I-League Division-2 : Unraveling The History (High Five)

Across the major footballing leagues in the world, be it England or Spain, one thing that stands out is the presence of a sound andAi??fiercely competitive division-2. The fight for relegation is as closely monitored as the race for the crown and the division-2 does gets its fair-share of media coverage. The I-League also has seen five seasons of division-2 with the sixth one kicking off recently. Mumbai FC, Salgaocar, ONGC and Shillong Lajong have emerged as winners in previous editions. Though the coverage is not excellent now, it can be safely said that the standard and coverage of the second divison has steadily increased. Previous editions of I-League Div-2 have also seen some nail biting encounters with teams taking the promotion battle to the wire.

2008 – TheAi??Inaugural Edition

The 2008 edition saw 12 teams divided into two groups of 6 teams each with theAi??preliminaryAi??rounds played at Pune and Kolhapur. The teams that played included Vasco, Chirag Kerala, Pune FC , Mumbai FC,Ai??Mohammedan Sporting, ONGC, HAL, SBT among others. The Pune group saw Chirag Kerala (then called Viva Kerala), Vasco and Pune FC advance to the final rounds while the Kolhapur group saw Mumbai FC,Ai??Mohammedan Sporting and Indian Bank go through to the final round, which was held in Guwahati. The highlight of the round was the fact thatAi??United SC progressed as the only team undefeated in the group stages.

Felix_Aboagye-(c)-fifa[dot]com — Felix Aboagye For Mumbai FC

With four spots up for grab, the now powerhouses Pune FC and Indian Bank fell behind in the race right from the start. Despite possesing players like Jeje and Bungo Singh, Pune finished second from bottom in the group. Mumbai FC riding on goals fromAi??Ghainian Internationl Striker Felix Aboagye (played in AFCON for Ghana) and Abhishek YadavAi??finished the top with 13 points from 5 games whileAi??Ai??Kolkata teams Mohammedan Sporting and United SCAi??finished on 10 points to qualify as second and third.Ai??Sporting ClubeAi??featured the likes of Mike Okoro,Ai??Muritala Ali and Roque Barreto. A strong Vasco side led byAi??Luciano SabrosaAi??finishedAi??on 7 points toAi??qualifyAi??as the last team. The highlight of the final round was aAi??seven goal thriller between Vasco and Pune which Pune won 4-3 after Vasco had led 2-1 at halftime

2009 – Young Talent On Display

The 2009 edition saw the number of teams participating in theAi??preliminaryAi??round increase to 15 from 12 and the rounds were played inAi??Cochin, Gurgaon and Silchar . The participating teams included eventual runners-up and North-Eastern powerhouse Shillong Lajong, SESA FA, Pune FC, Salgaocar, Viva Kerala, ONGC , a couple of clubs from Delhi and Kerala. SESA, Pune FC, Salgaocar, Shillong Lajong, ONGC and Viva Kerala qualified from the three groups to the final round. The division-2 boasted of some of the finest young talents in the nation with the likes of CS Sabeeth, MP Sakeer andAi??Shabbas Saleel turning up for Viva Kerala and Francis Fernandez andAi??Bivan D Mello turning up for Salgaocar.

PuneFC — Pune FC : Qualifying From the 2009 Division-2

The highlight of the initial round wasAi??a 7-0 demolition of Shimla Youngs by SESA FA. The final round was keenly contestedAi??with only 3 pointsAi??separatingAi??the top 5 teams. Salgaocar with 10 points clinched the top spot with Lajong, Pune FC and Viva Kerala all qualifying with 9 points each. ONGC with 7 pointsAi??finished 5th andAi??narrowlyAi??missed the bus to the top flight again. Jeje Lalpekhuala and CS Sabeeth announced their arrival withAi??goalsAi??throughoutAi??the tournament while Ai??Seikhohao Tuboi was the star for Shillong Lajong. Since there arrival into I-League, Pune FC have grown from strength to strength againAi??emphasizingAi??the importance of aAi??fiercelyAi??contested Division-2

2010 -Ai??InstitutionalAi??Sides Triumph

The 2010 edition was a historic one as it saw as many as 21 teams fromAi??acrossAi??the nation. There were teams from Sikkim, Chattisgarh, Ai??Manipur and Meghalya in addition to the usual suspects. The highlight of the event was the growing participation of the North-Eastern clubs. The 21 teams were divided into three groups and the groups were based in Delhi, Bangalore and Tripura. Two top teams from each group namely Malabar United, HAL, SESA, ONGC, NISA and Oil IndiaAi??Ai??joined the two relegated teams from last season’s I-LeagueAi??Ai??Mohammedan Sporting and Vasco in the final round to decide the two spots for qualification.

tarif_ahmed-(c)-gcsstar[dot]com — Tarif Ahmed – ONGC’s Hero

A lot of then young players , who are now established playersAi??mesmerizedAi??the fans with their talent. K. Asif of Malabar United, Joy Ferraro of Vasco ,Ai??Meetei of NISA and Israil Gurung of SESA were duly rewarded with transfers to the big clubs after their impressive showing. ONGC emerged as the winners and didn’t lose a single match in the final round thanks to impressive performances from Jatin Singh Bisht, Badmus BabatundeAi??andAi??Tarif Ahmed who even scored a hat-trick. With the final round being played in Bangalore, HAL utilized their homeAi??advantageAi??to perfection andAi??clinchedAi??the second spot to qualify with captain and strikerAi??Xavier Vijay Kumar leading from the front. The much fanciedAi??Mohammedan Sporting failed to impress and finished fourth.

2011 – A Controversial End

The 2011 I-League was perhaps one of the mostAi??entertainingAi??and keenly awaitedAi??edition asAi??football fans kept a close eye on United Sikkim’s performance, which was the baby of one of the mostAi??decoratedAi??players in Indian Football – Baichung Bhutia. As the popular cliche goes – the 2011 I-League 2nd divisionAi??hadAi??everything for the neutrals – goals, misses, heartbreaks, jubliations and controversies. The 21 team first round was played in Guwhati, Jamesdpur and Madurai andAi??United Sikkim, Southern Samity, Mohammedan Sporting, Royal Wahingdoh, Vasco and Ar-Hima qualified for the final round where they were joined by Sporting Club de Goa and Shillong Lajong – the two relegated teams from last season’s I-League. The highlight of the first round was the 100% win record ofAi??Royal Wahingdoh, coached by former India international Carlton Chapman.

Tuboi [C] Dainik Jugashankha Online — Tuboi – In the Eye of Storm

Vasco emerged as earlyAi??contendersAi??for the qualification when they edged Sporting Club early on while the Kolkata duo of SouthernAi??Samity andAi??Mohammedan Sporting fell behind early on andAi??expectantlyAi??finishedAi??at the bottom of the table. With Vasco dropping crucial points, United Sikkim playing out draws andAi??Royal Wahingdoh failing toAi??maintainAi??their first round form, Sporting Club de Goa, Ar-Hima and Shillong Lajong emerged favorites to qualify. In the end it was Shilling Lajong who utilized their home advantage to perfection and a young Sporting sideAi??consistingAi??of now household namesAi??but then young players – Adil Khan,Ai??Freiman Peixoto and Jovel Martins, qualified.

Sekhohao Tuboi, India U-23 striker played for Army XI in the kolkata League before turning up for Shillong Lajong in the Division-2. Southern Samity lodged a protestAi??againstAi??Lajong to the AIFF which put theirAi??progressionAi??in jeopardy. The AIFF however let off Lajong with clubsAi??accusingAi??Larsing Ming, anAi??influentialAi??member in AIFF of havingAi??Ai??influenced their decision. There were some memorable moments as well as Baichung Bhutia turned up as aAi??center-back for his side United Sikkim displayingAi??immense levels of commitment

2012 – North Eastern Bonanza

United Sikkim [C] iSikkim.com — United Sikkim Made It To The I-League

The 23 teamAi??initial round was played in three locations – Cuttack, Delhi and Orissa and the 6 qualified teams -Ai??United Sikkim, Kalighat, Mohammedan Sporting, Royal Wahingdoh, Vasco and Aizwal FC joined ONGC for the final round which was played over two phases – Siliguri and Gangtok with each of the team playing the other twice. Aizwal FC were the story of the tournament as the newAi??entrantAi??to the I-League stunned bigger clubs to reach theAi??finalAi??round and though they faltered in the final round, they held United Sikkim toAi?? draw and made a three goal comeback againstAi??Mohammedan Sporting after they were 4-0 down at half-time.Ai??Michael and David LalrinmuanaAi??were easilyAi??two of the revelations of the 2nd division I-League.

Riding on the impressive scoring form of their foreign strikers-Ai??Babatunde, Jacobs and Bidemi, pre tournamentAi??favoritesAi??United Sikkim qualified for the I-League. TheAi??tournamentAi??witnessed a unique thing when sensing promotion, Sikkim state government declared that government employees will be granted leaves if they showed Unitedai??i??s match tickets. The I-League division-2 crown however was won by ONGC who were clinical throughout the tournament conceding only 9 goals in the 12 match final stage.

It was a long walk however for the KolkataAi??giantsAi??Mohammedan Sporting who finished third, one point behind leaders ONGC.Ai??Royal Wahingdoh paid the price of fielding four foreign players which saw their win over ONGC turn into a defeat. This was a defining moment in the tournament asAi??Royal Wahingdoh were going strong up till then. Vasco finished second-last while Aizwal were last. There was some controversy though with clubs alleging that the AIFF was helping United Sikkim qualify.

I-League Division-2 : Unraveling The History

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