Parth Jindal lauds Bengaluru FC's performance in ISL 2025-26 despite playing with just two foreign players

Bengaluru FC are currently atop the ISL points table with 23 points

The only Indian club to make it to the finals of the prestigious AFC Cup, Bengaluru FC, entered a difficult ISL season with just two foreign players and a majority of Indian players, including youngsters, academy products and veterans.

Amidst uncertain times revolving around the future of the Indian top division, former Shabab Al Ahli gaffer Gerard Zaragoza parted ways just before the commencement of the new season, and the club had put their faith in the veteran Indian coach Renedy Singh to lead the team.

Their foreign players, including the likes of Edgar Mendez, Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Alberto Noguera, Salaheddine Bahi and Pedro Capo, departed the club. Bengaluru went on to make two new foreign signings in the form of Argentine winger Braian Sanchez and Uzbek midfielder Sirojiddin Kuziev.

Sirojiddin Kuziev played every game for the Blues and was a dominating presence in the midfield. Sanchez, on the other hand, was undoubtedly one of the standout performers for the Blues, scoring goals against the Highlanders and Odisha and a brace against Inter Kashi, too and won the POTM in three games.

Overall, they anchored the midfield and created too many goal-scoring opportunities for the Indian attacking trio of Sunil Chhetri, Ashique Kuruniyan and Ryan Williams. This was a blessing in disguise for too many young talents in the club, who got plenty of game time and rose to the occasion.

In this article, we take a closer look at the young Indian players who grabbed a lot of eyeballs for the Blues. We also find out how Bengaluru FC, amidst unprecedented times, went on to have a brilliant season and had they converted some of their draws into wins, maybe they could have turned their season into gold this season.

Young players like Soham and Fanai impressed a lot

Bengaluru FC had invested heavily in grassroots and nurturing young talents, and in difficult times, their efforts paid off, and even in the absence of foreign stars, their homegrown players and some young talents stood up to the occasion and played brilliantly to propel Bengaluru to the top.

One such lad was Soham Varshneya, who came in as a substitute in the majority of the games, but didn’t fail to impress. He even gave an assist against East Bengal, and the coach was so impressed that he earned his first start of the season in the ultimate fixture of the season against the Marina Machans in Chennai.

No wonder Lalremtluanga Fanai was just absolutely brilliant in the midfield. The 21-year-old midfielder played every game for the Blues and created a lot of opportunities upfront. He gave a total of four assists, and the last two came in Bengaluru’s final two games against Jamshedpur and Chennaiyin.

Blues remained unbeaten against Kolkata giants and defeated stalwarts like Goa and Jamshedpur

The Blues just lost two games this season, and the only team in the top six that defeated them was Punjab FC. Apart from that, they went on to hold strong teams like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City FC to a draw and defeated teams like Jamshedpur FC and FC Goa.

What cost the Blues the ISL Championship was their inability to convert draws into wins. They drew a total of five games, the joint most by any team. They scored 18 goals this season, clocking an average of 1.4 goals per game, the fourth highest in the league.

Veterans like Gurpreet and Captain Bheke led from the front

They appointed Spanish gaffer Pep Munoz mid-season, who was coming after plying his trade with Shenzhen Peng City in the Chinese first division. Under Munoz’s tutelage, the team suffered just one defeat against the Blasters and won three games.

Bengaluru adopted a possession-based style of football, recording the second-highest possession of 56% in the league. Ryan Williams was also in sublime form for the Blues, and veterans like Gupreet Singh Sandhu and Rahul Bheke performed when their team needed them the most.

Despite finishing atop the ISL table, they missed the ISL Shield by a whisker. But the Blues can really be proud of the way they played this season.

With just two foreigners, the Blues held stalwarts like the Mariners, Islanders and East Bengal to a draw and defeated top teams like Jamshedpur FC and FC Goa.

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