British soldiers introduced football into India in the mid-nineteenth century.[9][10] Games were initially played between army teams but clubs were soon set up around the country. In 1872, Calcutta FC was the first football club to be established, though the side may have originated as a rugby club that switched codes as late as 1894. Other early clubs include Dalhousie AC, Traders Club and Naval Volunteers Club.[11] Several other football clubs such as Sovabazar, Mohun Bagan and Aryan Club were established in Calcutta in the 1890s. Calcutta was then the capital of British India and soon became the hub of football. Tournaments like the Gladstone Cup, the Trades Cup and the Cooch Behar Cup were started around this time.[12] The Durand Cup and IFA Shield were both started in the late nineteenth century.
The first Indian team to achieve success was Sovabazar Club, which won the Trades Cup in 1892.[13]Mohun Bagan Athletic Club, which was set up in modern-day West Bengal in 1889, became famous in 1911 when it became the first Indian team to win the IFA Shield, a tournament previously won only by British teams based in India.[14] They defeated East Yorkshire Regiment 2–1 in the tournament's final in a victory that is still regarded as one of the greatest win by an Indian football team before independence.[15]
Players of Baroda Football Club, an Indian-European team, 1910–11.
The Indian Football Association (IFA) was established in Calcutta in 1893 but had no Indians on its board until the 1930s. The All India Football Federation (AIFF), the national governing body of football in India, was formed in 1937 but did not become affiliated with FIFA until at least a decade later. India insisted on playing barefoot whereas other national sides wore boots.[16] Footballer Jyotish Chandra Guha brought global attention to Indian football when he became the first Indian to appear with the English Football League club Arsenal in 1930.[17]
The golden age
India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil because all of their scheduled opponents withdrew. India did not compete in the tournament. It was not because of a lack of financial assistance, particularly to purchase tickets for the sea journey, or because the team were not allowed to play barefoot.[16][18] According to sports journalist Jaydeep Basu, the financial barrier was solved as state associations provided financial help to the AIFF and that FIFA also promised to provide money.[8]
FIFA had imposed a rule banning barefoot play following the 1948 Olympics where India had played barefoot. According to then-captain Shailen Manna, this story was circulated to justify the AIFF's decision to not participate. Since 1950, the Indian national team has not come close to qualifying for the World Cup.[18][19][20][21] The AIFF had organised training is Calcutta for the 1950 World Cup and the board organised a series of meetings relating to India's participation but was not able to reach a decision. One to two weeks before the World Cup, the AIFF resorted to coming up with excuses to abandon the World Cup trip. This did not face much criticism in 1948 because the FIFA World Cup was not as popular as it is now.[8]
1951–1962 is widely considered the "golden age" of Indian football. In this period, the national team won numerous titles under the coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim. India won the gold medal in the first Asian Games in 1951, beating Iran by one goal. In 1956, no longer playing barefoot, India reached the semi-final in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, becoming the first Asian country to do so and ranking fourth in the tournament. In 1962, India again won the gold in the Asian Games at Jakarta, defeating South Korea 2–1.[16] India also won the Merdeka Cup and the Quadrangular Tournament, while East Bengal garnered good reviews after touring Romania. Also in 1951, India achieved their highest World Football Elo Rating of 31. According to former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, India is "the sleeping giant of world football".[22]
Decline
Rahim's death in the early 1960s caused the Indian national team to gradually lose their position as a top Asian team. India has not qualified for the Olympics since 1960.[16] India qualified for their first Asian Cup in 1964 but failed to win the title.[23][24] In an international tournament at the 1970 Asian Games, India won the bronze medal after defeating Japan 1–0.[25] The Indian national team qualified for the 1984 AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 1964 but failed to qualify for the knockout stage after finishing last in their group of five teams.[26]
The Indian youth team jointly won the Youth Asian Cup with Iran in 1974, the first and only title for India at the youth level.[27][28][29] In club football, on 24 September 1977, Mohun Bagan held onto a 2–2 draw at the Eden Gardens stadium in Calcutta, against a Pele-led New York Cosmos.[30] Mohun Bagan would have won the tie had it not been for a controversial penalty awarded to the visiting team that ensured the draw.[31] The next day, the newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika described Goutam Sarkar as "India's very own Beckenbaur".[32]
The Indian women's team as they began playing in the 1970s. In 1975, their first manager was Sushil Bhattacharya.[33][34] The Indian women's team were runners-up in the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 1980 and 1983. In the 1990s, the women's team rapidly declined and a series of defeats followed. In 2009, FIFA delisted the Indian women's team from the world rankings.[35]
2007–present
In August 2007, the Indian national team won the Nehru Cup for the first time, beating Syria 1–0.[36] In August of the following year, India defeated Tajikistan 4–1 to win the AFC Challenge Cup and qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.[37] In August 2009, India again won the Nehru Cup, beating Syria on penalties (6–5).[38]
In 2014, India hosted the first Unity World Cup in Goa, Hyderabad and Bangalore. India has participated in and hosted the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup tournament. This was the first time a team representing India participated in the finals of a FIFA-organised world tournament. India was placed in Group A along with the United States, Ghana and Colombia.[44] On 6 October 2017, India played their first match in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in front of 47,000 people against the United States, losing the match 0–3.[45] India played their second match against Colombia. In the 82nd minute, Jeakson Singh became the first Indian goal scorer in the finals of a FIFA-organised tournament.[46] For the third match of the group stage, India played Ghana, losing the match 4–0 and finishing at the bottom of Group A.[47]
The Indian national team qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup after missing the 2015 edition. India beat Thailand by 4–1, their biggest-ever win at the Asia Cup and their first win in 55 years.[49][50] Nevertheless, they lost both of their next two group matches against UAE and Bahrain by 0−2 and 0−1 respectively[51][52] and finished at the bottom of the group, thus failing to move to the knockout stage.[53]
The Indian senior national team had several successes during their initial years but is no longer considered one of the best in Asia.[58][59] The national team's highest achievement is winning two gold medals at the Asian Games.
The women's national team was started in the 1970s; they were twice runners-up in the Women's Asian Cup in the early 1980s. After the AIFF took charge of the team, they began to suffer massive defeats and declined in the late 2000s.[60][61] In the late 2010s, the AIFF revived the team to empower women's football and the team performed well in a large number of friendlies.[62] The AIFF won the hosting bid for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
The I-League, which was promised to be a professional league, soon lost popularity due to poor marketing.[65] A deal between Zee Sports and the AIFF, which was initially to be a ten-year term in 2006, was terminated in 2010 after a disagreement between the parties. The AIFF then signed a ₹700-crore deal with Reliance Industries and the International Management Group (IMG) on 9 December 2010.[66] The Indian Super League (ISL) was officially launched on 21 October 2013 by IMG–Reliance Industries, Star Sports, and the AIFF to grow the sport of football in India and increase its exposure in the country with big names and professionalism.[67] Large corporations, Bollywood stars and cricketers between them bought eight franchises.[68]
In 2017, the AFC opposed allowing the ISL to become the main league in India, but the I-League clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan wanted a complete merger of the ISL and I-League.[69] Two weeks later, the AIFF proposed the Indian Super League and I-League would simultaneously run on a short–term basis, with the I-League winner qualifying for the AFC Champions League and the ISL champion reaching the AFC Cup qualification stage.[70] The AFC approved this proposal on 25 July 2017, with the ISL replacing the domestic cup competition, the Federation Cup, which was a true knockout cup competition.[71]
Two seasons later, the AIFF and AFC met again to determine the future for Indian football. After the meeting, it was announced the Indian Super League would become the top-tier league with the AFC Champions League slot while the I-League was now the domestic cup tournament with the AFC Cup slot.[72][73] The AFC also made some key recommendations: the first was to open a pathway for two I-League clubs to enter into the ISL by the end of the 2020–2021 season, subject to certain criteria being fulfilled. The second recommendation was to allow the winner of the I-League a chance of promotion to the ISL with no participation fee, with the AIFF defining the basic fulfilling sporting merit and the national club-licensing criteria starting in the 2022–2023 season. The final recommendation was to introduce promotion and relegation into the top league by the end of the 2024–2025 season, and to abolish the existence of two parallel leagues.[74]
Tier 2: I-League
Starting in the 2022–2023 season, I-League lost its top-tier status. The champions of the 2022–23 I-League were promoted to the ISL with no participation fee. As per the AFC's recommendation for 2024–2025, it was agreed the AIFF would fully implement promotion and relegation between the two leagues.[75]
Tier 3: I-League 2
After demoting I-League to the second tier status in Indian football, I-League 2 was subsequently demoted to the third tier. AIFF renamed the 2nd Division to I-League 2 to avoid disambiguation.[76]
Tier 4: I-League 3
I-League 3 is set to serve as a platform for state champions and state-nominated teams.[77][78][79] No ISL reserve teams can be a part of I-League 2 or I-League 3.[80]
Tier 5–10: Indian State Leagues
There are currently a total of 37 state associations (including union territories) affiliated with the AIFF.[81] These state associations are affiliated with state leagues. The top teams of state leagues are eligible to apply for I-League 3. Some state leagues have multiple divisions and a promotion/relegation system between these divisions. Calcutta Football League in West Bengal is the oldest state league and has the highest number of divisions (seven divisions) with a promotion/relegation system in place.[82]
The Federation Cup (Fed Cup) is an annual, knockout-style, club football tournament in India that started in 1977. Until I-League's inception in 1997 (then called the NFL), it was the most-prestigious, national-level, club football tournament in India.[83] Previously, the winning club of the Fed Cup had a chance to compete at the continental level in the AFC Cup along with the I-League champion team. The Fed Cup has been discontinued since the 2017–2018 season when a new Super Cup was inaugurated.[84][85]
Durand Cup
In 1888, the Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as the Durand Cup, was started by India's foreign secretary Mortimer Durand at Simla. The Durand Cup's initial matches were played in Dagshai and was created as a form of recreation for British troops stationed in India. The Durand Cup was suspended during World War I and World War II. In 1940, the tournament's venue was shifted to New Delhi.[86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93]
Super Cup
The Super Cup is a knockout football tournament. The top six teams from the two top-tier leagues, the I-League and the Indian Super League qualify directly for the main round of the competition. The bottom four clubs from each league participate in a qualification round to compete.[94][95][96]
IFA Shield
The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association (IFA) in West Bengal.[97] It was started in 1893, and is the fourth-oldest club cup competition in the world after the FA Cup, the Scottish Cup and the Durand Cup. Along with local clubs in Bengal, clubs from other parts of India and from overseas are able to participate in this tournament.[98][99]
Senior National Football Championship / Santosh Trophy
The Santosh Trophy, also known as the Senior National Football Championship, is an annual Indian football tournament contested by states and government institutions.[100] The trophy is named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh. The first winners were Bengal, who also lead the all-time winners list with 32 titles to date.[101]
Champions overview
The competitions currently active in Indian football.
Women's football in India was administered by the Women's Football Federation of India (WFFI) from 1975 until the early 1990s when the WFFI was absorbed into the AIFF. There are complaints women's football is treated as inferior to the men's game, leading to unfulfilled plans to de-merge the WFFI.[102]
The women's national competition is played on a state-against-state basis in the India women's football championship.[105] There are similar national championships for junior teams like the Junior Girls National Championship for under 19s and the Under-17 Girls National Championship.[106]
Some Indian female players have become internationally recognised. Among them are Chitra Gangadharan who was selected to play for the All Asian Star team. Jaanki Kotecha was selected as captain to the All Asian Star Team in 2008–2009 and led her team to victory. In February 2000, Sujata Kar and Alpana Sil became the first Indian footballers to sign a contract outside India. They signed with the German team TSV Crailsheim but had to return to India after a month due to problems with the clearance of their international transfer.[107]
Until 1983, women footballers took part in international tournaments like the AFC Women's Asian Cup. The Indian team won silver in 1980 at Calicut. In later years, the status of the Indian women's team declined. During the 2003 AFC Women's Championship, the Indian team was defeated 12–0 by China.[108]
The AIFF's poor support of the national women's team became evident when a trip to Germany was only made possible by Non Resident Indians in that country and by the support of the German Football Association. Championships are held in remote locations, and national media coverage is said[109] to be restricted to state and local newspapers.[102]
In June 2009, FIFA delisted the Indian women's side from its world rankings for being inactive for more than 18 months. At that time, the game was gaining in popularity with young Indian females, as evident by the local leagues in the country. The Mumbai Women's Football League of 2009–2010 was organised by the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) was a major success and included many players who had played for the national team. The popularity of the event gave hope of a resurgence of the women's game in India.[110]
Indian Women's League
On 21 April 2016, over a year after the AIFF started plans for a women's football league, AIFF president Praful Patel said a women's football league would begin in October 2016 with six teams, and was planned to be expanded to eight teams by 2017.[111] On 5 July 2016, the AIFF organized a workshop to discuss the India women's national team and the proposed women's football league. Indian Super League sides Delhi Dynamos, Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters, FC Pune City and Atletico de Kolkata, and I-League teams Bengaluru FC, Aizawl FC and Mumbai FC attended the workshop. It was announced the league would consist of the eight teams in the league and two other teams would be chosen through a pre-qualification round.[112]
On 14 October, the AIFF announced the preliminary rounds for the Women's League would begin on 17 October 2016; ten teams are split into two groups of five teams and the winner from each group qualifies for the national finals.[113]
^Guha, Chandak (5 September 2019). "ইংরেজরাও ভয় পেত বাংলার প্রথম কিংবদন্তি ফুটবল কোচকে" [The Englishmen too feared Bengal's legendary first football coach]. bongodorshon.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: Bongodorshon Information Desk. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^"India at the SAFF Cup". wifa.in. WIFA. 30 November 2011. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
^"India win 2012 Nehru Cup". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. TOI. 3 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
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