List of Indian football champions
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The Indian football champions are the winners of the highest league in Indian football, which is currently the I-League.
At first 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 teams 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).
Champions
National Football League
Year | Champions (number of titles) |
Runners-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
1996–97[1] | JCT (1) | Churchill Brothers | East Bengal |
1997–98 | Mohun Bagan (1) | East Bengal | Salgaocar |
1998–99 | Salgaocar (1) | East Bengal | Churchill Brothers |
1999–2000 | Mohun Bagan (2) | Churchill Brothers | Salgaocar |
2000–01 | East Bengal (1) | Mohun Bagan | Churchill Brothers |
2001–02 | Mohun Bagan (3) | Churchill Brothers | Vasco |
2002–03 | East Bengal (2) | Salgaocar | Vasco |
2003–04 | East Bengal (3) | Dempo | Mahindra United |
2004–05 | Dempo (1) | Sporting Goa | East Bengal |
2005–06 | Mahindra United (1) | East Bengal | Mohun Bagan |
2006–07 | Dempo (2) | JCT | Mahindra United |
I-League
Year | Champions (number of titles) |
Runners-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
2007–08 | Dempo (3) | Churchill Brothers | JCT |
2008–09 | Churchill Brothers (1) | Mohun Bagan | Sporting Goa |
2009–10 | Dempo (4) | Churchill Brothers | Pune |
2010–11 | Salgaocar (2) | East Bengal | Dempo |
2011–12 | Dempo (5) | East Bengal | Churchill Brothers |
2012–13 | Churchill Brothers (2) | Pune | East Bengal |
2013–14 | Bengaluru (1) | East Bengal | Salgaocar |
2014–15 | Mohun Bagan (4) | Bengaluru | Royal Wahingdoh |
2015–16 | Bengaluru (2) | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal |
2016–17 | Aizawl (1) | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal |
2017–18 | Minerva Punjab (1) | NEROCA | Mohun Bagan |
Total Wins
Ten clubs have been Indian champions. Clubs in italics are no longer active.
Club | Winners | Runners-Up | Winning Seasons | Runners-Up Seasons |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dempo | 5 | 1 | 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 | 2004 |
Mohun Bagan | 4 | 4 | 1998, 2000, 2002, 2015 | 2001, 2009, 2016, 2017 |
East Bengal | 3 | 6 | 2001, 2003, 2004 | 1998, 1999, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2014 |
Churchill Brothers | 2 | 5 | 2009, 2013 | 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010 |
Bengaluru | 2 | 1 | 2014, 2016 | 2015 |
Salgaocar | 2 | 1 | 1999, 2011 | 2003 |
JCT | 1 | 1 | 1997 | 2007 |
Mahindra United | 1 | 0 | 2006 | — |
Aizawl | 1 | 0 | 2017 | — |
Minerva Punjab | 1 | 0 | 2018 |
- Bold Active I league
References
- ^ Chaudhuri, Arunava; Jönsson, Mikael; Bobrowsky, Josef (6 December 2006). "India 1996/97". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 1 June 2012.