List of Indian football champions
The Indian football champions are the winners of the highest league in Indian men's football system. Currently two parallel football league system exists namely Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League.
| Indian Football League (1st tier) |
|---|
| National Football League (1996–2007) I-League (2007–2017) I-League & Indian Super League (2017–present) |
| Country |
 India |
| Founded |
| 1996 |
| Number of teams |
| 11 (2020–21 ISL)
11 (2020-21 I-League) |
| Current champions |
| Most successful club |
| Dempo & Mohun Bagan (5 titles) |
Though Indian football tournaments dates back to the eighteenth century, a proper league system was established in 1996 with the commencement of National Football League (NFL). Since its inception in the 1996–97 season, the champions of the NFL were considered as the national champions. However, after the 2006–07 season of the NFL the league was rebranded as the I-League. Since 2007–08 season, the I-League champions were considered the national champions before 2017–18 season, when the ISL recognised by AFC and became a premier league of the country parallel to the existing I-League. The ISL regular season premiers represents India in the AFC Champions League group stage, and the I-League champion represents India in the AFC Cup group stage. However, the winners of the ISL play-offs are considered as the ISL champions since its inception in 2014.
There are 11 clubs who have won either the National Football League or the I-League and 3 clubs who have won the Indian Super League since the league became the joint top division in India. JCT were the first club to have won any championship, winning the 1996–97 NFL. Mohun Bagan and Dempo are the most successful clubs, winning championships five times each. Mohun Bagan won the NFL thrice and the I-League twice, whereas, Dempo won the NFL twice and the I-League thrice. Bengaluru are the only club who have won both the I-League and the ISL at least once. They won the I-League twice and the ISL once.
History
The first Indian football league, the National Football League (commonly known as the NFL) was an association football league competition in India which was organised into three divisions. The Premier Division of the league was first introduced in 1996, though the country already had a long history in the sport thanks to the likes of the IFA Shield and the Federation Cup. The league though is now transformed into the I-League and continues with that name. The change was supposed to bring more popularity to Indian Football. The first league season of I-League consisted of eight teams from the NFL plus two promoted teams from the former Division Two.
The 1996–97 Indian National Football League was the first season of the NFL and ended with JCT Mills FC being crowned champions. The NFL era though saw Kolkata clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan had the most championships with three respectively. The I-League era is different though as most of the champions of the league have come from Goa.
Currently the team with the most championships in I-League is Dempo who have won three championships in the league. They are also the team with the most championships overall (3 in I-League + 2 in NFL = 5 titles overall).
In 2014, a franchise based football league named Indian Super League has started. In its first three seasons it was running without recognition from AFC. Before 2017-18 season, ISL get recognition from Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In July 2017, it was proposed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that the Indian Super League champion be granted a spot in the AFC Cup, Asia's second-tier club competition.[1] On 25 July 2017, the AFC approved the AIFF's proposal. Thus, from the 2017–18 season, the Indian Super League champions were allowed to participate in the AFC Cup from the qualification stages of the competition.[1] Meanwhile, India's spot in the AFC Champions League, Asia's top club competition, was still kept by the I-League,[1] thus two leagues were parallelly running in the country. In October 2019, a roadmap for development of league in India was proposed. All stakeholders accepted the proposal where it was announced that ISL champions would now be entitled to the AFC Champions League, starting from 2021 edition and the I-League champion will get to play the AFC Cup.[2]
Champions
National Football League (1996–2007)
| Year | Champions (number of titles) |
Runners-Up | Third Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | JCT | Churchill Brothers | East Bengal |
| 1997–98 | Mohun Bagan (1/5) | East Bengal | Salgaocar |
| 1998–99 | Salgaocar (1/2) | East Bengal | Churchill Brothers |
| 1999–00 | Mohun Bagan (2/5) | Churchill Brothers | Salgaocar |
| 2000–01 | East Bengal (1/3) | Mohun Bagan | Churchill Brothers |
| 2001–02 | Mohun Bagan (3/5) | Churchill Brothers | Vasco |
| 2002–03 | East Bengal (2/3) | Salgaocar | Vasco |
| 2003–04 | East Bengal (3/3) | Dempo | Mahindra United |
| 2004–05 | Dempo (1/5) | Sporting Goa | East Bengal |
| 2005–06 | Mahindra United | East Bengal | Mohun Bagan |
| 2006–07 | Dempo (2/5) | JCT | Mahindra United |
I-League (2007–2017)
| Year | Champions (number of titles) |
Runners-Up | Third Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–08 | Dempo (3/5) | Churchill Brothers | JCT |
| 2008–09 | Churchill Brothers (1/2) | Mohun Bagan | Sporting Goa |
| 2009–10 | Dempo (4/5) | Churchill Brothers | Pune |
| 2010–11 | Salgaocar (2/2) | East Bengal | Dempo |
| 2011–12 | Dempo (5/5) | East Bengal | Churchill Brothers |
| 2012–13 | Churchill Brothers (2/2) | Pune | East Bengal |
| 2013–14 | Bengaluru (1/3) | East Bengal | Salgaocar |
| 2014–15 | Mohun Bagan (4/5) | Bengaluru | Royal Wahingdoh |
| 2015–16 | Bengaluru (2/3) | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal |
| 2016–17 | Aizawl | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal |
I-League and Indian Super League (2017–present)
Since 2017–18 season, both the I-League and the new Indian Super League shared top flight status in Indian football.
I-League
| Year | Champions (number of titles) |
Runners-up | Third place | Leading goalscorer(s) | Goals | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Minerva Punjab | NEROCA | Mohun Bagan |  Aser Pierrick Dipanda (Mohun Bagan) |
13 | [3][4] |
| 2018–19 | Chennai City | East Bengal | Real Kashmir |  Pedro Manzi (Chennai City) Willis Plaza (Churchill Brothers) |
21 | [5] |
| 2019-20 | Mohun Bagan (5/5) | Not awarded [lower-alpha 1] | Aser Pierrick Dipanda |
12 | ref | |
Indian Super League
| Year | Champions (number of titles) |
Runners-up | Regular season premiers[lower-alpha 2] (number of titles) |
Leading goalscorer(s) | Goals | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Chennaiyin [lower-alpha 3] | Bengaluru | Did not exist | Coro (Goa) |
18 | [6][7] |
| 2018–19 | Bengaluru (3/3) | Goa | Coro (Goa) |
16 | [8][9] | |
| 2019–20 | ATK [lower-alpha 3] | Chennaiyin | Goa |  Roy Krishna (ATK) Nerijus Valskis (Chennaiyin) Bartholomew Ogbeche (Kerala Blasters) |
15 | [10][11] |
Notes:
- On 18 April 2020, All India Football Federation, the organising body of the league announced Mohun Bagan A.C. as champions and decided to cancel the remaining matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No team was relegated, and the remaining prize money (apart from the champion's prize money) was equally divided among the 10 teams.[lower-alpha 4]
- The ISL regular season winners are considered as the premier of the league since 2019–20 season, presented with a League Winners Shield and represent India at the AFC Champions League since 2021.
- The ISL began in 2014 and the league was not recognized officially by the AFC until 2017–18 season. Following this, it became one of the top leagues in India along with the existing I-League. ATK won the 2014 and 2016 seasons while Chennaiyin won the 2015 season before the league became a top league.
- "League Committee sends its recommendations to the AIFF Executive Committee | Hero I-League". Retrieved 2020-04-18.
Total titles won
 | indicates defunct football club |
| # | indicates the club is active in the Indian Super League |
 | indicates the club is active in the I-League |
| ↓ | denotes the club never won any title but were runners-up at least once |
| Rank | Club | Championships | Runners-Up | Winning Seasons | Runners-Up Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohun Bagan # | 5 | 4 | 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2014-15, 2019-20 | 2000-01, 2008-08, 2015-16, 2016-17 |
| 2 | Dempo | 5 | 1 | 2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2011-12 | 2003-04 |
| 3 | East Bengal # | 3 | 7 | 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04 | 1997–98, 1998–99, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2018–19 |
| 4 | Bengaluru # | 3 | 2 | 2013–14, 2015–16, 2018–19 | 2014–15, 2017-18 |
| 5 | Churchill Brothers |
2 | 5 | 2008–09, 2012–13 | 1996–97, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2007–08, 2009–10 |
| 6 | Salgaocar | 2 | 1 | 1998–99, 2010–11 | 2002–03 |
| 7 | JCT |
1 | 1 | 1996–97 | 2006–07 |
| Chennaiyin # | 2017–18 | 2019–20 | |||
| 9 | Mahindra United |
1 | 0 | 2005–06 | — |
| Aizawl |
2016–17 | — | |||
| Punjab |
2017–18 | — | |||
| Chennai City |
2018–19 | — | |||
| ATK |
2019–20 | — | |||
| ↓ | NEROCA |
0 | 1 | — | 2017–18 |
| FC Goa # | — | 2018–19 |
Titles won by club (%)
By state/region
| State | Championships | Clubs |
|---|---|---|
| Goa | 9 | Dempo (5), Churchill Brothers (2), Salgaocar (2) |
| West Bengal | 9 | Mohun Bagan (5), East Bengal (3), ATK (1) |
| Karnataka | 3 | Bengaluru (3) |
| Punjab | 2 | JCT (1), Punjab (1) |
| Tamil Nadu | 2 | Chennaiyin (1), Chennai City (1) |
| Maharashtra | 1 | Mahindra United (1) |
| Mizoram | 1 | Aizawl (1) |
By city
| City / Town | State | Championships | Clubs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kolkata | West Bengal | 9 | Mohun Bagan (5), East Bengal (3), ATK (1) |
| Panaji | Goa | 5 | Dempo (5) |
| Bangalore | Karnataka | 3 | Bengaluru (3) |
| Margao | Goa | 2 | Churchill Brothers (2) |
| Vasco da Gama | Goa | 2 | Salgaocar (2) |
| Aizawl | Mizoram | 1 | Aizawl (1) |
| Chennai | Tamil Nadu | 1 | Chennaiyin (1) |
| Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu | 1 | Chennai City (1) |
| Hoshiarpur | Punjab | 1 | JCT (1) |
| Ludhiana | Punjab | 1 | Punjab (1) |
| Mumbai | Maharashtra | 1 | Mahindra United (1) |
See also
References
- "ISL gets official recognition from AFC, becomes second national football league". FirstPost. 28 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- "India clubs agree to work together on league roadmap". AFC. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- "2017-18 I-League: Minerva Punjab FC crowned champions". India Today. 8 March 2018. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- Bhattacharya, Arka (13 March 2018). "I-League team of the season: Michael Soosairaj, Chencho Gyeltshen, Dipanda Dicka make the cut". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "Chennai City Crowned I-League 2018-19 Champions After Win Against Minerva Punjab". Press Trust of India (PTI). NDTV. 9 March 2019. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- Vasudevan, Shyam (17 March 2018). "ISL 2017-18: Alves brace helps Chennaiyin FC clinch second title". Sportstar. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "Top scorer in ISL 2017-18". NDTV Sports. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "Bengaluru FC lifts ISL title after Rahul Bheke winner - As it happened". Sportstar. The Hindu. 17 March 2019. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020.
- "Top scorer in ISL 2018-19". NDTV Sports. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "ATK wins record third ISL title, beats Chennaiyin in final". Sportstar. The Hindu. 14 March 2020. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "Top scorer in ISL 2019-20". NDTV Sports. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
External links
| National Football League |
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| I-League |
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| National teams |
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| League competitions |
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| Cup competitions |
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| Futsal competition | |||||||||||||
| Defunct leagues |
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| Defunct cups |
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