Indian Super League: Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg mentions 2-year-old league as world leading event

ISL 2015 had an average attendance of 27,090, and was third behind Bundesliga and English Premier League in terms of attendance.

New Delhi: The burgeoning Indian Super League got a shot in the arm after Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg mentioned about the two-year-old football tournament as one of the key world events on the social networking site in 2015.

The ISL found a passing, but nonetheless a worthy mention as one of the world's leading celebration of happy moments last year in Zuckerberg's announcement of Facebook's quarterly results.

"In 2015 people came together in many different ways on Facebook. We celebrated happy moments, from the Indian Super League to the release of Star Wars," Zuckerberg said while sharing an update on the community's progress to connect the world.

"Millions of people rallied to support Nepal after the earthquake, France after the Paris attacks and all those affected by the refugee crisis. And every day, hundreds of millions of people just used Facebook to connect with loved ones," he added.

Despite initial apprehensions, ISL's second season gained popularity and witnessed huge stadium attendance. In fact, ISL's average attendance per game was better than Spain's La Liga, which boasts of two of the greatest clubs in Real Madrid and Barcelona, and their superstars in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Among world football leagues, ISL -- with an average attendance of 27,090 -- was third, behind Germany's Bundesliga and English Premier League, but ahead of La Liga (No.4), in terms of attendance in 2015.

ISL was ranked fourth largest football league in the world with an average attendance of 24,371 in it's inaugural edition.

And on digital platform, ISL 2015 witnessed strong growth in fan base. The official ISL page on Facebook saw a growth of about 1 million fans last year to reach 2.7 million.