At one point, it seemed like it may not even get started, but here we are, at the business end of the 2025-26 Indian Super League season. There's a serious title race, a multi-horse one, the likes of which the ISL hasn't seen before.
Ahead of this weekend's first-ever ISL Kolkata derby that actually matters, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are both front-runners to win the title, but there are multiple other teams in the fray.
Bagan's draw against Inter Kashi on Tuesday night has kept alive the remote mathematical possibility of Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC, or FC Goa winning the title. Punjab FC and Mumbai City FC are still in the fight too, ahead of those teams playing against each other in the final gameweek as well.
Here's a breakdown of the current state of play at the top of the ISL, and the results that each team would need to go their way to win the title.
East Bengal
Points: 22 in 11 games
Goal Difference: +18
Remaining Games: Mohun Bagan (A), Inter Kashi (A)
Mohun Bagan's draw against Inter Kashi has put East Bengal in charge of the ISL, in that they can probably afford a draw in Saturday's derby against their great rivals. Thanks to their superior goal difference, which will become the tie-breaker in case of a draw.
A draw in the derby and a win against Inter Kashi in the final game of the season will make East Bengal champions, provided Bagan don't beat SC Delhi by six goals more than they beat Kashi.
Mohun Bagan
Points: 22 in 11 games
Goal Difference: +13
Remaining Games: East Bengal (H), SC Delhi (H)
If Bagan are to make it a hat-trick of league titles, they will have to win both their remaining games against East Bengal and SC Delhi. In case they don't win the derby, they'll need a massive favour from Inter Kashi, who would have to take points off East Bengal in that final game of the season, for Bagan to win the league title.
Jamshedpur FC
Points: 21 in 12 games
Goal Difference: +5
Remaining Game: Odisha FC (H)
If Jamshedpur had won their previous game against Bengaluru FC at home, they could have been in charge of this title race. However, now they are in a situation where they need a number of different results to go their way, apart from beating Odisha in their last game.
Should they beat Odisha, Jamshedpur will need a draw in the Kolkata derby and then they will need Inter Kashi and SC Delhi to beat East Bengal and Mohun Bagan respectively in their final games. In addition to this, Jamshedpur will also need Mumbai City FC and Punjab FC to not win both their remaining games this season.
Bengaluru FC
Points: 20 in 12 games
Goal Difference: +5
Remaining Game: Chennaiyin FC (A)
Along with Goa, Bengaluru are still in it, but only extremely remotely. They'll have to win their last game, away to Chennaiyin on Saturday. Then, they'll need a goalless draw in the Kolkata derby, along with Kashi and Delhi beating East Bengal and Mohun Bagan respectively. They'll also need Odisha to take points off Jamshedpur, and both Mumbai City and Punjab to pick up not more than three points in their remaining games.
In such a scenario, Bengaluru would be level on 23 points with both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, and then that would also mean that need a 13-goal swing with East Bengal, to win the title on goal difference. So, they would need to beat Chennaiyin by a big margin and hope Kashi beat East Bengal by a big margin.
Phew.
FC Goa
Points: 20 in 12 games
Goal Difference: +5
Remaining Game: Kerala Blasters (A)
Read above. Goa need all those results to happen, but in contrast to Bengaluru, the difference for Goa would be that if all those results happen, they'd be in a battle with Bagan, and so they'd have to make up that eight-goal swing in the last game.
Punjab FC
Points: 19 in 11 games
Goal Difference: +7
Remaining Game: Odisha FC (A), Mumbai City FC (H)
Wins in both their remaining games will take Punjab to 25 points. From there, they will need a few favours to win the title. If Mohun Bagan win the derby, then Punjab cannot win the league even if they win both their games, because Bagan have a superior head-to-head record compared to them.
So Punjab will need Mohun Bagan to win neither of their remaining two games.
If East Bengal win the derby and lose to Kashi in the final game, they too will have 25 points. Punjab will have to make up an 11-goal swing on goal difference to have a chance of winning the title.
Mumbai City FC
Points: 22 in 12 games
Goal Difference: +6
Remaining Game: Punjab FC (A)
Mumbai are in a similar boat to Punjab, but for them, there's no question of goal difference coming into play in either scenario. Of course, they need to win their remaining game first, but beyond that, they will need East Bengal to win neither of their remaining games, and Mohun Bagan to not pick up more than three points from the two remaining games.
East Bengal have a superior head-to-head record against Mumbai City, so if they get to 25 points, then Mumbai City cannot win the title. However, if Bagan finish on 25 points, Mumbai City would leapfrog them to the title on the head-to-head record.
There's a scenario where Mumbai City, East Bengal, and Mohun Bagan could all finish with 25 points. In that case, Mumbai would need Mohun Bagan winning the derby by a 1-0 scoreline and then losing to Delhi, while East Bengal beat Inter Kashi. Then, Mumbai would need a 16-goal swing between them and East Bengal to win the title.
