Country India Founded 1996 Number of teams 10 | Confederation AFC Folded 2007 | |
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Divisions 1 (1996)2 (1997–2005)3 (2006-2007) | ||
The National Football League (commonly known as the NFL) was an association football league competition in India between 1996 and 2007 which was organised into three divisions. The league is now transformed into the I-League and continues with that name. 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. In fact, the Santosh Trophy (started in 1941) was the top football competition in the country before the then National Football League started.
Contents
A Second Division was added to the league in 1997, as Football in India grew to challenge cricket for the title of India's most popular sport. Between the divisions each year two teams were relegated and two teams were promoted. By 2006 a Third Division was added but that did not matter as by this time this would be the last year for the NFL; it was replaced in 2007 by the I-League which focuses on completely turning Indian football into a professional sport.
List of League Sponsors
1996-97 Philips 1997-98 Philips 1898-99 Coca Cola 1999-00 Coca Cola 2000-01 Coca Cola 2001-02 Tata 2002-03 Oil PSU
Original 12 Clubs
Other First Division Clubs
In order of their promotion to the First Division.