User:ArsenalFan700/I-League (2nd edition)

The I-League is a men's professional football league in India. For sponsorship reasons, the league is officially known as the Hero I-League. One of the top football leagues in the country, it currently shares the top spot in the Indian football system with the Indian Super League. The league is contested by 10 teams and ran from November to March during the 2017–18 season with the teams playing 18 matches each.

The competition was founded in 2007 as the successor to the National Football League (NFL) and competition commenced in November 2007. The league was launched as India's first ever professional football league and with the aim to increase the player pool for India's national team. Unlike the Indian Super League, the I-League operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the I-League 2nd Division. For the clubs that become I-League champions, they are granted the opportunity to participate in the AFC Champions League, Asia's top international club competition. However, no club has been able to progress past the qualification stage as of 2018.

Since the inception of the I-League, a total of seven clubs have been crowned champions. Dempo have won the most titles in league history, being crowned champions three times. Churchill Brothers and former I-League side Bengaluru have won the league twice. Salgaocar, Mohun Bagan, Aizawl, and current league champions, Minerva Punjab, have won it once.

Origins
In 1996 the first domestic football league was started in India known as the National Football League. The league was started in an effort to introduce a professional nationwide football league to India. However, despite that ambition, the National Football League never fully achieved that goal. During the ten years of the National Football League's existence, the league suffered from poor infrastructure and unprofessionalism from its clubs. One of the clubs in the league, Kochin, went defunct in 2002 after it was revealed that the club had failed to pay the salaries of its players since 2000.

After a decade of decline with the National Football League, the All India Football Federation decided it was time for a change and rebranding of the top-tier football league in India.

Foundation
After the 2006–07 NFL season, it was announced that the National Football League would be relaunched and rebranded as the I-League for the 2007–08 season. The league's first season consisted of ten clubs – eight teams from the previous NFL campaign and two teams promoted from the second division. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the title sponsors of the previous NFL, were named as the title sponsors of the I-League before the league kicked-off in November 2007. The league also announced a change to their foreign-player restrictions, adding a new rule which allowed all the clubs to sign four foreigners – three non-Asian and one which must be Asian. And finally the league was announced to be broadcasted on Zee Sports for its first season.

The original ten clubs in the I-League's first season were Air India, Churchill Brothers, Dempo, East Bengal, JCT, Mahindra United, Mohun Bagan, Salgaocar, Sporting Goa, and Viva Kerala.

The early seasons (2007–2010)
The league began its first season on 24 November 2007 with a match between Dempo and Salgaocar. The match, which took place at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao, ended 3–0 to Dempo with Chidi Edeh scoring the first ever goal in league history in the third minute. After eighteen rounds, Dempo came out as the first ever champions in the I-League. Viva Kerala and Salgaocar were the first two teams to be relegated from the I-League.

The next season the I-League was expanded from 10 to 12 teams. Mumbai, Chirag United, Mohammedan, and Vasco were all promoted from the I-League 2nd Division to make the expansion possible. This however brought up early concerns over how national the I-League was. The 2008–09 season saw eleven of the twelve teams come from three different cities. The previous season saw all ten teams come from four different cities. Baichung Bhutia, then captain of the Indian national team, said that it was the federations job to spread the game across the country and that it needed to happen.

Regardless of the early criticism, the I-League went on as scheduled and once the 2008–09 season concluded it was Churchill Brothers who came out on top. Then, before the 2009–10 season, the league was once again expanded from 12 teams to 14. In order to make this happen Salgaocar, Viva Kerala, Pune, and Shillong Lajong were all promoted from the 2nd Division to the I-League. This helped the I-League retain some criticism about how national the league was as now the league would be played in seven different cities/states: Goa, Kerala, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Punjab, and Shillong.

After the 2009–10 season it was Dempo who came out on top for the second time in I-League history.