1
Fikru Teffera Lemessa (Atletico de Kolkata)
When: October 12, 2014
Where: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata
The ISL got underway with an opening ceremony at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata that featured Priyanka Chopra and had Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar in attendance. Mumbai City FC were missing marquee player Freddie Ljungberg through injury and Nicolas Anelka through an international football suspension. As a result, Syed Rahim Nabi led them out against Atletico de Kolkata, who gave the captain's armband to former Liverpool man Luis Garcia.
In the 27th minute, Spaniard Jofre Gonzalez found the Mumbai defence maintaining a high line, and split a pass through for Ethiopian striker Fikru, who skilfully evaded his markers Pavel Cmovs and Raju Gaikwad and then chipped the ball calmly past onrushing goalkeeper Subrata Pal. Fikru capped the goal off by showing his trademark somersault celebration to set Kolkata on their way to a 3-0 win. Kolkata would go on to win the inaugural title, and Fikru would win a second ISL title a year later with Chennaiyin FC.
100
Romeo Fernandes (FC Goa)
When: December 1, 2014
Where: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao
Romeo Fernandes was already a star in the making in the first season of the ISL, as he combined with Mandar Rao Desai on the two flanks to revive FC Goa's floundering campaign after they found themselves in last position midway through the season. Going into a home match against NorthEast United, Goa had registered three wins and two draws in their previous five games, and a 3-0 win on the night only brought them closer to a semi-final position, which they sealed by extending their unbeaten run of games to seven.
The win was set in motion with a typical Romeo goal in the first half, taking a quick touch to play the ball to Czech midfielder Miroslav Slepicka and then skipping into the penalty box to pick up the return ball and slot it home for his second goal of the season. Romeo's performances for Goa, who lost out on penalties to Kolkata in the semifinals, would earn him a stint with Brazilian club Atletico Paranaense in early 2015.
200
Iain Hume (Atletico de Kolkata)
When: November 1, 2015
Where: DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai
The player of the tournament for Kerala Blasters in the first ISL, Iain Hume had been a quiet but efficient presence for defending champions Kolkata in the 2015 season. He was yet to add to his tally of five goals from the first season when Kolkata traveled to the DY Patil Stadium to face Mumbai, who had ridden on Sunil Chhetri's first hat-trick by an Indian in the ISL to drub NorthEast United just four days before this clash.
What followed was a blistering performance by the 2014 champions, led by Hume. Sporting a bandage from a clash of heads early on, he converted a volley, a penalty and then an easy tap-in from a cross from Sameehg Doutie past Subrata Pal to lead a 4-1 win for Kolkata. The last of those four goals for the visitors was the fifth of the night, and the 200th in ISL history.
300
Jofre Gonzalez (FC Goa)
When: December 6, 2015
Where: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi
It took the ISL 46 games to register the first 100 goals. The journey from 100 to 200 was a further 42 matches, spread across the first two seasons. The race to 300 needed just 29 matches and was easily the shortest of the lot, as Jofre Gonzalez -- whose assist had set up the first ISL goal -- capped off an insane but memorable evening of football between Delhi Dynamos, coached by Roberto Carlos, and his one-time Fenerbahce coach Zico's Goa.
The match was the last league game of the season and both teams had already booked their berth in the playoffs and were on identical points. Tthe only point of interest was who would win and hence play their semi-final second leg at home. Delhi took a 2-0 lead into half-time, but Goa fought back with two Romeo Fernandes goals within a minute of each other midway through the second half. In the last minute of regulation time, Jofre sneaked into the box and rounded off reserve goalkeeper Sanjiban Ghosh to seal a 3-2 win for Goa.