Mohun Bagan aim to kick off ISL 2025-26 with win over Kerala Blasters

Mohun Bagan are the defending champions.

The 2025-26 Indian Super League (ISL) is set to finally kick off after months of anticipation when the defending champions, Mohun Bagan, host Kerala Blasters in the opening game on Saturday, 14 February (2026).

In front of what should be a jam-packed Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the Mariners look to entertain their fans with some thrilling football against an unpredictable Kerala Blasters side determined to stamp their authority with a big win in a thrilling battle.

The Stakes

Mohun Bagan

For Mohun Bagan, the task for the 2025-26 campaign remains the same as it’s been for the last few campaigns – win the title. Irrespective of the fact that this is going to be a shorter season, the Mariners will be expected by their fans to win all their matches and dominate their way to a third successive ISL title. With a new era set to kick off under Sergio Lobera, Mohun Bagan look to play some entertaining, slick attacking football in their first match under the Spaniard to win over the fans’ attention.

A big win for Mohun Bagan in their first match under the new coach can definitely give them the necessary momentum to mount a strong title chase. However, dropping points at home in their first match against the Tuskers can cause doubts to creep up and for them to suffer a minor early blow in their title aspirations.

Kerala Blasters

Kerala Blasters have had to make quite a few radical changes to their squad for the 2025-26 ISL campaign, which includes changing their entire foreigner core. With that being said, the Tuskers still have a talented young core of Indian players and also boast the unpredictable factor because of how new their foreign talents really are in this campaign.

David Catala will look to shape them strongly against the Mariners, ensuring they can defend against the relentless attacking threat that the amped up hosts will throw at them.

However, Kerala Blasters need to be brave and clinical with their attacking chances, being especially deft in the attacking third and finishing off counter-attacks clinically to get a positive result. A win for Kerala Blasters can be a huge vindication of the David Catala product, but a crushing loss can demotivate players very early in the campaign.

Team News

Mohun Bagan will be missing their right-back, Asish Rai for the majority of the 2025-26 campaign after he suffered a nasty injury in training.

Kerala Blasters, however, should have all their options available for this upcoming clash.

Head-to-Head

Matched Played – 10

Kerala Blasters wins – 1

Mohun Bagan wins – 8

Draws – 1

Predicted Lineups

Mohun Bagan (4-2-3-1):

Vishal Kaith (GK), Mehtab Singh, Tom Aldred, Alberto Rodriguez, Subhasish Bose, Lalengmawia Ralte, Anirudh Thapa, Manvir Singh, Jason Cummings, Liston Colaco, Jamie Maclaren

Kerala Blasters (4-3-3):

Sachin Suresh (GK), Naocha Singh, Oumar Bah, Bikash Yumnam, Sandeep Singh, Matias Hernandez, Vibin Mohanan, Marlon Roos-Truijjilo, Korou Singh, Nihal Sudeesh, Victor Bertomeu

Players to Watch

Jamie Maclaren (Mohun Bagan)

Jamie Maclaren had a pretty decent first season with Mohun Bagan, being their top scorer in the 2024-25 ISL with 12 goals to help them win the league shield and ISL title. However, the Australian forward knows he can score way more goals – even if the upcoming campaign is going to be a 13-game affair. Maclaren has scored three goals in the 2025-26 season for the Kolkata giants so far in the cup competitions and looks to amp up those numbers, starting from the ISL opener.

Maclaren scored in both fixtures against Kerala Blsaters last season and seemingly loves facing off against them. He’ll look to haunt them again with his clever off-the-ball movement to disrupt their defensive line and look to get at the end of chances clever and finish them off clinically to guide his side to a dominant win.

Korou Singh (Kerala Blasters)

After an impressive breakthrough campaign in the 2024-25 ISL, where he had six goal contributions (two goals, four assists), Korou Singh looks to amp up those numbers in the 2025-26 campaign. The 19-year-old will need to fight hard to retain a permanent starter role for Kerala Blasters, who will expect him to be a leading figure in their frontline.

Korou will look to torment the Mohun Bagan defenders with his speedy runs down the right wing, using his trickery and unpredictable nature to get the ball into the prime areas. The teenager will need to be sharp with his work in the final third, being accurate with most of his deliveries into the box and also ruthlessly put away any chances he gets in order for the Tuskers to have a chance of getting a big result from the Salt Lake Stadium.

Did you know?

• Mohun Bagan picked up 56 points from 24 league-stage games in the 2024-25 ISL, the most any team has in the competition’s history.
• Kerala Blasters scored 33 goals in the 2024-25 ISL, with only four team scoring lower than them.
• Sergio Lobera will be managing his fourth ISL team in Mohun Bagan, having already won league titles with Mumbai City and FC Goa in the past.

Broadcast Details

The 2025-26 ISL kick-off game between Mohun Bagan and Kerala Blasters will take place at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Saturday (14 February, 2026). The match kicks off at 5 PM IST. It will be shown live on the Sony Sports Network and be live-streamed on Fancode.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.