All you need to know about Indian Super League Season 4 Draft

10 teams will have a pool of 200 domestic players to choose from ahead of the fourth season of the cash-rich league...

The Indian Super League (ISL) is set to return later in the year for its fourth season. The cash-rich league which sought to revolutionise Indian football with corporate participation and privately-owned franchise clubs is gearing up for its biggest season yet with 10 teams, more players and a longer campaign as the domestic game's transformation continues at pace.

The ISL is a much different ball game than the existing model of the football league in India. Since its inception in 2014, the league had been a 2-month long competition with clubs from eight cities, fighting it out to be crowned champions of Indian football's newest avatar. However, being a corporate league, the recruitment process for players was different from the transfer market widely used across the world.

Also read 10 most and least expensive players In ISL 2017 Draft

The first ISL draft for domestic players was held before Season I where teams were allowed to pick any available player from a pool according to their order of entry into the draft in different rounds. The league then moved to an auction system for a selected group of high profile domestic player in ISL II while mostly following the convention of the transfer market in Season 2 and 3.

The draft is back ahead of the new campaign and 10 teams will pick from a pool of 200 domestic players at St. Regis in Mumbai on Sunday.

Player Retention and Point of Entry

Each team has been allowed to retain a maximum of two senior players and a maximum of three U-21 players from their previous squads. This option has been exercised by all teams except for Jamshedpur FC and Delhi Dynamos who go into the process with a clean slate. Crucially, the teams who have exercised the right to retain two senior players will only enter the draft from Round 3 onwards. The only other exception are Chennaiyin who will enter in Round 4. Also, if one of the retained U-21 players has an international cap he will count as a senior player.

Also read Exclusive: Retained list for ISL clubs revealed!

The clubs are allowed a squad of a maximum of 25 players which must include no more than seven foreigners and at least 15 Indians including at least two U-21 players (those born after January 1997).

Draft Rules

* Clubs to have a minimum of 15 and maximum of 18 Indian players in the squad, including a mandatory two U21 development players.

* Teams have a pool of around 200 domestic players to choose from in the draft. 

* As the new team in ISL, Jamshedpur FC will get the first pick in both 1st and 2nd rounds of the Player Draft, while Delhi Dynamos FC will be the second club to exercise their right in the opening round.

* The sequence for selection in the rounds for each club will be determined by a draw of lots on Saturday evening.

* The draft will have a total of 15 rounds.

* From Round 3, teams can exercise 'Instant Trading' option if another club picks one of their targets - Any club may, within 15 seconds of another club announcing its Draft pick, press the buzzer to activate the “Instant Trade” process. Representatives of the clubs will then head to the Instant Trading Table to propose, negotiate and close the deal within a stipulated time if they are able to come to an agreement. 

* The salary cap for each team (both Indian and foreign players) has been set at ₹18 Crores and only a maximum of ₹12.5 Crores can be utilised to sign overseas players. So, the teams have at least ₹5.5 crores to spend on Indian players plus whatever is left over the budget for the foreign players.

• Interestingly, if a team opts to sign a marquee player, his wages will not be counted in the salary cap.

Here's the list of every team, how they enter the draft and number of players needed to be signed.

1) JAMSHEDPUR FC: 

Senior Retained: NoneU21 Retained: NoneNo of players to be selected: Min 15 including two U21Entry in Draft Round: 1

2) DELHI DYNAMOS FC

Senior Retained: NoneU21 Retained: NoneNo of players to be selected: Min 15 including two U21Entry in Draft Round: 1

3) FC PUNE CITY

Senior Retained: Vishal KaithU21 Retained: Ashique Kuruniyan No of players to be selected: Min 14 including one U21Entry in Draft Round: 2

4) KERALA BLASTERS FC 

Senior Retained: CK Vineeth, Sandesh JhinganU21 Retained: Prashanth KaruthadathkuniNo of players to be selected: Min 13 including one U21Entry in Draft Round: 3

5) ATLETICO DE KOLKATA

Senior Retained: Debjit Majumdar, Prabir DasU21 Retained: NoneNo of players to be selected: Min 13 including two U21.Entry in Draft Round: 3

6) BENGALURU FC 

Senior Retained: Sunil Chhetri, Udanta SinghU21 Retained: Nishu Kumar, MalsawmzualaNo of players to be selected: Min 13Entry in Draft Round: 3

(Daniel Lalhlimpuia has been retained by Bengaluru FC for the AFC Cup and will not be a part of the draft.)

7) FC GOA

Senior Retained: Laxmikant Kattimani, Mandar Rao DesaiU21 Retained: NoneNo of players to be selected: Min 13 including two U21Entry in Draft Round: 3

8) MUMBAI CITY FC

Senior Retained: Amarinder Singh, Sehnaj SinghU21 Retained: Rakesh OramNo of players to be selected: Min 13 including one U21Entry in Draft Round: 3

9) NORTHEAST UNITED FC

Seniors Retained: Rowllin Borges, TP Rehenesh U21 Retained: NoneNo of players to be selected: Min 13 including two U21Entry in Draft Round: 3

10) CHENNAIYIN FC

Senior Retained: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Karanjit SinghU21 Retained: Jerry Lalrinzuala (capped), Anirudh ThapaNo of players to be selected: Min 12Entry in Draft Round: 4

Broadcast

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The draft is not being televised by league broadcasters Star India. However, it will stream Live on the digital platform Hotstar from 10:00 AM on Sunday.