New Delhi: The inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) saw some lavish spending on part of the franchises to buy players.

While names like Alessandro del Piero and Nicolas Anelka did fetch the required publicity, it did not do any favour to the pockets of the franchise owners.

To bring an end to this extravagant spending, the ISL governing council, on Monday, decided to impose a salary cap on the teams. No franchise would be allowed to spend more than Rs 20 cr for buying footballers, an ISL release said.

Though no official figure was available, Del Piero and Anelka were reportedly paid exorbitant amounts by their respective franchises in Delhi and Mumbai.

The organisers have also decided that each franchise must have a marquee player. While franchises can retain their marquee players from the inaugural season, they are also free to sign a new one from any other country.
Last year, the ISL also faced stiff opposition from some of the I League clubs, who refused to release players. It certainly was a loss as top players like Sunil Chetri and Robin Singh had to give the ISL a miss because of the clubs’ ruling.