Indian Women's League
| Organising body | All India Football Federation (AIFF) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Country | India |
| Confederation | AFC |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | State leagues |
| International cup(s) | AFC Women's Club Championship |
| Current champions | Gokulam Kerala (1st title) |
| Most championships | Eastern Sporting Union Rising Student's Club Sethu FC Gokulam Kerala (1 time each) |
| TV partners | SportsCast India |
| Website | www.the-aiff.com/competitions/iwl/ |
| Current: 2020-21 IWL season | |
The Indian Women's League is the top division of women's professional football club competition in India. The inaugural edition of the competition kicked off in Cuttack on October 2016.[1] The league is organised by All India Football Federation (AIFF). The winner of the competition qualifies for the AFC Women's Club Championship, the top tier women's club football competition in Asia.
History[]
Since 1991, the top women's football tournament in India has been the Indian Women's Football Championship. The tournament served as a female equivalent of the Santosh Trophy, with states competing against each other.[2] There had not been an organized national football league for women; however, the first women's state football league was set up in 1976 in Manipur. The Indian Football Association of West Bengal founded Calcutta Women's League in 1993. Leagues were also started in Mumbai and Goa in 1998 and 1999 respectively.[2]
In 2014, after the success of the India women's team, mainly in the SAFF Women's Championship, a push to start a women's football league, along the lines of recently started and successful Indian Super League, happened.[3] Clubs such as Pune and Bengaluru FC had expressed interest in the joining a women's league.[3] It was around this time that AIFF started plans to create the ISL-style league for women.[4]
On 21 April 2016, AIFF president Praful Patel said that women's football league would kick off in October [needs update] with six teams to be decided, and goal to expand to eight teams by 2017.[1] Just over two months later, on 5 July 2016, AIFF organized a workshop to discuss the India women's national team and proposed women's football league. Five Indian Super League sides (Delhi Dynamos, Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters, FC Pune City, Atletico de Kolkata) and three I-League teams (Bengaluru FC, Aizawl FC, Mumbai FC) attended the workshop. It was announced that the league would feature eight teams and two other spots would be determined through a pre-qualification round.[5]
AIFF announced that preliminary rounds would begin on 17 October, in which ten teams are split in two groups of five, with the winner qualifying for national finals.[6]
Seasons[]
Season 1 (2016–17)[]
On 24 January 2017, AIFF launched the first ever women's professional league with six teams. The participating teams – FC Alakhpura (Haryana), Jeppiaar Institute of Technology FC (Puducherry), Aizawl FC (Women) (Mizoram), FC Pune City (women) (Maharashtra), Rising Student's Club (Odisha) and Eastern Sporting Union (Manipur) play each other in a round-robin format with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. All matches of the two-week Indian Women's League (IWL) were played at Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium, with the first match scheduled for January 28.
Season 2 (2017–18)[]
Final round of the season was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong. Rising Student's Club from Odisha were crowned champions after beating Eastern Sporting Union.
Season 3 (2018–19)[]
Indian Women's League season 3 main round started on 5 May 2019. All matches to be played in Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, Punjab.[7] The 2018–19 IWL will have 12 teams, divided into two groups. The teams will play each other once and the top two teams will compete in the semi-final. Sethu FC crowned unbeaten champions
Season 4 (2019–20)[]
Indian Women's League season 4 main round started on 24 January 2020. All matches were played in Bangalore Football Stadium, Bengaluru, Karnataka.[8] The 2019–20 IWL will have 12 teams, divided into two groups. The teams would play each other once and the top two teams would compete in the semi-final. Gokulam Kerala were crowned champions after beating KRYPHSA F.C. 3–2 in the final.[9]
Clubs[]
| Team | City/state |
|---|---|
| Baroda Football Academy | Vadodara, Gujarat |
| FC Bangalore United | Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| BBK Dav FC | |
| Bidesh XI FC | |
| FC Kolhapur City | Kolhapur, Maharashtra |
| Odisha Police FC | Bhubaneswar, Odisha |
| Kickstart FC | Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| Kenkre FC | Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| KRYPHSA FC | Imphal, Manipur |
| Sreebhumi FC | Kolkata, West Bengal |
| Sethu FC | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| Gokulam Kerala FC | Kozhikode, Kerala |
Results[]
| Season | Winner | Result | Runner Up | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | Eastern Sporting Union | 3–0 | Rising Student's Club | [10][11] |
| 2017–18 | Rising Student's Club | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p) |
Eastern Sporting Union | |
| 2018–19 | Sethu | 3–1 | Manipur Police SC | |
| 2019–20 | Gokulam Kerala | 3–2 | KRYPHSA | [9] |
Winning head coaches[]
- As of 22 May 2019
| Head coach | Club | Wins | Winning season |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bembem Devi
|
Eastern Sporting Union | 1 | 2016–17 |
| Sukla Dutta
|
Rising Student's Club | 1 | 2017−18 |
| Amrutha Aravind
|
Sethu FC | 1 | 2018−19 |
| Priya P. V.
|
Gokulam Kerala | 1 | 2019–20 |
Prizes[]
Prize money[]
As updated on 14 February 2020: [9]
| Position | Purse |
|---|---|
| Champions | ₹ 10 Lakhs |
| 1st Runners-up | ₹ 5 Lakhs |
| Most Valuable Player | ₹ 1.25 Lakhs |
| Top Goalscorer | ₹ 1 Lakh |
| Best Goalkeeper | ₹ 1 Lakh |
| Emerging Player | ₹ 75 Thousand |
Stats and players[]
Top goal scorers[]
- As of 14 February 2020
| Rank | Player | Seasons | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ngangom Bala Devi
|
2 | 38 |
| 2 |  Sabitra Bhandari
|
2 | 31 |
| 3 | Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi
|
3 | 25 |
| Sandhiya Ranganathan
|
4 | ||
| 5 | Yumnam Kamala Devi
|
3 | 22 |
| 6 | Grace Dangmei
|
4 | 15 |
| Anju Tamang
|
4 | ||
| 8 | Karishma Shirvoikar
|
2 | 11 |
| 9 | Manisha Kalyan
|
3 | 9 |
| Irom Prameshwori Devi
|
4 | ||
| M. S. Kashmina
|
3 | ||
| 12 | Sanju Yadav
|
3 | 8 |
| 13 | Sasmita Malik
|
1 | 7 |
| Pyari Xaxa
|
3 | ||
| Soumya Guguloth
|
1 | ||
| 16 |  Sabina Khatun
|
1 | 6 |
| Jabamani Tudu
|
3 | ||
| 18 |  Fazila Ikwaput
|
1 | 5 |
| Heigrujam Daya Devi
|
1 | ||
| Indumathi Kathiresan
|
3 | ||
| Pradeepa Sekar
|
3 | ||
| Sumithra Kamaraj
|
2 |
Top scorers by season[]
| Season | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016−17 | Yumnam Kamala Devi
|
Eastern Sporting Union | 12 |
| 2017−18 | Ngangom Bala Devi
|
Kryphsa F.C. | 12 |
| 2018−19 | Ngangom Bala Devi
|
Manipur Police SC | 26 |
| 2019–20 | Sabitra Bhandari
|
Gokulam Kerala | 16 |
Hat-trick scorers[]
- As of 14 February 2020
| Multiple hat-tricks scorer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Player | Hat-tricks | Last hat-trick |
| 1 | Ngangom Bala Devi
|
7 | 20 May 2019 |
| 2 | Sabitra Bhandari
|
5 | 1 February 2020 |
| 3 | Sandhiya Ranganathan
|
4 | 6 February 2020 |
| 4 | Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi
|
3 | 12 May 2019 |
| Yumnam Kamala Devi
|
4 February 2020 | ||
See also[]
- Sport in India
- Football in India
- AFC Women's Club Championship
- Indian Women's Football Championship
References[]
- ^ a b Puri, Rohan (21 April 2016). "Women's football league from October". Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ a b "India – List of Women's Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ a b Das, Suprita (26 January 2015). "Now A Women's Football League?". NDTV Sports. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "AIFF Plans to Start Indian Super League-Style Women's Football". NDTV Sports. 17 December 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "AIFF conducts workshop for National Women's League". Times of India. 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "INDIAN WOMEN'S LEAGUE PRELIMS TO KICK-OFF ON OCT 17". The All India Football Federation. 14 October 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ "Indian Women's League 2018–19 to kick off on May 5 in Ludhiana | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ "Hero Indian Women's League returns, scheduled to kick-off from January 24". AIFF. 9 January 2019.
- ^ a b c "Gokulam Kerala crowned new Hero IWL champions after thrilling finale". the-aiff.com. All India Football Federation. 14 February 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- ^ "Eastern Sporting Union crowned inaugural Indian Women's League champions". hindustantimes.com. 14 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ "Eastern Sporting Union win inaugural Indian Women's League". espnfc.com. 14 February 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
External links[]
- Official website, the-AIFF.com (in English)
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- Indian Women's League
- 2016 establishments in India
- Women's football leagues in India
- Sport in India
- Top level women's association football leagues in Asia