Defending Indian Super League champions Atlético de Kolkata edged past Chennaiyin FC, 3-2, thanks to two goals from Portuguese Helder Postiga in the first game of the 2015 season.
The game was played in front of almost 30,000 people at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai.
The Hero Indian Super League began play in 2014 and it operates along the lines of Twenty 20, the Indian Premier League cricket, and Major League Soccer.
Unlike the majority of football leagues around the world, the ISL does not use the promotion and relegation system, but instead works with a franchise system. Eight teams participate in the league.
A group of well-recognized men are the coaches of the eight teams: Antonio Lopez Habas runs Atletico de Kolkata, Marco Materazzi is in charge of Chennaiyin, Zico manages Goa, Peter Taylor directs Kerala Blasters, Cesar Farias heads Northeast United and David Platt manages Pune City.
Dutchman Nicolas Anelka and Brazilian Roberto Carlos have dual player-coach roles in Mumbai City and Delhi Dynamos, respectively.
There are other marquee players, like Florent Malouda (Dynamos), Lucio (Goa), Simao Sabrosa (Northeast United), Carlos Marchena (Kerala Blasters) and Adrian Mutu (Pune City).
The highest paid player last season was former Italian international Alessandro Del Piero, who earned $1,700,000 for his three-month stint in India.
For the 2015 season, the Indian Super League will run from October to December. Each team plays 14 matches against the other seven sides twice, home and away.
Regularly a daily match is played from Tuesday to Sunday at seven p.m. when India, 9:30 a.m. ET.
In all, there are 56 games played regularly during the season before the top four teams go into the finals. The finals include only a semi-final round and the finals. Semi-final round is done in a two-legged format while the end is a one-off match played at a neutral venue.
