the most number of appearances in ISL history with 137 matches under his belt. he began his ISL journey in the 2014 season with FC Goa.

Since then, between 2014 and 2020, he made 97 appearances and scored six times for the Goan side. In 2020, he made a move to Mumbai City, for whom he is yet to score.

3. Rahul Bheke - 7 goals

Rahul Bheke is one of the established defenders in India who regularly plays for the Indian national side. Bheke is the highest goal-scoring Indian defender in ISL as well. He has played 116 games in total and scored seven goals.

His first ISL stint was in 2015 for Kerala Blasters, for whom he played in 12 games. However, he did not score any goal for the Yellow Army. Eventually, he signed for Bengaluru FC in 2017 and spent four seasons with the club where he scored five goals, one of them coming in the ISL 2018-19 finale which helped the Blues secure their first ISL Trophy. In 2021, he made a move to Mumbai City, for whom he has scored twice in 18 games till date.

2. Mailson Alves - 8 goals

Mailson Alves is a Brazilian defender who had three stints in the Indian Super League. In his first stint, he played for Chennaiyin FC in 2015. He appeared in 12 games for the Marina Machans but did not score any goal. For his second stint, he joined NorthEast United in 2016 and played nine games for the side. Here too, he did not find the back of the net.

In his last stint in India, he again played for Chennaiyin FC between 2017 and 2019 and appeared in 43 games. He scored all his eight goals during this stint.

1. Mourtada Fall - 16 goals

Mourtada Fall is a Senegalese defender who captains Mumbai City. He is the highest goal-scoring defender in the league, that too with some margin. Fall has scored a humongous 16 goals from 81 appearances. He has been in India since 2018, firstly with FC Goa between 2018 and 2020, and then with Mumbai City since 2020. In his spell with FC Goa, he appeared in 40 games and scored nine times.

In his current spell with Mumbai, he has played 41 matches and scored seven times. With his heading prowess and physically imposing build, it is expected that he will continue to contribute to the scorecard for his side, especially through set-pieces. However, the hefty defender is yet to gain sufficient game time this season.