Sport Football No. of teams 157 (Clubs and Units) | Founded 1898 Country India | |
Most recent
champion(s) East Bengal FC (37th title) (2015-16) | ||
Calcutta Football League (CFL) is the football league system where several football clubs of the Indian city of Kolkata (Calcutta) participate. It currently consists of seven-tier pyramid system.
Contents
Indian Football Association (IFA) conducts the CFL with 157 mostly Kolkata based clubs and units. Started in 1898, this league is regarded as one of the Oldest football competitions in the world. There are about 8500 directly registered players of IFA who participate in CFL.
Division structure
With the season starting 2015, the clubs were redistributed in to these six divisions:
- Premier Division
- Premier Division A
- Premier Division B
- First Division
- Second Division
- Third Division
- Fourth Division
- Fifth Division:
- Fifth Division Group A
- Fifth Division Group B (Age Group: 13+ to U-16)
Usually in each division, the 10-team league plays a single leg, in which all teams played against each other. Then in the second leg, the league is divided into a top and bottom half. The top 5 teams played for the title while the bottom 5 played against each other to avoid relegation to a lower division. The most successful clubs participating in the top-tier of the league includes East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting Club. However, since 1982, the league has been won by either East Bengal or Mohun Bagan.
List of winners
The list only contains the names of the teams that have won the highest division of the league system.