Sunil Chhetri leads Indian Super League’s search for next football star in 'Agla Hero Kaun?’

New Delhi: The Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-2025 season kicks off this week on Friday, September 13th. The league has a total of 13 clubs, including all three Kolkata clubs — Mohun Bagan Super Giant, East Bengal FC, and Mohammedan Sporting Club. 

The ISL’s season campaign, ‘Agla Hero Kaun?,’ spearheaded by Indian football players Sunil Chhetri and Bhaichung Bhutia, taps into the emotional connection fans have with the sport while searching for India’s next football star. 

The 360° integrated marketing campaign features a line-up, including PV Sindhu, Manu Bhaker, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, PR Sreejesh, IM Vijayan and ISL club owners John Abraham and Ranbir Kapoor, amongst others.

Picking out his players to watch for this season, Bhutia said, “Lallianzuala Chhangte has been very promising and is still young. Sivasakthi Narayanan is also there as a young player from Bengaluru. Kiyan Nassiri is also very young. These are some of the young players who are going to do well.”

Chhetri said, “If you want to be the next hero, don’t take pressure. If you are a youngster, enjoy it. Play football because you love it. Try to not listen to the noise as people will talk, play because you enjoy it.”

When asked who (NorthEast United FC owner) Abraham’s Agla hero would be, he said, “Parthib (Gogoi) is fantastic, he is a star; he is better than some of the international strikers across the ISL teams. He is absolutely outstanding, and he is mercurial. His shot-taking ability, his decision-making ability is brilliant and I think he is the Agla Hero.”

Two regional campaigns have been launched in, Kolkata and Kerala, featuring local players.

In Kolkata, the campaign is led by the captains of three clubs: Subhasish Bose, defender of Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Cleiton Silva, Captain of East Bengal FC, and Samad Ali Mallick, Captain of Mohammedan Sporting Club. 

In Kerala, Hockey player PR Sreejesh and Footballer IM Vijayan lead the campaign. 

Indian Super League 2024-25 season will kick off on Friday, September 13, 2024, with a marquee clash between ISL League Winners Mohun Bagan Super Giant and ISL Cup Winners Mumbai City FC at 7:30pm IST at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

ISL will be streamed live free on JioCinema (English, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam) and telecasted live on Sports 18 — 3 (English, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam), Asianet Plus (Malayalam). Additionally Sports 18 — 1, Sports 18 — 2 and Sports 18 — Khel will also broadcast live select ISL matches.

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