The 2021 International Swimming League was the third edition of the

International Swimming League The International Swimming League (ISL) is an annual professional swimming league, established in 2019. It features a team-based competition format with fast-paced race sessions. In 2019, the regular season started in October and the Final Match ...

, a professional swimming league, established in 2019. It comprised ten teams composed of both women and men. The league, due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

travel restrictions, consisted of a total of eighteen short course swimming meets, called matches, spanning four stages of competition and held in two locations. In each match swimmers from four different teams competed in individual, relay, and skins events. The ten regular season matches and one play in match took place in the city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The six play off matches in the semifinals stage of competition took place in the city of

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, as did the final match. The France-based Energy Standard won the Final Match, with the

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

award going to

Sarah Sjöström Sarah Fredrika Sjöström (; born 17 August 1993) is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She is the current world record holder in the 50 metre freestyle (long course), the 100 metre freestyle ...

of the same team.D'Addona, Dan (4 December 2021)
"MVP Sarah Sjostrom Proves Again to be in 'World's Greatest' Conversation After Dominant ISL Season, Final"
''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

''. Retrieved 4 December 2021. Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion Eindhoven

Schedule

The schedule consisted of eleven regular season and play in meets in

, followed by six Semifinals and the Final Match in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,

Teams

ISL teams were allowed a maximum roster size of 38 athletes for the 2021 season, with a suggested size of each club's traveling roster of 30 (15 men and 15 women). Each club had a captain and a vice-captain of different gender.