Calcutta Football League

The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a men's professional football league in West Bengal, India. For sponsorship reasons, the league is officially known as the Officer's Choice Blue Calcutta Premier League, which is the top football league in the state alongside the oldest football league in Asia. It has a league system where several football clubs of the Indian city of Kolkata (Calcutta) participate. It currently consists of a seven-tier pyramid system.[1]

Calcutta Football League
Organising bodyIndian Football Association
Founded1898 (1898)
Country India
Divisions7
Number of teams14 (Premier Division A)
160 (Clubs and Units)
Promotion to I-League 2nd Division
Domestic cup(s)IFA Shield
All Airlines Gold Cup
Current championsPeerless SC (1st title)
(2019–20)
Most championshipsEast Bengal (39 titles)
TV partnersSadhna News (live matches)
Addatimes (online streaming)
Current: 2019–20 Calcutta Premier Division

Indian Football Association (IFA) conducts the CFL with 157 mostly Kolkata based clubs and units. Started in 1898, this league is the oldest football league in Asia and regarded as one of the oldest football competitions in the world.[1] There are about 8,500 directly registered players of IFA who participate in CFL.

Division structure

With the season starting 2015, the clubs were redistributed in to these six divisions:[1]

  1. Premier Division
    1. Premier Division A
    2. Premier Division B
  2. First Division
  3. Second Division
  4. Third Division
  5. Fourth Division
  6. Fifth Division:
    1. Fifth Division Group A
    2. Fifth Division Group B (Age Group: 13+ to U-16)

Usually in each division, the 10-team league plays a single leg, in which all teams played against each other. Then in the second leg, the league is divided into a top and bottom half. The top 5 teams played for the title while the bottom 5 played against each other to avoid relegation to a lower division. The most successful clubs participating in the top-tier of the league includes East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting Club. However, since 1982, the league has been won by either East Bengal or Mohun Bagan until 2019 when Peerless SC made history by winning their maiden league title and becoming the first team outside the Kolkata's Big Three to win the league after a gap of 61 years. [2]

Prize Money

As updated on 28 July 2019.

Purse
Champions₹ 10 Lakh
1st Runners-up₹ 5 Lakh
2nd Runner-up₹ 25 Thousand
Matchday Subsidy₹ 5 Thousand
Match winner₹ 5 Thousand
Man of the Match₹ 5 Thousand

Sponsorship

League Title Sponsor
Period Sponsor Industry Tournament Name
1898–2004 No Sponsor Calcutta Football League
2005–2014 Sahara Conglomerate Sahara Calcutta Premier League
2015–Present Officer's Choice Blue Beverage Officer's Choice Blue Calcutta Premier League

Other sponsors
  • Shyam Steel - Referee jersey sponsor
  • Khadim India - Prize money sponsor
  • Cosco - Ball Sponsor
  • Vicky transform - Kits Sponsor

Media Coverage
Period TV Channel
1898–2004 No Telecast
2005

Tara Newz

2006

Kolkata TV

2007

Zee 24 Ghanta

2008

ABP Ananda

2009-11

News Time

2012

24 Ghanta

2013-15

Jalsha Movies

2016

News18 Bangla

2017

Kolkata TV

2018–present

Sadhna News

List of winners

The list only contains the names of the teams that have won the highest division of the league system.[3]

Club Titles Winning years
East Bengal391942, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1961, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Mohun Bagan301939, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2018
Mohammedan SC111934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1957, 1967, 1981
Calcutta F.C.81899, 1907, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1925
Dalhousie A.C.41910, 1921, 1928, 1929
Durham Light Infantry31931, 1932, 1933
Black Watch21912, 1913
Gordon Light Infantry FC1908, 1909
King's Regiment1904, 1905
N Staffordshire Regiment1926, 1927
Royal Irish Rifles1900, 1901
Peerless SC12019
Scottish Borderers1902
Eastern Railway F.C.1958
10th Middlesex Regiment1915
12th Special Service Battalion1919
70th Company RGA1911
91st Highlanders1914
93rd Highlanders1903
Cameron Highlanders1924
Gloucestershire Regiment1898
Highlander Light Infantry1906
Lincolnshire Regiment1917

See also

References
  1. "Calcutta Football League". IFA. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  2. "ifawb.com". www.ifawb.com.
  3. "List of Calcutta Football League Champions". IFA. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.