Golden Boot winners of every season in Indian Super League history
By Mudeet Arora
The Indian Super League began back in 2014 and since then, it has developed into becoming the top league in the country in terms of the footballing talent on display.
In every season of the ISL up till now, one player has stood out in goalscoring and today we take a look at the winners of the Golden Boot in the league's history.
- 2014 - Elano - Chennaiyin FC - 8 goals in 11 matches
- 2015 - Stiven Mendoza - Chennaiyin FC - 13 goals in 16 matches
- 2016 - Marcelinho - Delhi Dynamos FC - 10 goals in 15 matches
- 2017/18 - Ferran Corominas - FC Goa - 18 goals in 20 matches
- 2018/19 - Ferran Corominas - FC Goa - 16 goals in 20 matches
- 2019/20 - Nerijus Valskis - Chennaiyin FC - 15 goals in 16 matches
- 2020/21 - Igor Angulo - Mumbai City FC - 14 goals in 21 matches
- 2021/22 - Bartholomew Ogbeche - Hyderabad FC - 18 goals in 20 matches
Elano's eight goals in 2014 saw Chennaiyin ended top of the league table and made it to the semi-final of the inaugural season. He left the club in 2016.
Stiven Mendoza was also very successful at Chennaiyin FC as he led them to their first ever Indian Super League title win and left with Elano in 2016.
Brazilian star Marcelinho was at the peak of his powers in 2016, which was also his debut season in the Indian Super League. He struck 10 goals and also provided five assists to help his team to make it to the semi-final for a second season in a row.
Everyone remembers Ferran Corominas from FC Goa. The superstar striker ruled the Indian Super League for two seasons in which he ended as top scorer in the league. Coro scored 18 goals in his debut season which is still a record for the most goals scored by any player in a ISL season alongside Bartholomew Ogbeche (2021-22 season). Coro didn't stop in the 2018/19 season too as he scored 16 goals in 20 games, thus becoming the only player in ISL history to win back-to-back Golden Boots.
2019 saw Chennaiyin FC striker Nerijus Valskis win the Golden Boot after he narrowly overcame the challenge posed by superstars like Roy Krishna and Bartholomew Ogbeche. Valskis, Krishna and Ogbeche all three were tied on 15 goals that season, however, according to ISL rules, if two or more players are tied for goals scored at the end of the season, the weightage will fall on the assists provided by the respective players. And if the respective players tie on both goals as well as assists, then the player having lesser minutes claims the honour. In this scenario, Ogbeche departed out of the race having just one assist to his name while Valskis and Krishna were both tied at 15 goals and six assists, with the former claiming the Golden Boot having played a game less than Krishna - all determined on the last day of the season, in the Hero ISL 2019-20 final where Valskis scored a goal and Roy Krishna provided an assist.
Igor Angulo came to prominence in the 2020-21 season with FC Goa as he scored 14 goals that season, tied with ATK Mohun Bagan's Roy Krishna. As the rules for a tie were rectified, if two or more players shared the same number of goals scored, the player with lesser played minutes would be awarded the Golden Boot, which in this case was claimed by Angulo, having played two games less than his ATK Mohun Bagan counterpart.
The latest 2021-22 season saw Bartholomew Ogbeche finally claim the Golden Boot as he netted 18 goals in 20 games for the reigning ISL champions Hyderabad FC. Ogbeche also became the all-time top goalscorer in ISL history, with 53 goals in 77 games, surpassing Ferran Corominas and Sunil Chhetri.