Indian Super Gaming League: franchises, games and qualifier winners
ISGL launched in Mumbai on 2 March 2026 with eight franchises from the ISL and PKL world. Here are the teams, the games and all six city qualifiers, with the Grand Final still to be dated.
Mar 5, 2026 · Updated Oct 17, 2026
Indian esports has had plenty of one-off tournaments, but never a proper franchise league. The Indian Super Gaming League (ISGL) set out to change that. It was unveiled at a curtain-raiser in Mumbai on Monday, 2 March 2026, with eight founding teams, five game titles and a prize pool of ₹50 lakh for its first season.
The eight franchises
The team list reads more like an ISL or PKL roster than an esports org sheet. Mumbai City FC, FC Goa, Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters FC, Inter Kashi, Puneri Paltan, Bangalore Bhargavas and Andhra Agneyas make up the founding line-up. Five of them are Indian Super League clubs and Puneri Paltan play in the Pro Kabaddi League, so most of the names arrive with a fan base already attached.
ISGL’s link with Indian football goes beyond the line-up. Its own announcements describe sponsorship deals with FC Goa, Mumbai City FC and Chennaiyin FC for the 2025-26 ISL season, including a back-of-shirt deal with Mumbai City.
The games
At launch the league named five titles: Chess, Cricket 26, Call of Duty: Mobile, FAU-G and EA Sports FC 26. It is a mix of mobile-first and PC games, chosen for a market where most players game on their phones.
The list changed once play began. The city qualifiers were contested in four titles: Call of Duty: Mobile, Cricket 26, FC 26 and Chess, played on Chess.com. FAU-G is no longer on the league’s site, which now also lists two of LetsGameNow’s own mobile games, LGN Table Tennis and Bharat Run.
How the season works
ISGL calls its qualifying circuit the Road to Glory. Each stop is an open city qualifier, and the winners in each title earn a place at the national Grand Final. The opening leg at NESCO in Mumbai on 15 March set the pattern: its winners became Mumbai City FC’s line-up for the finale.
The Andhra Pradesh government announced on launch day that Visakhapatnam would host the Grand Final, and the state’s sports minister, Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy, was at the Mumbai launch. In March, The Bridge reported that the finale was expected in June, in Vizag or Mumbai.
The city qualifiers and their winners
The circuit ran to six cities between March and September. These are the qualifier winners as published by ISGL:
| City | Date | Call of Duty: Mobile | Cricket 26 | FC 26 | Chess |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai | 15 Mar 2026 | Godlike eSports | Rohit Sargar | Saransh Jain | Akshay Borgaonkar, Amrut Borgaonkar |
| Pune | 5 May 2026 | Elite Titan Esports | Anil Kumar Chiraniyan | Jahaan Khan | Prasad Deepak Wadkar, Rushabh Shah |
| Kochi | 29 May 2026 | Zero Aura | Jojo Charles Xavier | Rohit J Abraham | Ajay Jude, Ashfaq Mohammed |
| Varanasi | 18 Aug 2026 | Matrix | Sugata Mondal | Sagnik | Ritik Vishwakarma, Hardev Sahai |
| Goa | 21 Aug 2026 | Team Lapsers | Ayantan Mishra | Lokmanyu | Protush Kumar Bose, Aditya Tomar |
| Chennai | 2 Sep 2026 | Team Black | Krish Ghosh | Mohammed Naina Shahid | Muthaiah Alagappan, G Phanhi Kiran |
The season has run well past its first timetable. The last qualifier, in Chennai, was on 2 September, three months after the June finale first reported. As of mid-October 2026, the league’s website gives the Grand Final date as “TBD” and its venue as “Mumbai or Vizag”.
Bollywood backing and big names
The Mumbai curtain-raiser drew Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, and both have a stake in the line-up: Kapoor co-owns Mumbai City FC and Bachchan co-owns Chennaiyin FC (he also owns PKL side Jaipur Pink Panthers). Their presence signalled that the organiser, LetsGameNow, wants mainstream crossover appeal rather than just the existing esports audience.
LetsGameNow was co-founded by Gautam Badalia, a former Route Mobile CEO, and Santanu Basu, a professional gamer who has represented India at international events. Their pitch is an “IPL moment” for esports. “Before IPL, there were already many cricket tournaments in India. But IPL revolutionised the sport by bringing structure, scale and credibility,” the founders told The Bridge in March. They also set a target: “If this league helps produce even one medal winner at the Asian Games, that would be a huge success.” Esports is now on the Asian Games programme.
Can the franchise model work for esports?
India’s cricket and kabaddi leagues proved that franchise structures with city identities can build loyal fanbases. Whether the same formula carries over to esports is still an open question, and the first season has shown how hard the calendar is to hold together. Player salaries, broadcast deals and steady audience turnout will decide whether ISGL lasts beyond its debut season. For now, the established sports brands that have lent it their names give the league a foundation that earlier Indian esports ventures lacked.