ISL: Golden Boot Winner's List

ISL, since its inception has seen a new level of football standard being set over the years. With an amalgamation of upcoming Indian and established foreign players, ISL has come a long way to establish itself has the top tier footballing league in India.

The Golden Boot is given to the player with highest goal tally in a single season. Many of great foreign players have won this award in preceding years and have left a glorious mark in Indian football history. Lets see the list of these players with Golden Boot award in every season of ISL since 2014:

Elano Blumer (2014):

Elano Blumer started his career at Santos and helped them win the Brazil Serie A title. He has played alongside many star players like Robinho, Diego, and Alex. After winning back-to-back leagues with Shakhtar, he joined Prem giants Manchester City, where he made 62 appearances and scored 14, and made 11 assists, then spent three seasons with Turkish giants Galatasaray. Elano also made 50 appearances for Brazil and scored nine goals. After joining Chennaiyan FC in 2014, the Brazilian was the top scorer of the league. Then after winning the title with Chennaiyan FC he left for Santos.

Matches played: 11

Goals scored: 8

Stiven Mendoza (2015):

It seems like the top scorer magic was passed on to Stiven by his former teammate Elano. The Columbian was an integral part of Chennaiyan FC's title success. He is a versatile striker and can play anywhere in the attack which made him a lethal finisher. After playing for many clubs in Columbia, he joined the Indian league in 2015. His performances attracted Brazillian giants Corinthians and went there on a season loan.

Matches played: 16

Goals scored: 13

Marcelinho Leita Pereira (2016):

He started his career with Atletico Madrid reserves, Marcelinho has represented more than 15 clubs and has played in countries like Brazil, Spain, Greece, Italy, and India. He was the top scorer and made the most goal contributions in the Hero ISL 2016 with Delhi Dynamos FC. Marcelinho was the leading goal scorer for FC Pune City in 2017-18. The Brazilian was an important player for Hyderabad FC in 2019-20 before moving on to Odisha FC for the 2020-21 season. Later, he joined ATK Mohun Bagan on loan during the January transfer window.

Matches played: 15

Goals scored: 10

Ferrán Corominas (2017-18 & 2018-19)

Also known as 'Coro', Ferran is regarded as one of the best strikers in Hero ISL's history. He's the highest scorer in the history of ISL and has won two golden boots in a row. Coro has over 200 La Liga appearances and started his career in Espanyol. He then played in Osasuna, Girona, Elche, Mallorca, and Turkish side Doxa, and in 2017, he signed for FC Goa. In his three seasons with Goa, he scored 34 goals in 40 matches. Currently, he plays with the Spanish Primera division side Atletico Baleares.

Matches played: 18 (2017-18); 16 (2018-19)

Goals scored: 20 (2017-18); 20 (2018-19)

Nerijus Valskis (2019-20)

Nerijus Valskis began his career in his homeland, where he played several years at the highest level of Lithuanian football, collecting numerous awards. Valskis was at his peak in the 2012-13 season, scoring 27 goals in the A Lyga – Lithuania's top-level – while playing for FK Suduva. He has also worked in nations such as Belarus, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Thailand, and Israel. He formerly played for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Ligat ha'Al, Israel's premier level, before joining the Hero ISL. During the 2019-20 season, he made his ISL debut with Chennaiyin FC, where he went on to score 15 goals and assist six times in 20 games.

Matches played: 20

Goals scored: 15.

Igor Angulo (2020-21):

Started his career at Athletic Bilbao, Spain, Igor Angulo has since then played in France, Cyprus, Greece, and Poland. He had a lot of success while playing for Gornik Zabrze in Poland. In three of his four seasons there, he was among the top two goal scorers. In his first season with the club, he helped them achieve promotion to the first flight, and the team grew from strength to strength during his tenure. In total, he scored 88 goals for them in 154 games. He joined FC Goa ahead of the 2020-21 season and immediately drew notice with his goal-scoring ability. He won the Golden Boot title after scoring 14 goals.

Matches played: 21

Goals scored: 14

Bartholomew Ogbeche (2021-22):

He played his club football in France, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Greece, England, the Netherlands and India, notably becoming the all-time top scorer of NorthEast United, Kerala Blasters and Hyderabad in the Indian Super League.Ogbeche represented Nigeria at the 2002 World Cup. And now is the golden boot winner of Hero ISL 2022.

Matches played: 20

Goals scored: 18

Dimitri Petratos/ Diego Mauricio/Cleiton Silva (2022-23)

This 2022/23 ISL saw three winners of the Golden boot award with Dimitri Petratos of ATKMB, Cleiton Silva of East Bengal and Diego Mauricio from Odisha FC all scoring 12 goals in the season.