The Indian Super League playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Indian Super League for the ISL Cup. Under the current format adopted for the 2023–24 season, 6 teams qualify for the tournament based on regular-season point totals
| Founded | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Region | India |
| Number of teams | 6 |
| Current champions | Mumbai City (2nd title) |
| Most successful team(s) | ATK (3 titles) |
 2023–24 Indian Super League playoffs | |
ISL awards the regular-season champions with the League Winners' Shield and the playoffs winners with ISL Cup.
Standard cup rules – such as the extra time and penalty shootouts – are used to decide drawn games. The higher ranked team from the regular season hosts games if there is only one leg. Winners are in bold.
Playoff system edit
The top two clubs after the regular season automatically progress to the ISL playoffs. The playoffs culminate with the ISL final, where the winner is presented with the ISL Cup. In the qualifiers, the third-through-sixth ranked teams play a single-elimination match hosted at the higher-ranked team's venue, with the two winners of those matches joining the first and second-ranked teams in two-legged semifinals played over two weeks (since 2022–23). The two winners of those matches eventually meet in the final hosted at a pre-decided venue.
Qualification edit
After the regular season, the team with the most points is declared the Champions and presented with the League Winners Shield, automatically qualifying for the playoffs along with the runners-up. At the same time, the next best four clubs qualify to play qualifying playoffs to join the top two in the playoffs. The position of each team is determined by the highest number of points accumulated during the regular season. If two or more teams are level on points, the following criteria are applied in order until one of the teams can be determined as the higher ranked:[1]
- Highest number of points accumulated in matches between the teams concerned;
- Highest goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
- Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
- Highest goal difference
- Highest number of goals scored
- Lowest number of red cards accumulated;
- Lowest number of yellow cards accumulated;
- Toss of a coin.
History edit
| Seasons | League teams | Playoff teams | % of teams | Matches played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 8 | 4 | 50% | 5 |
| 2015 | ||||
| 2016 | ||||
| 2017–2018 | 10 | 40% | ||
| 2018–2019 | ||||
| 2019–2020 | ||||
| 2020–2021 | 11 | 36.3% | ||
| 2021–2022 | ||||
| 2022–2023 | 6 | 54.5% | 7 | |
| 2023–2024 | 12 | 50% | ||
| 2024–2025 | 13 | 46.1% |
Appearances by club edit
Bold indicates they won the ISL Cup that year. Team names in italics indicates the club is defunct or a former Indian Super League member.
| Rank | Club | App | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goa | 6 | 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 |
| 2 | ATK | 4 | 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020 |
| Chennaiyin | 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020 | ||
| 4 | Bengaluru | 3 | 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Mumbai City | 2016, 2019, 2021 | ||
| Kerala Blasters | 2014, 2016, 2022 | ||
| Mohun Bagan SG | 2020, 2021, 2022 | ||
| 8 | Odisha[a] | 2 | 2015, 2016 |
| NorthEast United | 2019, 2021 | ||
| 10 | Hyderabad | 1 | 2022 |
| Jamshedpur | 2022 | ||
| Pune City | 2018 |
See also edit
Notes and references edit
Notes edit
References edit
- ^ Scroll Staff (18 February 2020). "ISL 2019-'20 playoffs: Here are the scenarios explained as top four race goes down to the wire". Scroll.in. Retrieved 9 August 2023.