Mumbai City FC Win ISL 2022-23 League Winners' Shield With 2 Games Left, Remain Unbeaten

Mumbai City FC clinched the ISL 2022-23 League Winners’ Shield with two league games to go after a 5-3 win over FC Goa in the Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday.

With the win, MCFC have 46 points and with two games to go, their nearest title rivals Hyderabad FC on 36. Even with two losses for Mumbai, Hyderabad will not be able to topple them from the top.

Mumbai have qualified for the play-off against last season’s winners Jamshedpur FC for a place in the AFC Champions League with the 2023–24 AFC Champions League being moved from a Spring-to-Autumn to an Autumn-to-Spring competition.

The Islanders have been on a tearaway run in the league phase of the ISL, having been unbeaten in all games this season. Mumbai City have already broken the record for the most consecutive wins in the league stage with 11 victories. They have already broken the record for longest untean streak in a season in their 16th game.

MCFC have already scored 51 goals in the 2022-23 season, which is the all-time league stage record.

Jorge Pereyra Diaz is the club’s leading goalscorer this season after bagging his eleventh goal of the campaign against FCG.

The other new members of the Mumbai team, Greg Stewart and Alberto Noguera have also contributed 6 and 4 goals this season with defensive-minded midfielders Apuia, Vinit Rai and Ahmed Jahou also contributing more than one goal each.

Though, at the heart of this dominance for the Islanders has been the camaraderie between wingers Lallianzuala Chhangte and Bipin Singh. The Indians have collectively scored 16 of Mumbai City FC’s goals this season. Both Chhangte and Bipin have carved defences open with their speed, dribbling, and ability to link up with each other. It is not unusual to see Mumbai’s attacks begin with a run behind defenders by Chhangte or a lung-busting run by Bipin on the flanks.

At the back, Phurba Lachenpa, along with his defenders, has kept seven clean sheets. The emergence of Mehtab Singh at the heart of the defence augers well for the future too.

Mumbai City FC Fixtures and Results

This is Mumbai City FC’s second League Winners’ Shield, having won it before in the 2020-21 season when they also won the ISL title as well. With that triumph, MCFC played in the AFC Champions League and became the first team to win a match in the continental tournament.