I-League 2

I-League 2

Organising body	AIFF
Founded	2008; 16 years ago (2008) (as I-League 2nd Division succeeding NFL 2nd Division)
Country	India
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	10
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	I-League
Relegation to	I-League 3
Domestic cup(s)	Durand Cup[a]
Current champions	Sporting Bengaluru (1st title)
Most championships	ONGC (2 titles)
TV partners	SportsCast India SportsKPI AIFF (YouTube)
Website	i-league.org
Current: 2024–25

The I-League 2 is an Indian men's professional football league.^[1] It is the 3rd tier of the Indian football league system, behind the Indian Super League and the I-League.^[2][3][4] It operates as a system of promotion and relegation with the I-League and the I-League 3.

I-League 2nd Division was introduced during the 2008 season, with first game played on 25 March between Mohammedan Sporting and Amity United.^[5]

That season saw Mohammedan Sporting, Mumbai FC, Vasco SC and Chirag United promoted to the I-League. The next season saw Pune FC, Shillong Lajong, Viva Kerala and Salgaocar getting promoted.

Since 2010, only top 2 teams were promoted to the I-League. ONGC FC and HAL SC in that year, in 2011 Shillong Lajong and Sporting Clube de Goa, with Lajong being promoted for the second time. In 2012, ONGC and United Sikkim were promoted for the upcoming season. The 2013 saw Rangdajied United FC and Mohammedan qualifying for the I-League.

In 2014, only one team got promoted from the 2nd Division, and similarly only one team got relegated from 2013–14 season.

In 2016, again only one team was promoted from the 2nd division (Aizawl F.C.), and only one was relegated from the I-League (Dempo).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional final round format was scrapped in 2020. It was decided that the league will be rescheduled into a new format and all non-reserve teams from the preliminary stage will automatically progress to this round. It was officially named as I-League Qualifiers.^[6]

After making of I-League as second division of Indian football, the AIFF decided to rename 2nd Division to I-league 2.^[7]

Previously, the league was formatted as a neutral venue competition with teams split into groups in which all the groups play in one stadium each. The final round is contested in a double round-robin format, after which the top two teams get promoted to the I-League.

The I-League core committee approved the plans for the 2015–2016 I-League 2nd division matches to be played on a home and away basis. The preliminary rounds will be played as the conference system with the teams being divided into Eastern and Western conferences. Top 3 teams from each conference will qualify for the final round of the 2015–2016 season of 2nd division I-League.^[8]

To widen the football map of the country and to bolster the football structure, I-League committee decide to launch the 2nd division qualifier for 2016–2017 season. Participants from all the state associations would be invited to take part in 2nd division 2016–17 qualifiers. The state associations need to nominate two teams with best results, apart from the teams who would compete in Hero I-League and 2nd division league, from the state leagues to compete in the 2nd division qualifiers. The teams will fight it out amongst themselves in the zonal round followed by the final round. Eventually top two teams from the final round will get a nod to the 2nd division, provided that they fulfill the club licensing requirements in the due time.^[9]

The format was further altered from 2017–2018 season, the league was divided in two stages: the Preliminary and the Final. The tournament will also feature reserve teams of Indian Super League clubs. In the preliminary stage, 18 teams are divided into three groups where all matches would be played on a home and away basis. The winners of each group plus the best second-placed team would qualify for the final round. However, if reserve teams of ISL clubs finishes as winners or runners-up in any group, the position is passed on onto the next non-ISL team. The final round will be played at a central venue, the winners of which would be promoted to the next tier of Indian Football.^[10]

Sixteen teams were allowed to participate in this season by the league committee.^[11]

A new format was introduced named as I-league qualifiers. 10 teams promoted from state leagues battled for I-league qualification.

In a meeting held on 16 December 2022, the AIFF league committee has recommended that states that have conducted their regional leagues in previous season nominate clubs for the Hero I-League 2, with six reserve teams of the Hero ISL also joining them. A pre-tournament qualifier was held for the teams from states that have not conducted their leagues in 2021–22, from which the top two teams gained entry into the Hero I-League 2, bringing the total number of clubs to 20.

These 20 teams are divided into the four groups of five and play each other in a round-robin home and away format. The group winners, along with the best second-placed team, play in the final round, a single-leg round robin format competition.^[12]

{{Location map+|India3|float=right|width=390|alt=|caption=Locations of I-League 2 clubs|places=

United

Chanmari

SAT

Diamond
Harbour

Imphal

Imphal teams:

NEROCA
TRAU

Sporting Goa

Bengaluru United

KLASA

As of 2024^[update]

From 2008 to 2011 the league was sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and was named the ONGC I-League 2nd Division. ONGC was also the title sponsor of the I-League. In October 2011 ONGC was dropped as a sponsor.

Head coach	Club	Wins	Winning years
L. Nandakumar Singh	Royal Wahingdoh, TRAU	2	2014, 2018–19
Dave Booth	Mumbai	1	2008
Peter Vales	Salgaocar		2009
Caetano Pinho	ONGC		2010
Pradyum Reddy	Shillong Lajong		2011
Philippe De Ridder	United Sikkim		2012–13
Karsing Kurbah	Rangdajied United		2013–14
Hmingthana Zadeng	Aizawl		2014–15
Mauricio Afonso	Dempo		2015–16
Gift Raikhan	NEROCA		2016–17
David Robertson	Real Kashmir		2017–18
Yan Law (sacked midway)	Mohammedan SC		2020
Vikrant Sharma	Rajasthan United		2021
Surinder Singh	Delhi FC		2022-23
Chinta Chandrashekar Rao	SC Bengaluru		2023-24

Season	Top scorer	Club	Goals
2008	Fredrick Okwagbe	HAL	6
2009	Badmus Babatunde	Viva Kerala	6
2010	Badmus Babatunde	ONGC	4
	Joy Ferrao	Vasco
2011	Stanley Okoroigwe	Techno Aryan	6
2012	Daniel Bedemi	United Sikkim	11
2013	Badmus Babatunde	Rangdajied United	8
	Hudson Lima Da Silva	Bhawanipore
2014	Daniel Bedemi	Bhawanipore	8
2015	Ajay Singh	Mohammedan	11
2015–16	Felix Chidi Odili	Dempo	7
	Atinder Mani	Lonestar Kashmir
2016–17	Odafa Okolie	Southern Samity	9
	Felix Chidi Odili	NEROCA
2017–18	Robert de Souza Ribiero	Ozone	10
2018–19	Phillip Adjah	Mohammedan	10
	Princewill Emeka	TRAU
2020	Syed Shoaib Ahmed	ARA	7
	Ekombong Victor Philip	Garhwal
2021	Anwar Ali Jr.	Delhi FC	4
2022–23	Irfan Yadwad	Bengaluru United	13
2023–24	Thomyo L Shimray	Sporting Bengaluru	11
	Sahil Harijan	United SC

As updated on 19 May 2023:^{[citation needed]}

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