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List of Indian football champions
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| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| above | List of Indian football champions |
| subheader1 | National Football League (1996–2007) |
| subheader2 | I-League (2007–2017) |
| subheader3 | I-League & Indian Super League (2017–2022) |
| subheader4 | Indian Super League (2022–present) |
| headerstyle | font-size: 12px; background: #BFD7FF; text-align:centre; |
| datastyle | text-align:centre; |
| header1 | Country |
| data2 | India |
| header3 | Founded |
| data4 | 1996 |
| header5 | Number of teams |
| data6 | 14 |
| header7 | Current champions |
| data8 | Mohun Bagan (7th title) |
| (2024–25) | |
| header9 | Most successful club(s) |
| data10 | Mohun Bagan |
| (7 titles) |
| (2024–25) (7 titles) The Indian football champions are the winners of the highest league in Indian men's football, which is currently the Indian Super League.
Though Indian football tournaments dates back to the eighteenth century, a proper league system, the National Football League (NFL) was established in 1996, playing it first season in 1996–97. Its champions were considered the national champions. After the 2006–07 season, the NFL was rebranded, becoming the I-League with its champions continuing to be considered national champions until 2017, when the Indian Super League (ISL) became the country's joint premier football league. In 2022, ISL became the only top tier football league of the country. ISL playoffs winners were considered as ISL champions until 2021–22 season. Later from 2022–23 season, ISL champions designation was awarded to the table toppers.
There are 12 clubs who have won either the National Football League or the I-League and championships and six 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 are the most successful club, winning championships seven times, NFL three times, I-League twice and ISL twice.
History
The first Indian football league, the National Football League (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.
In 2014, a new football league named Indian Super League has started. In its first three seasons it was running without recognition from the AFC. Before 2017–18 season, ISL got 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. 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. Meanwhile, India's spot in the AFC Champions League, Asia's top club competition, was still kept by the I-League; 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 premiers 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. From 2022–23 season the AFC Cup slot from I-League has been transferred to Super Cup and ISL became the only top tier League in India.
National League champions
| Season(s) | Format |
|---|---|
| 1996–2007 | National Football League first placed team |
| 2007–2017 | I-League first placed team |
| 2017–2022 | Both I-League first placed team and Indian Super League playoffs winner |
| 2022–present | Indian Super League playoffs winner |
National Football League (1996–2007)
| Season | Champions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (number of titles) | Winning coach | Top scorers | ||
| (club) | Goals | |||
| 1996–97 | JCT | Churchill Brothers | East Bengal | IND Sukhwinder Singh |
| 1997–98 | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal | Salgaocar | IND T. K. Chathunni |
| 1998–99 | Salgaocar | East Bengal | Churchill Brothers | IND Shabbir Ali |
| Mohun Bagan (2) | Churchill Brothers | Salgaocar | IND Subrata Bhattacharya | |
| 2000–01 | East Bengal | Mohun Bagan | Churchill Brothers | IND Monoranjan Bhattacharya |
| 2001–02 | Mohun Bagan (3) | Churchill Brothers | Vasco | IND Subrata Bhattacharya |
| 2002–03 | East Bengal (2) | Salgaocar | Vasco | IND Subhash Bhowmick |
| 2003–04 | East Bengal (3) | Dempo | Mahindra United | IND Subhash Bhowmick |
| 2004–05 | Dempo | Sporting Goa | East Bengal | IND Armando Colaco |
| 2005–06 | Mahindra United | East Bengal | Mohun Bagan | IND Derrick Pereira |
| 2006–07 | Dempo (2) | JCT | Mahindra United | IND Armando Colaco |
I-League (2007–2017)
| Season | Champions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (number of titles) | Runners-up | Third place | Winning coach | Top scorers | ||
| (club) | Goals | |||||
| Dempo (3) | Churchill Brothers | JCT | IND Armando Colaco | NGA Odafa Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | 22 | |
| 2008–09 | Churchill Brothers | Mohun Bagan | Sporting Goa | SER Zoran Đorđević | NGA Odafa Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | 24 |
| 2009–10 | Dempo (4) | Churchill Brothers | Pune | IND Armando Colaco | NGA Odafa Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | 21 |
| 2010–11 | Salgaocar (2) | East Bengal | Dempo | MAR Karim Bencherifa | NGA Ranti Martins (Dempo) | 28 |
| 2011–12 | Dempo (5) | East Bengal | Churchill Brothers | IND Armando Colaco | NGA Ranti Martins (Dempo) | 32 |
| 2012–13 | Churchill Brothers (2) | Pune | East Bengal | IND Mariano Dias | NGA Ranti Martins (Prayag United) | 26 |
| 2013–14 | Bengaluru | East Bengal | Salgaocar | ENG Ashley Westwood | TRI Cornell Glen (Shillong Lajong) | |
| SCO Darryl Duffy (Salgaocar) | ||||||
| IND Sunil Chhetri (Bengaluru) | 14 | |||||
| 2014–15 | Mohun Bagan (4) | Bengaluru | Royal Wahingdoh | IND Sanjoy Sen | NGA Ranti Martins (East Bengal) | 17 |
| 2015–16 | Bengaluru (2) | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal | ENG Ashley Westwood | NGA Ranti Martins (East Bengal) | 12 |
| 2016–17 | Aizawl | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal | IND Khalid Jamil | CMR Aser Pierrick Dipanda (Shillong Lajong) | 11 |
I-League and Indian Super League (2017–2022)
''From 2017–18 season until 2021–22 season, I-League and Indian Super League shared joint top flight status in '''Indian Football'''''
I-League
| Season | Champions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (number of titles) | Runners-up | Third place | Winning coach | Top scorers | ||
| (club) | Goals | |||||
| Minerva Punjab | NEROCA | Mohun Bagan | IND Khogen Singh | CMR Aser Pierrick Dipanda (Mohun Bagan) | 13 | |
| 2018–19 | Chennai City | East Bengal | Real Kashmir | SGP Akbar Nawas | ESP Pedro Manzi (Chennai City) | |
| TRI Willis Plaza (Churchill Brothers) | 21 | |||||
| 2019–20 | Mohun Bagan (5) | Not awarded | ESP Kibu Vicuña | CMR Aser Pierrick Dipanda (Punjab) | 12 | |
| 2020–21 | Gokulam Kerala | Churchill Brothers | TRAU | ITA Vincenzo Alberto Annese | IND Bidyashagar Singh (TRAU) | 12 |
| 2021–22 | Gokulam Kerala (2) | Mohammedan | Sreenidi Deccan | ITA Vincenzo Alberto Annese | TRI Marcus Joseph (Mohammedan) | 16 |
Indian Super League
| Season | Champions (number of titles) | League winners | Top scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (club) | Goals | |||
| Chennaiyin | Didn't Exist | Bengaluru | ENG John Gregory | |
| 2018–19 | Bengaluru (3) | Goa | ESP Carles Cuadrat | ESP Coro (Goa) |
| 2019–20 | ATK | Goa | Chennaiyin | ESP Antonio Lopez Habas |
| 2020–21 | Mumbai City | Mumbai City | Mohun Bagan | ESP Sergio Lobera |
| 2021–22 | Hyderabad | Jamshedpur | Kerala Blasters | ESP Manolo Márquez |
Indian Super League (2022–present)
| Season | Champions (number of titles) | Runners-up | League Winners | Winning coach | Top scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Club) | Goals | |||||
| 2022–23 | Mohun Bagan (6) | Bengaluru | Mumbai City | Hyderabad | ENG Des Buckingham | BRA Diego Maurício (Odisha) |
| BRA Cleiton Silva (East Bengal) | ||||||
| AUS Dimitri Petratos (Mohun Bagan) | ||||||
| 2023–24 | Mumbai City (2) | Mohun Bagan | Mohun Bagan | Mumbai City | ESP Antonio López Habas | GRE Dimitrios Diamantakos (Kerala Blasters) |
| FIJ Roy Krishna (Odisha) | ||||||
| 2024–25 | Mohun Bagan (7) | Bengaluru | Mohun Bagan | Goa | ESP José Francisco Molina | Morocco Alaaeddine Ajaraie (Northeast United) |
Total titles won
There are 12 clubs who have won either the National Football League or the I-League. There are also 6 clubs who have won the Indian Super League since the league became the joint top division in India.
Teams in bold will compete in the top tier 2025–26 ISL season.
| Rank | Club | Winners | Winning seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohun Bagan | 7 | 5 |
| 2 | Dempo | 5 | 1 |
| 3 | East Bengal | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | Bengaluru | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | **** | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Salgaocar | 2 | 1 |
| Mumbai City | 2 | 1 | 2020–21, 2023–24 |
| 7 | Gokulam Kerala | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | JCT | 1 | 1 |
| Chennaiyin | 1 | 1 | 2017–18 |
| Hyderabad | 1 | 1 | 2021–22 |
| 9 | Mahindra United | 1 | 0 |
| Aizawl | 1 | 0 | 2016–17 |
| Minerva Punjab | 1 | 0 | 2017–18 |
| Chennai City | 1 | 0 | 2018–19 |
| ATK | 1 | 0 | 2019–20 |
| Never won}} | |||
| Goa | 0 | 2 | — |
| Sporting Goa | 0 | 1 | — |
| Pune | 0 | 1 | — |
| NEROCA | 0 | 1 | — |
| **** | 0 | 1 | — |
| Mohammedan | 0 | 1 | — |
- – Defunct clubs
By state
| State | Championships | Clubs |
|---|---|---|
| West Bengal | 11 | Mohun Bagan (7), East Bengal (3), ATK (1) |
| Goa | 9 | Dempo (5), Churchill Brothers (2), Salgaocar (2) |
| Karnataka | 3 | Bengaluru (3) |
| Maharashtra | 3 | Mumbai City (2), Mahindra United (1) |
| Punjab | 2 | JCT (1), Minerva Punjab (1) |
| Tamil Nadu | 2 | Chennaiyin (1), Chennai City (1) |
| Kerala | 2 | Gokulam Kerala (2) |
| Mizoram | 1 | Aizawl (1) |
| Telangana | 1 | Hyderabad (1) |
By city/town
| City/Town | State | Championships | Clubs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kolkata | West Bengal | 11 | Mohun Bagan (7), East Bengal (3), ATK (3) |
| Panaji | Goa | 5 | Dempo (5) |
| Bangalore | Karnataka | 3 | Bengaluru (3) |
| Mumbai | Maharashtra | 3 | Mumbai City (2), Mahindra United (1) |
| Margao | Goa | 2 | Churchill Brothers (2) |
| Vasco da Gama | Goa | 2 | Salgaocar (2) |
| Kozhikode | Kerala | 2 | Gokulam Kerala (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 | Minerva Punjab (1) |
| Hyderabad | Telangana | 1 | Hyderabad (1) |
National Cup winners
[[Federation Cup (India)|Federation Cup]] (1977–2017)
| Year | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Telephone Industries | Mohun Bagan | |
| 1978–79 | Mohun Bagan and East Bengal - (joint winners) | |
| 1979–80 | BSF | Mafatlal Mills |
| 1980–81 | Mohun Bagan (2) and East Bengal (2) - (joint winners) | |
| 1981–82 | Mohun Bagan (3) | Mohammedan |
| 1982–83 | Mohun Bagan (4) | Mafatlal Mills |
| 1983–84 | Mohammedan | Mohun Bagan |
| 1984–85 | Mohammedan (2) | East Bengal |
| 1985 | East Bengal (3) | Mohun Bagan |
| 1986–87 | Mohun Bagan (5) | East Bengal |
| 1987–88 | Mohun Bagan (6) | Salgaocar |
| 1988–89 | Salgaocar | BSF |
| 1989–90 | Salgaocar | Mohammedan Sporting |
| 1990 | Kerala Police | Salgaocar |
| 1991 | Kerala Police (2) | Mahindra & Mahindra |
| 1992 | Mohun Bagan (7) | East Bengal |
| 1993 | Mohun Bagan (8) | Mahindra & Mahindra |
| 1994 | Mohun Bagan (9) | Salgaocar |
| 1995 | JCT | East Bengal |
| 1995–96 | JCT Mills | East Bengal |
| 1996 | East Bengal (4) | Dempo |
| 1997 | Salgaocar (3) | East Bengal |
| 1998 | Mohun Bagan (10) | East Bengal |
| 1999 | Not held | |
| 2000 | ||
| 2001 | Mohun Bagan (11) | Dempo |
| 2002 | Not held | |
| 2003 | Mahindra United | Mohammedan Sporting |
| 2004 | Dempo | Mohun Bagan |
| 2005 | Mahindra United (2) | Sporting Goa |
| 2006 | Mohun Bagan (12) | Sporting Goa |
| 2007 | East Bengal (5) | Mahindra United |
| 2008 | Mohun Bagan (13) | Dempo |
| 2009–10 | East Bengal (6) | Shillong Lajong |
| 2010 | East Bengal (7) | Mohun Bagan |
| 2011 | Salgaocar (4) | East Bengal |
| 2012 | East Bengal (8) | Dempo |
| 2013–14 | Churchill Brothers | Sporting Goa |
| 2014–15 | Bengaluru | Dempo |
| 2015–16 | Mohun Bagan (14) | Aizawl |
| 2016–17 | Bengaluru (2) | Mohun Bagan |
[[AIFF Super Cup]] (2018–present)
Total Cups won
| Club | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| Mohun Bagan | 14 | |
| East Bengal | 9 | |
| Salgaocar | 4 | |
| Bengaluru | 3 | |
| Goa | 3 | |
| Mohammedan | 2 | |
| Mahindra United | 2 | |
| JCT Mills | 2 | |
| Kerala Police | 2 | |
| Dempo | 1 | |
| Border Security Force | 1 | |
| Odisha | 1 | |
| Indian Telephone Industries | 1 | |
| Churchill Brothers | 1 | |
| Sporting Clube de Goa | 0 | |
| Shillong Lajong | 0 | |
| Aizawl | 0 | |
| Chennaiyin | 0 | |
| Jamshedpur | 0 |
- *** : shared
- # :There were two federation cups in 1996
Multiple trophy wins
Domestic Double
| Club | Seasons | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | National Football League, Federation Cup | |
| Dempo | 2004–05 | National Football League, Federation Cup |
| 2005–06 | National Football League, Federation Cup |
Secondary Domestic Double
| Club | Seasons | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 2023–24 | ISL League Shield, Durand Cup |
ISL Double
| Club | Seasons | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Mumbai City | 2020–21 | ISL League Shield, ISL Cup |
| 2024–25 | ISL League Shield, ISL Cup |
References
References
- "REPORT: MOHUN BAGAN SUPER GIANT SEE OFF MUMBAI CITY FC TO WIN LEAGUE SHIELD".
- (28 June 2017). "ISL gets official recognition from AFC, becomes second national football league". FirstPost.
- (14 October 2019). "India clubs agree to work together on league roadmap". AFC.
- "League Committee sends its recommendations to the AIFF Executive Committee {{!}} Hero I-League".
- "ISL Champions badge awarded to ISL Shield winners; Mumbai City FC set to wear the badge in the 2023-24 season".
- "MOHUN BAGAN ARE ISL CHAMPIONS: THE GLORY, THE RECORDS AND THE HEROES".
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080120132816/http://www.the-aiff.com/federationcup.php Federation Cup]. the-aiff.com (archived)
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