I-League facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
I-League

Organising body	AIFF
Founded	2007; 18 years ago (2007) (as I-League); (succeeding the National Football League)
Country	India
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Indian Super League
Relegation to	I-League 2
Domestic cup(s)	Super Cup Durand Cup
Current champions	Mohammedan (1st title)
Most championships	Dempo (3 titles)
Top goalscorer	Ranti Martins (214 goals)
TV partners	EuroSport Indian Football (YouTube)

The I-League is a super exciting football league for men in India. It's the second-highest level of football in the country, right below the Indian Super League (ISL). Imagine a ladder, and the I-League is the second step from the top!

Right now, 12 different clubs play in the I-League. Teams can move up to the Indian Super League (this is called promotion) or move down to the I-League 2 (this is called relegation). This system makes every match super important!

The I-League started in 2007. It took over from an older league called the National Football League. The main goal was to create a professional football league in India. This would help find and train more players for the Indian national team. Since 2022–23, the I-League champion can even get promoted to the top-tier ISL!

Since the I-League began, ten different clubs have won the championship. Dempo is the most successful team, winning three times. Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan, Bengaluru, and Gokulam Kerala have each won twice. Other teams like Salgaocar, Aizawl, Minerva Punjab, Chennai City, Roundglass Punjab, and Mohammedan have won it once.

The Story of the I-League

The I-League logo used until 2023.

How Indian Football Leagues Started

Back in 1996, India tried to make football more professional by starting the National Football League. But it was tough! Clubs often didn't have good facilities and sometimes even struggled to pay their players. For example, a club called FC Kochin closed down in 2002 because it had lost a lot of money and hadn't paid salaries for years.

After about ten years, the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which runs football in India, decided things needed to change. That's how the I-League was born!

The I-League Begins

After the 2006–07 season of the old National Football League, it was announced that the league would be renamed the I-League. The first I-League season kicked off in November 2007. It had eight teams from the old league and two new teams from a lower division, making a total of 10 teams.

A company called Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) became the first main sponsor. The league also changed rules about foreign players. Clubs could now sign four foreign players, but one had to be from an Asian country. Matches were shown on TV by Zee Sports.

The first ten teams in the I-League were Air India, Churchill Brothers, Dempo, East Bengal, JCT, Mahindra United, Mohun Bagan, Salgaocar, Sporting Goa, and Viva Kerala.

The Early Years (2007–2012)

The very first I-League match was played on November 24, 2007. It was between Dempo and Salgaocar. Dempo won 3–0, and Chidi Edeh scored the first goal in I-League history! Dempo became the first I-League champions that season. Sadly, Viva Kerala and Salgaocar were the first teams to be moved down to a lower league.

The next season, the I-League grew from 10 to 12 teams. New teams like Mumbai and Mohammedan joined. However, many teams were from just a few cities, making some people wonder how "national" the league really was. Bhaichung Bhutia, a famous Indian football captain, said the AIFF needed to help football grow all over the country.

Despite these early talks, the I-League continued. Churchill Brothers won the league in 2008–09. Before the 2009–10 season, the league expanded again to 14 teams. This helped spread the game to more cities like Pune and Shillong. Dempo won their second I-League title in 2009–10.

Making the League Better

Even with some disagreements about how the league was run, Indian football started to get more popular. In 2011, the Indian national team played in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 27 years! Even though they didn't win, players like Subrata Pal became very famous. Also, Sunil Chhetri, another top Indian player, went to play for a team in the USA in 2010. He was the first Indian player from the I-League to play abroad.

The league also got a big boost from the famous Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. In 2011, an amazing 90,000 fans watched a match between these two teams at the Salt Lake Stadium!

As Indian players became more popular, foreign clubs wanted them for trials. Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpekhlua even had trials with a Scottish team! Goalkeeper Subrata Pal went to play in Denmark, and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu played in Norway. At the same time, better foreign players started coming to play in the I-League, making the matches even more exciting.

Becoming a Second-Tier League

In 2016, there were talks about making the Indian Super League (ISL) the top football league in India and moving the I-League to the second level. At first, the I-League teams didn't like this idea.

In 2017, FIFA (the world football body) and the AFC (the Asian football body) stepped in to help sort things out. There were two main leagues running at the same time, which was confusing. After many meetings, it was decided that for a short time, both the ISL and I-League would run. The I-League champion would get a spot in the AFC Champions League (Asia's top club competition), and the ISL champion would get a spot in the AFC Cup (Asia's second club competition).

Finally, in 2019, a new plan was approved. From the 2019–20 season, the ISL became the top league in India. The ISL champions would play in the AFC Champions League, and the I-League champions would play in the AFC Cup. Also, starting from the 2022–23 season, the I-League champion would have a chance to be promoted to the ISL without paying any fees. The plan is for full promotion and relegation between the two leagues to happen by 2024–25, meaning teams can move up and down easily.

How the Competition Works

The I-League currently has 12 teams. Each team plays every other team twice during the season: once at their home stadium and once away. Teams get points for winning (3 points) and drawing (1 point). At the end of the season, the team with the most points wins the league! This champion team then gets promoted to the Indian Super League. If teams have the same number of points, they look at their head-to-head record (who won when they played each other) and then goal difference (how many goals they scored compared to how many they let in).

I-League Clubs

A total of 39 clubs have played in the I-League since it started in 2007.

Current Clubs

Further information: 2024–25 I-League

All-Time Team Performance in the I-League

This table shows how all the clubs that have played in the I-League have performed since 2007. Teams playing in the next season are shown in bold. The colors help you see which league they are currently in:

As of 2024^[update]

Teams Joining the I-League

Teams can join the I-League in two main ways:

• Direct Corporate Bid: Some clubs can join directly if they meet certain requirements and pay a fee.
• Promotion from I-League 2: Teams that do well in the I-League 2 (the league below I-League) can earn a spot in the I-League.

Teams Moving Up or Down

Here's a look at which clubs have been promoted from the I-League to the top-tier Indian Super League or relegated to the I-League 2.

I-League Team History Timeline

This timeline shows when different teams played in the I-League and where they are now.

Sponsors of the I-League

The Indian football league has always had sponsors. When the I-League started in 2007, ONGC was the main sponsor, so the league was called the ONGC I-League. After 2011, there was no sponsor for a couple of years.

Then, in 2013, a phone company called Airtel became the new sponsor, and the league was known as the Airtel I-League. In 2014, Hero MotoCorp, a big motorcycle company, took over as the sponsor, and it became the Hero I-League. Hero stopped sponsoring Indian football after the 2022–23 season, so the league is currently looking for a new main sponsor.

Period	Title sponsor	Tournament name
2007–11	ONGC	ONGC I-League
2011–13	none	I-League
2013–14	Airtel	Airtel I-League
2014–2023	Hero	Hero I-League
2023–present	none	I-League

Where to Watch the I-League

Here's how you could watch I-League matches over the years:

Football Stadiums

Home Stadiums for 2023–24 Season

Aizawl	Churchill Brothers	Gokulam Kerala	Shillong Lajong	Namdhari	Sporting Bengaluru
Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl	Tilak Maidan, Margao	EMS Stadium, Kozikode	SSA Stadium, Shillong	Namdhari Stadium, Bhaini Sahib	Bangalore Football Stadium, Bengaluru
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 50,000	Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 1,000	Capacity: 8,400
Rajasthan United	Real Kashmir	Inter Kashi	Sreenidi Deccan	Delhi	Dempo
Rajasthan University Sports Complex, Jaipur	TRC Turf Ground, Srinagar	Kalyani Stadium, Kalyani	Deccan Arena, Hyderabad	Namdhari Stadium, Bhaini Sahib	Nagoa Ground, Panaji
Capacity: 6,000	Capacity: 11,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 1,500	Capacity: 1,000	Capacity: 10,000

Coaches in the I-League

The head coach is super important for a football team! In the I-League, coaches need a special license called an AFC Professional Coaching Diploma. This makes sure they are well-trained. Sometimes, coaches would take a different role, like "technical director," to get around this rule, which caused some discussion.

To make sure all coaches are highly skilled, the AIFF made it a rule in 2014 that both head coaches and technical directors must have this special diploma.

Indian coaches have won the I-League four times, and foreign coaches have won it three times. Zoran Đorđević from Serbia was the first foreign coach to win. Vincenzo Alberto Annese from Italy was the first coach to win two I-League titles in a row!

Armando Colaco was the first Indian coach to win the I-League, and he has won the most titles (three). Khogen Singh was the most recent Indian coach to win, in the 2017–18 season.

Current coaches in the I-League

Nat.	Name	Club	Appointed	Time since appointment
	Malsawmzuala Sailo	Aizawl	4 November 2023	1 year, 271 days
	Shareef Khan	Gokulam Kerala	31 March 2024	1 year, 124 days
	Carlos Santamarina	Inter Kashi	29 June 2023	2 years, 34 days
	Samir Naik	Dempo	1 July 2017	8 years, 32 days
	Carlos Vaz Pinto	Sreenidi Deccan	3 August 2022	2 years, 364 days
	Pushpender Kundu	Rajasthan United	1 July 2022	3 years, 32 days
	Bobby Nongbet	Shillong Lajong	16 September 2022	2 years, 320 days
	Ishfaq Ahmed	Real Kashmir	27 October 2022	2 years, 279 days
	Francesc Bonet	Churchill Brothers	27 January 2024	1 year, 187 days
	Yan Law	Delhi	25 June 2023	2 years, 38 days
	Harpreet Singh	Namdhari	25 November 2023	1 year, 250 days
	Chinta Chandrashekar Rao	Sporting Bengaluru	1 April 2023	2 years, 123 days

Former Dempo manager Armando Colaco was the longest serving and most successful manager in the history of the I League.

Winning head coaches

Head coach	Wins	Winning year(s)	Team
Armando Colaco	3	2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12	Dempo
Ashley Westwood	2	2013–14, 2015–16	Bengaluru
Vincenzo Alberto Annese		2020–21, 2021–22	Gokulam Kerala
Staikos Vergetis	1	2022–23	RoundGlass Punjab
Kibu Vicuña		2019–20	Mohun Bagan
Akbar Nawas		2018–19	Chennai City
Khogen Singh		2017–18	Minerva Punjab
Khalid Jamil		2016–17	Aizawl
Sanjoy Sen		2014–15	Mohun Bagan
Mariano Dias		2012–13	Churchill Brothers
Karim Bencherifa		2010–11	Salgaocar
Zoran Đorđević		2008–09	Churchill Brothers
Andrey Chernyshov		2023–24	Mohammedan

I-League Champions

Winners of Each Season

Here are the champions, runners-up (second place), and third-place teams for each I-League season.

Notes

Team Performance by Number of Wins

This table shows which clubs have won the most I-League titles, and how many times they've been runners-up or finished third.

Stats and Players

Highest Attendance Records

These are the I-League matches with the most fans in the stadium!

Goals Scored Each Season

This table shows how many goals were scored in total, how many matches were played, and the average goals per game each season.

Top Goal Scorers

Every season, players try to win the I-League Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals. The most recent winner was Bidyashagar Singh in the 2020–21 season, with 12 goals. Ranti Martins has won the Golden Boot five times, which is the most of any player! He and Odafa Onyeka Okolie (who won three times) are both from Nigeria.

I-League Golden Boot winners

Season	Player	Club	Goals	Ref(s)
2007–08	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Churchill Brothers	22
2008–09	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Churchill Brothers	26
2009–10	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Churchill Brothers	22
2010–11	Ranti Martins	Dempo	30
2011–12	Ranti Martins	Dempo	32
2012–13	Ranti Martins	Prayag United	27
2013–14	Sunil Chhetri	Bengaluru FC	14
	Darryl Duffy	Salgaocar
	Cornell Glen	Shillong Lajong
2014–15	Ranti Martins	East Bengal	17
2015–16	Ranti Martins	East Bengal	12
2016–17	Aser Pierrick Dipanda	Shillong Lajong	11
2017–18	Aser Pierrick Dipanda	Mohun Bagan	13
2018–19	Pedro Manzi	Chennai City FC	21
	Willis Plaza	Churchill Brothers S.C.
2019–20	N/A	Not Awarded
2020–21	Bidyashagar Singh	TRAU FC	12
2021–22	Marcus Joseph	Mohammedan	15
2022–23	Luka Majcen	RoundGlass Punjab	16
2023–24	Álex Sánchez	Gokulam Kerala	19

Awards and Trophies

The I-League Trophy

The I-League started giving out a special, fancy trophy to the champions only since 2013. Before that, the winners received a simpler trophy. The new trophy was designed in Europe and looks like the trophies given out in big European football leagues. The AIFF wanted the I-League trophy to look more modern and exciting, just like other famous league trophies.

Season Awards

At the end of each I-League season, special awards are given out to the best players and coaches. These awards are sponsored by Hero Motocorp. They include:

• Hero of the League: For the best player overall.
• Golden Boot: For the player who scores the most goals.
• Golden Glove: For the best goalkeeper.
• Syed Abdul Rahim Award: For the best head coach.
• Jarnail Singh Award: For the best defender.
• Best Midfielder: For the best player in the middle of the field.
• Emerging Player of the League: For a young player who shows great promise.

Hero of the League Winners

Season	Player	Team
2016–17	Sunil Chhetri	Bengaluru
2018–19	Pedro Manzi	Chennai City
2020–21	Bidyashagar Singh	TRAU
2021–22	Marcus Joseph	Mohammedan

Syed Abdul Rahim Award (Best Coach)

Season	Head coach	Team
2008–09	Dave Booth	Mumbai
2009–10	Armando Colaco	Dempo
2010–11	Karim Bencherifa	Salgaocar
2011–12	Trevor Morgan	East Bengal
2012–13	Derrick Pereira	Pune
2013–14	Ashley Westwood	Bengaluru
2014–15	Sanjoy Sen	Mohun Bagan
2015–16	Ashley Westwood	Bengaluru
2016–17	Khalid Jamil	Aizawl
2017–18	Gift Raikhan	NEROCA
2018–19	Akbar Nawas	Chennai City
2020–21	L. Nandakumar Singh	TRAU
2021–22	Vincenzo Alberto Annese	Gokulam Kerala

Emerging Player of the Season

This award is for young players who show great talent and potential for the future!

Season	Player	Position	Team
2008–09	Baljit Sahni	Forward	JCT
2009–10	Joaquim Abranches	Forward	Dempo
2010–11	Jeje Lalpekhlua	Forward	Pailan Arrows
2011–12	Manandeep Singh	Forward	Pailan Arrows
2012–13	Alwyn George	Midfielder	Pailan Arrows
2013–14	Alwyn George	Midfielder	Dempo
2015–16	Udanta Singh	Winger	Bengaluru
2016–17	Jerry Lalrinzuala	Left Back	DSK Shivajians
2017–18	Samuel Lalmuanpuia	Midfielder	Shillong Lajong
2018–19	Phrangi Buam	Midfielder	Shillong Lajong
2020–21	Emil Benny	Forward	Gokulam Kerala
2021–22	Jiteshwor Singh	Midfielder	NEROCA

I-League Clubs in Asian Competitions

I-League clubs have done quite well in the AFC Cup, which is a big club competition in Asia. For example, Dempo reached the semi-finals in 2008, and East Bengal did the same in 2013. The only I-League club to reach the AFC Cup Final was Bengaluru in 2016, but they didn't win.

However, in the even bigger AFC Champions League, no I-League club has ever made it past the qualifying rounds.

See Also

In Spanish: I-League para niños

• Football in India
• History of Indian football
• List of football clubs in India
• 2021–23 Indian football club competition play-offs for AFC
• IFA Shield
• NFL Second Division
• NFL Third Division