Everything you need to know about ISL betting

The Indian Super League launched in 2014 as cricket legends, wealthy businessmen, Bollywood actors and iconic soccer stars associated themselves with the 8 franchises. Now ahead of the playoffs find out everything you need to know about betting on the ISL, the newest and most unusual soccer league available at Pinnacle Sports.

Indian Super League

The league operates similarly to the IPL cricket league and the MLS. Unlike the majority of soccer leagues, there is no promotion or relegation; instead the ISL has opted for an eight-team franchise system.

The ISL is played annually between October and December. The eight Franchises play each other twice in a short and sharp round-robin league format. The top four teams then progress to the playoffs – consisting of the two-legged semi-final, and final.

Another unique factor to the ISL is the team roster. Each team sign at least one marquee player, seven other foreign players and 14 Indian domestic players, four of whom must be local to the city.

Indian Super League Playoff betting

Ahead of the first Indian Super League playoffs we look at the four teams who have progressed. 

ISL Semi-final:  Chennaiyin FC vs. Kerala Blasters (Dec 13th & 16th)

Chennaiyin FC

After a series of drop-outs, Bollywood actor and producer Abhishek Bachchan stepped in as the key investor. Their player-manager is Italian World Cup-winning defender Marco Materazzi, while Brazilian Elano is their marquee player.

They topped the table by one point winning six, drawing five and losing three of their games. Bettors should note they scored the most goals, but also conceded the second most at an average of 1.7 and 1.4 respectively. Elano is key to their success and leads the ISL goalscoring charts with 8 goals in just 9 games.

Kerala Blasters

Owned by the most famous man in India - Sachin Tendulkar - and entrepreneur Prasad V Potluri. The team name derives from Tendulkar’s nickname as the “Master Blaster” during his cricket career. 

Despite being labelled the Pre-tournament outsiders, they qualified in fourth place following a final game 1-0 win against Pune City. Player-manager is ex-England goalkeeper David James, while the squad also boasts Michael Chopra, Iain Hume and Jamie McAllister. 

Goalscoring may be a problem for the Kerala Blasters as they only found the net nine times in their 14 games. However, manager James’ influence was felt as they conceded the fewest goals.

ISL Semi-final:  FC Goa vs. Atlético de Kolkata (Dec 14th & 17th)

FC Goa

FC Goa are owned by Indian businessman Venugopal Dhoot and cricketer Virat Kohli – who is one of the most marketable sportsmen in the world. In addition, the brand ambassador is Bollywood star Varun Dhawan, while they also became the first Indian sports club to launch a satellite TV Channel.

FC Goa ensured big names are spread throughout their team with Brazilian legend Zico in the dugout, while Arsenal icon Robert Pirès is the marquee player.

Goa finished runners up in the league after claiming 22 points from their 14 games. After a poor start – losing three and drawing one of their first five – they head into the playoffs in the best form - with five wins and three draws from their last eight games.

Atlético de Kolkata

The first official side to be announced by the Indian Super League, after the owners of the club – Kolkata Games and Sports – won the bidding for the city’s franchise soccer team. Investment came from cricket legend Sourav Ganguly and they are part owned by Spanish side Atlético Madrid.

Former Valencia boss Antonio López Habas is in charge, while ex-Liverpool star Luis García is their marquee player.

After making a great start their form struggled and they subsequently won just once in their last 10 games, before finishing third. If they are to have any chance of success they will need Ethiopian striker Fikru Teferra Lemessa - who is second in the goalscoring charts with four goals in 11 games - to produce the firepower.

How to Bet on the Indian Super League

At Pinnacle Sports we offer a number of ways for you to bet on the Indian Super League:

1X2s - A 1X2 bet is a three-way wager on the outcome of a soccer match in normal time. The 1X2 notation simply refers to betting on a home win (1), a draw (x) or an away win (2).

Handicaps - A Handicap bet counters the perceived bias in team ability by applying a positive or negative goal start to each side. A Handicap bet has only two options eliminating the Draw.

Totals - A Total bet is a wager on the total number of goals scored in a game. You can bet on whether the Total is over or under the posted Total number.

1st Half – A 1st Half bet is a wager on who you think will win the 1st half of the game only.

Factors to consider when betting on ISL

One factor bettors should have considered was the short format of the season. Spread over just three months, each team played just 14 games, which meant extreme unpredicted results had a big impact.

Over a 38 game season like seen in most big soccer leagues, the best teams usually prevail, but given the brevity of the ISL it seen a higher proportion of upsets – think of the ‘Law of large numbers’.

Because of the league's infancy the market hasn’t yet matured meaning there's an opportunity for bettors to gain an edge going into the playoffs. This is backed up by the data that showed only 27.91% of spread favourites covered, while 28% of 1X2 favourites won during the regular season.

The regular season of the Indian Super League also saw a large proportion of draws (33%), while the goals scored per game average was 2.17 goals.

The ISL’s infancy clearly gives bettors an opportunity to gain an edge, as bookmakers continually struggle to correctly identify the relative strengths of each team. Now into the playoff stage, bettors should use the information in this article before placing a bet.