Indian Football Association

Not to be confused with All India Football Federation (AIFF), the national governing body of Indian football.

Indian Football Association (West Bengal)

Sport	Football
Jurisdiction	West Bengal
Membership	23 district associations
Abbreviation	IFA
Founded	1893;131 years ago (1893) [1]
Affiliation	All India Football Federation (AIFF)
Headquarters	Kolkata
President	Ajit Banerjee
Secretary	Anirban Dutta
Official website
ifawb.in

The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers football in the Indian state of West Bengal. ^{[2] [3] [4]} It is the oldest football association in India and was founded in 1893. ^{[5] [6]} Among the founders was former English international Elphinstone Jackson. ^[7]

The IFA organises tournaments such as the Calcutta Football League, the Calcutta Women's Football League ^[8] and the IFA Shield. ^[9] In 2021, the IFA also took an initiative to start its own futsal league. ^[10] It also sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's National Football Championship.

History

Contrary to the name, the association does not administer the game in India, a task that falls to the All India Football Federation (AIFF), instead governs the game in the state of West Bengal. However, before the formation of the AIFF, the IFA was in de facto control of football in India by virtue of its administration by Englishmen as well as its affiliation to the Football Association. ^[11] Hence, all foreign tours were conducted by the IFA and also foreign teams negotiated with the IFA for visits to India. In its formative years, the only Indian representative in the English dominated executive committee was Kalicharan Mitra from the Sovabazar Club. ^[12] By vigorously promoting the game in Bengal, the IFA became undivided India's premier football body in the early decades of the 20th century. ^[13]

Through the efforts of Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari (the father of Indian football), A.R. Brown and B.C. Lindsay of Dalhousie AC, and Watson of Calcutta FC, the IFA was established in 1893. ^[14] A.R. Brown was the first Secretary of the IFA. Norman Prichard, the first Indian to win an Olympic medal, was the Secretary of the IFA in 1900.The most remarkable person to head the IFA was the Maharaja of Santosh, Sir M.N. Roy Chowdhury. During his tenure the IFA played an instrumental role in the formation of the AIFF. ^[15]

The IFA had organised many historical tournaments like the Trades Cup, the Gladstone Cup, the Cooch Behar Cup and the coveted IFA Shield, prior to the incorporation of Calcutta Football League in 1898. The Trades Cup is the oldest tournament in Kolkata, being instituted in 1889. ^[16]

Clubs outside Bengal complained about the lack of neutrality in the affairs of the IFA. This disillusionment of clubs and patrons led to the formation of associations such as the Western India Football Association, which preferred to be governed by themselves rather than by the IFA. After years of numerous conferences and meetings, the IFA along with other five regional football associations broke their mutual deadlock to form the AIFF in 1937. ^[13]

State teams

Men West Bengal football team West Bengal under-20 football team West Bengal under-15 football team West Bengal under-13 football team

Women West Bengal women's football team West Bengal women's under-19 football team West Bengal women's under-17 football team

Affiliated district associations

All 23 district of West Bengal are affiliated with the Indian Football Association.

No.	Association	District	President
1	Alipurduar District Football Association	Alipurduar
2	Bankura District Football Association	Bankura
3	Paschim Bardhaman District Football Association	Paschim Bardhaman
4	Purba Bardhaman District Football Association	Purba Bardhaman
5	Birbhum District Football Association	Birbhum
6	Cooch Behar District Football Association	Cooch Behar
7	Darjeeling District Football Association	Darjeeling
8	Dakshin Dinajpur District Football Association	Dakshin Dinajpur
9	Hooghly District Football Association	Hooghly
10	Howrah District Football Association	Howrah
11	Jalpaiguri District Football Association	Jalpaiguri
12	Jhargram District Football Association	Jhargram
13	Kolkata District Football Association	Kolkata
14	Kalimpong District Football Association	Kalimpong
15	Malda District Football Association	Malda
16	Paschim Medinipur District Football Association	Paschim Medinipur
17	Purba Medinipur District Football Association	Purba Medinipur
18	Murshidabad District Football Association	Murshidabad
19	Nadia District Football Association	Nadia
20	North 24 Parganas District Football Association	North 24 Parganas
21	South 24 Parganas Football Association	South 24 Parganas
22	Purulia District Football Association	Purulia
23	Uttar Dinajpur District Football Association	Uttar Dinajpur

Competitions

Men's

• Calcutta Football League
• IFA Shield
• Trades Cup
• Uttarbanga Cup
• Jayanta Chatterjee Inter District Football Tournament
• IFA Futsal Championship

Women's

• Calcutta Women's Football League
• Women's IFA Shield

Youth

• CFL 5th Division Group B
• IFA Nursery League

West Bengal Football League pyramid

Men's

Calcutta Football League
Tier	Division
1 (Level 5 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL Premier Division ↑promote (I-League 3) ↓relegate 4
2 (Level 6 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL 1st Division ↑promote 2 ↓relegate 2
3 (Level 7 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL 2nd Division ↑promote 2 ↓relegate 2
4 (Level 8 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL 3rd Division ↑promote 2 ↓relegate 2
5 (Level 9 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL 4th Division ↑promote 2 ↓relegate 2
6 (Level 10 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL 5th Division Group A ↑promote 2 ↓relegate 2
7 (Level 11 on Indian Football pyramid)	CFL 5th Division Group B ↑promote 2

Women's

Calcutta Women's Football League
Tier	Division
I (Level 3 on Indian Women's Football pyramid)	CWFL Premier Division A ↑promote (to Indian Women's League 2) ↓relegate
II (Level 4 on Indian Women's Football pyramid)	CWFL Premier Division B ↑promote

Evolution

Years		1889–1893	1893	1893–1993	1993–2019	2019–2021	2021–2023	2023–present
Level
Men's
State leagues	1	None	Formation of Indian Football Association (IFA)	CFL Premier Division
	2			None		CFL 1st Division
	3			None				CFL 2nd Division
	4							CFL 3rd Division
	5							CFL 4th Division
	6							CFL 5th Division Group A
	7							CFL 5th Division Group B
Cup competitions		Trades Cup				Discontinued
				IFA Shield			Not continued
Women's
State leagues	1			None	Kanyashree Cup Premier Division A
	2			None				Kanyashree Cup Premier Division B
Cup competitions				None				Women's IFA Shield

Management

As of 2022 ^[update]

Office	Name
President	Ajit Banerjee
Chairman	Subrata Dutta
Vice-president(s)	Biswajit Bhaduri
	Saurav Pal
	Swarup Biswas
Secretary	Anirban Dutta
Assistant Secretary(s)	Rakesh Kumar Jha
	Sk Nazrul Islam
	Sufal Ranjan Giri
Treasurer	Debasish Sarkar

See also

• List of Indian state football associations
• Football in Kolkata
• Football in West Bengal
• Football in India
• Bengal Premier League Soccer

References

1. Wadwha, Arjun (19 May 2008). "History of Football in India". thesportscampus.com. TheSportsCampus. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
2. "Calcutta Football League (CFL) goes bigger than ever for its historic 125th season". thefangarage.com. Kolkata: The Fan Garage. 5 June 2023. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
3. "The passage of football in India". ifawb.org. Kolkata: Indian Football Association. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
4. Gupta, Sabyasachi (29 August 2024). "কলকাতা ফুটবলে রেফারিংয়ে প্রযুক্তির নয়া দিগন্ত, আইএফএ ও যাদবপুর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের যুগ্ম প্রয়াস". Bong Football. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
5. Majumdar, Rounak (22 April 2019). "The Golden Years of Indian Football". www.chaseyoursport.com. Kolkata: Chase Your Sport. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
6. "Chronology of Important Sports Events — West Bengal". wbsportsandyouth.gov.in. Kolkata: Government of West Bengal – Department of youth services and sports. 2017. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
7. IFFHS - Interesting and curious facts about full internationals and national players (1872–1900) Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine . iffhs.de. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
8. "Indian women football team will play against two top tier-1 Swedish teams". Bet365India. 26 October 2021. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
9. "History in Timeline of Indian Football". the-aiff.com. All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
10. "First ever Futsal league in Bengal to kick off on 'Poila Baishakh'". The Bridge. 28 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
11. "OUR SPORTSMEN: Gostha Pal". 123india.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
12. Pillai, Manu S (8 June 2018). "How football kicked off in India | As with the English language, when the British transported the sport to India, they didn't expect the 'natives' to beat them at it". lifestyle.livemint.com. Delhi, India: Livemint Delhi. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
13. "The Birth of the All India Football Federation | Novy Kapadia". 25 March 2017. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
14. Waris, Sarah (25 January 2020). "Nagendra Prasad — The father of Indian football who removed prejudice from the sport". thebridge.in. Kolkata: The Bridge. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
15. "About Us". IFAWB. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
16. D'Mello, Anthony (1959). Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London. p. 186. Retrieved 25 September 2022.

Further reading

• Mitra, Soumen (1 January 2006). In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta. Kolkata: Dasgupta & Co. Private Ltd. ISBN   978-8182110229. Archived from the original on 21 October 2022.
• Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN   978-0-143-42641-7.
• Majumdar, Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006). Goalless: The Story of a Unique Footballing Nation. Penguin India. ISBN   9780670058747.
• Dutta, P. L., Memoir of 'Father of Indian Football' Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary (Calcutta: N. P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1944) (hereafter Memoir)
• Ghosh, Saurindra Kumar. Krira Samrat Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary 1869–1940 (Calcutta: N. P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1963) (hereafter Krira Samrat).
• Roselli, John. Self Image of Effeteness: Physical Education and Nationalism in Nineteenth Century Bengal. Past & Present (journal). 86 (February 1980). p. 121–48.
• Sinha, Mrinalini. Colonial Masculinity, The Manly Englishman and the Effeminate Bengali in the Late Nineteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995).
• Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Post-colonial Histories (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1995).
• Mason, Football on the Maidan, p. 144; Dimeo, Football and Politics in Bengal, p. 62.
• Sen, Dwaipayan (2013). "Wiping the Stain Off the Field of Plassey: Mohun Bagan in 1911". In Bandyopadhyay, Kausik; Mallick, Sabyasachi (eds.). Fringe Nations in World Soccer. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-99810-5.
• Nath, Nirmal (2011). History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service. ISBN   9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
• "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
• D'Mello, Anthony (1959). Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London.
• From recreation to competition: Early history of Indian football Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine . pp. 124–141. Published online: 6 Aug 2006. www.tandfonline.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

External links

• Indian Football Association on Facebook
• Indian Football Association on Twitter
• Indian Football Association on Instagram
• IFA on the-AIFF.com
• IFA on YouTube