Hugo Boumous, Indian Super League great, becomes ambassador for his adopted home | OneFootball

Breton-born playmaker Hugo Boumous has become a star in India, where cricket dominates, and is widely regarded as the finest player in Indian Super League history.

According to L'Équipe, he arrived aged 22 expecting a six-month stay, but eight years later he has two league titles, the 2020 player of the season award and a competition-best 43 assists.

His journey began in early 2018 when former MA Tétouan coach Sergio Lobera brought him to FC Goa. A Stade Rennais youth product who featured for Laval from 2010 to 2016 and reached the 2014 Gambardella semi-finals alongside Nordi Mukiele and Serhou Guirassy, he chose to stay.

Transfers followed, for €200,000 to Mumbai City FC in 2020 and €300,000 to Mohun Bagan in 2021, with stints alongside Bartholomew Ogbeche and Florentin Pogba. Boumous embraced India’s scale and diversity, saying the experience broadened his perspective.

He spent time in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, noting the country’s challenges, rapid economic growth and overwhelming size. He sees the ISL as a lively showcase, launched in 2014 with marquee names like Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda, Robert Pirès and David Trezeguet, while cricket still takes almost all the attention.

In December, financial strain saw the ISL move to trim top salaries. Odisha, with whom Boumous is contracted until 2027, asked him to find a temporary exit, and he joined Selangor FC on loan after interest from the Gulf, Indonesia and Thailand.

He believes India’s geography hinders football links in the region and that progress will take time, though he still hopes to contribute and may even end his career there.

After Mohun Bagan’s 2-1 win over Bengaluru on 12 April last season, a contractual impasse delayed the new campaign. With FSDL’s deal ending in early December, captain-led talks and subsequent intervention by the sports ministry and the Supreme Court produced a temporary fix. The season starts Saturday and runs to 17 May in a shortened format, with 14 teams meeting once and the champion decided by a single phase, no semi-finals or final.

Source: L'Équipe