2011–12 I-League

I-League

Season	2011–12
Champions	Dempo
Relegated	Chirag Club Kerala HAL
AFC Cup	East Bengal Churchill Brothers
Matches played	181
Goals scored	521 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ranti Martins (32 goals)
Biggest home win	Dempo 5-0 Mohun Bagan
Biggest away win	HAL 1-8 East Bengal
Highest scoring	HAL 1-8 East Bengal
Longest winning run	7 games Dempo
Longest unbeaten run	7 games Dempo
Longest losing run	6 games Chirag United Kerala
Highest attendance	90,000 Mohun Bagan 1-0 East Bengal
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 I-League is the fifth season of the I-League, the topmost level of the Indian football pyramid. The season began in October 2011 and ended in May 2012. Salgaocar are the defending champions, having won their maiden title in the previous season.

The current edition has a total of 14 teams contesting for the honors. These include the top twelve teams from the 2010–11 season along with the two promoted sides, Shillong Lajong and Sporting Clube de Goa, who had been the winner and the runner-up in the 2011 I-League 2nd Division respectively.

Teams

According to the AIFF's rules, the two bottom-most teams from the 2010–11 season-ending points table were supposed to be relegated to the second tier, but in actuality, only ONGC FC were relegated after their second to last place finish, while the team finishing the last, JCT FC decided to disband their senior football team at the close of the session.

Shillong Lajong FC and Sporting Clube de Goa, the Champions & Runner-up respectively, of the 2011 I-League 2nd Division, were promoted to the I-League after being relegated only the previous year.

Stadiums and locations

Sporting Goa
Salgaocar
Dempo
Churchill Brothers

Mohun Bagan
East Bengal
Prayag United

Mumbai
Air India

Pune

Pailan Arrows

Chirag United Kerala

HAL

Shillong Lajong

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Locations of teams in the 2011-12 I-League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Air India	Mumbai	Cooperage Ground	12,000
Chirag United Club Kerala	Kannur	Kaloor International Stadium	60,000
Churchill Brothers	Salcette	Fatorda Stadium	27,300
Dempo	Panjim	Fatorda Stadium	27,300
East Bengal	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
HAL	Bangalore	Bangalore Football Stadium	15,000
Mohun Bagan	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Mumbai	Mumbai	Cooperage Ground	12,000
Pailan Arrows	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Prayag United	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Pune	Pune	Balewadi Sports Complex	20,000
Salgaocar	Vasco	Fatorda Stadium	27,300
Shillong Lajong	Shillong	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	25,000
Sporting Clube de Goa	Panjim	Fatorda Stadium	27,300

Managerial changes

In chronological order from the bottom

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Mohun Bagan	Subhash Bhowmick	Caretaker	1 June 2011	Pre-season	Steve Darby	19 July 2011
Churchill Brothers	Drago Mamic	Caretaker	1 June 2011	Pre-season	Manuel Gomes	9 June 2011
Pailan Arrows	Des Bulpin	Sacked	13 August 2011	Pre-season	Sukhwinder Singh	13 August 2011
Chirag United Club Kerala	P. K. Unnikrishnan	Sacked	1 October 2011	Pre-season	Pakir Ali	2 October 2011
Mohun Bagan	Steve Darby	Resigned	15 October 2011	Pre-Season	Prasanta Banerjee	18 October 2011
Pailan Arrows	Sukhwinder Singh	Resigned	7 February 2012	13th	Sujit Chakravarty	8 February 2012
Churchill Brothers	Manuel Gomes	Sacked	14 February 2012	5th	Carlos Roberto Pereira	15 February 2012
Chirag United Club Kerala	Pakir Ali	Sacked	18 February 2012	12th	Biswajit Bhattacharya	18 February 2012

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player
Air India	Lamine Tamba	Henry Ezeh	None	Takayuki Omi
Chirag United Kerala	Charles Dzisah	Isaac Boakye	David Sunday	None
Churchill Brothers	Roberto Mendes Silva	Nbusiyu David Opara	Henry Antchouet	Antun Kovacic
Dempo	Ranty Martins	Koko Sakibo	Densill Theobald	Yusuke Kato
East Bengal	Uga Samuel Okpara	Penn Orji	Edmilson	Tolgay Özbey
HAL	Joseph Femi Adeola	None	None	Rohit Chand
Mohun Bagan	Jose Ramirez Barreto	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Hudson Lima Silva	None
Mumbai	Kingsley Chioma	Ebi Sukore	Gbeneme Friday	Zohib Islam Amiri
Pailan Arrows	Pailan Arrows don't use foreigners as they are an Indian Developmental Side
Prayag United	Josimar	Yusif Yakubu	Bello Razaq	Kayne Vincent
Pune	Keita Mandjou	Pierre Djidjia Douhou	Chika Wali	Arata Izumi
Salgaocar	Luciano Sabrosa	Chidi Edeh	Maxime Belouet	Ryuji Sueoka
Shillong Lajong	James Gbilee	Christopher Chizoba	Johnny Menyongar	Matthew Mayora
Sporting Goa	Boubacar Keita	Ogba Kalu Nnanna	James Moga	Park Jae-Hyun

Ownership changes

Club	New owner	Previous owner	Date
Pailan Arrows	Pailan Group	All India Football Federation	31 July 2011
Prayag United	Prayag Group	Chirag Computers	3 August 2011
Chirag United Club Kerala	Chirag Computers	Viva Kerala Group	7 August 2011
Shillong Lajong	Anglian Holdings (20% stake)1		29 February 2012

• ¹: Anglian Holdings only brought 20% in Shillong Lajong. The rest of the club is still owned by Shillong Lajong plc.

Season charity

IMG Reliance and the I-League have joined hands with the polio eradication campaign India Unite to End Polio Now. IUEPN is an initiative of Aidmatrix Foundation, supported by UNICEF, and a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), World Health Organisation (WHO), National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP), Rotary International and US Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ranti Martins	Dempo	32
2	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Mohun Bagan	26
3	Tolgay Özbey	East Bengal	18
4	James Moga	Sporting Goa	15
	Mandjou Keita	Pune
6	Ogba Kalu	Sporting Goa	12
	David Opara	Churchill Brothers
	Henry Antchouet	Churchill Brothers
9	Gbeneme Friday	Mumbai	11
10	Ryuji Sueoka	Salgaocar	10

Top Indian scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Chinadorai Sabeeth	Pailan Arrows	9
	Manandeep Singh	Air India
2	Sandesh Gadkari	Air India	7
	Subhash Singh	Pune
5	C.K. Vineeth	Chirag United Kerala	6
	Clifford Miranda	Dempo
	Victorino Fernandes	Sporting Goa
	Dawson Fernandes	Sporting Goa
	Lalrindika Ralte	Churchill Brothers

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Mohun Bagan	Pailan Arrows	3–1	23 October 2011
James Moga	Sporting Clube de Goa	Salgaocar	4–2	5 November 2011
Josimar da silva Martins	Prayag United	Pune	5–1	5 November 2011
Tolgay Ozbey	East Bengal	HAL	8–1	23 November 2011
Henry Antchouet	Churchill Brothers	Shillong Lajong	6–0	17 December 2011
David Opara	Churchill Brothers	Sporting Clube de Goa	5–0	28 December 2011
Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Mohun Bagan	Churchill Brothers	3–2	15 January 2012
David Opara	Churchill Brothers	Chirag United Kerala	4–0	4 April 2012
Rohit Chand	HAL	Pune	4–6	10 April 2012
Gbeneme Friday	Mumbai	HAL	5–1	14 April 2012
David Sunday	Chirag United Kerala	East Bengal	3–4	16 April 2012
Chinadorai Sabeeth	Pailan Arrows	Chirag United Kerala	3–0	25 April 2012

Scoring

• First goal of the season: C.K. Vineeth for Chirag United Club Kerala against HAL (22 October 2011)
• Fastest goal of the season: 3 minutes – Anthony Pereira for Dempo against Shillong Lajong (23 November 2011)
• Widest winning margin: 7 goals
  • HAL 1-8 East Bengal (23 November 2011)
• Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 10 goals
  • Pune 6-4 HAL (10 April 2012)
• Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 4 goals
  • Pune 6-4 HAL (10 April 2012)
• Most goals scored in a match by a single player: 4 goals
  • Tolgay Ozbey for East Bengal against HAL (23 November 2011)
  • Gbeneme Friday for Mumbai against HAL (14 April 2012)

End of season awards

• Fan's Player of the Year — Francis Fernandes
• FPAI Young Player of the Year — Manandeep Singh
• FPAI Foreign Player of the Year — Ranti Martins
• FPAI Indian Player of the Year — Syed Rahim Nabi
• FPAI Coach of the Year — Trevor Morgan

FPAI Team of the Year

Formation: 4-4-2

Nat.	Position	Name	Club
	GK	Karanjit Singh	Salgaocar
	RB	Deepak Mondal	Prayag United
	CB	Mahesh Gawli	Dempo
	CB	Uga Okpara	East Bengal
	LB	Syed Rahim Nabi	Mohun Bagan
	RM	Rocus Lamare	Salgaocar
	CM	Pierre Djidjia Douhou	Pune
	CM	Roberto Mendes Silva	Churchill Brothers
	LM	Penn Orji	East Bengal
	ST	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Mohun Bagan
	ST	Ranti Martins	Dempo
	Coach	Trevor Morgan	East Bengal