I-League Qualifiers

Season	2020–21
Dates	4 – 23 October
Champions	Rajasthan United[1]
Promoted	Rajasthan United Kenkre
Matches	22
Goals	57 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Anwar Ali Jr. (4 goals)
Highest scoring	Bengaluru United 3–3Madan Maharaj (8 October 2021) Corbett 1–5Delhi (9 October 2021) Madan Maharaj 0–6 Delhi (23 October 2021)
Longest winning run	4 matches (Delhi)
Longest unbeaten run	6 matches (Rajasthan United)
Longest winless run	4 matches (ARA, Corbett, Madan Maharaj)
Longest losing run	3 matches (ARA, Madan Maharaj)
Total attendance	700
←2020 2022–23 →

The2021 I-League Qualifiers orHero I-League Qualifiers 2021 (for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season ofI-League 2nd Division since its establishment in 2008. The league winner secured place in2021–22 I-League season.

Subrata Dutta, senior vice president ofAll India Football Federation, and AIFF league committee members held its meeting on 26 June 2021, agreeing that state associations which have conducted a league or qualifying championship, will be eligible to nominate teams for the qualifiers.^[2]

Even though states are allowed to nominate two teams, the AIFF said each state association will be represented by just one team in I-League qualifiers. The AIFF has made it clear that only those states which conduct a league will be allowed to nominate a team. At least two states made direct recommendations, but were turned down.^[3] AIFF allowed relaxation in case nominated clubs could not meet the financial criteria to play in I-League, if they were promoted.

On 4 December 2021, AIFF barred I-League clubChennai City from participating in 2021–22 season on failing to comply with club licensing regulations, and hence second-placed qualifiers teamKenkre FC was promoted.^[4]

As per AIFF, ten teams will be selected to participate in I-League 2nd Division qualifiers, throughState leagues. Only one team among the nominated two teams from each state will be selected.^[3]

1. State association can nominate up to two teams based on the conducted qualifying tournament in most recent season.
2. Nominated teams shall meet AIFF financial requirements and be liable to complete club licensing criteria.^[5]

The following teams were nominated by state associations:^[6]

1. Vizag FC (Andhra Pradesh)
2. Oil India FC, Elevenstar Club (Assam)
3. Shirsh Bihar United FC (Bihar)
4. Indian Heroes Daman and Diu FC, Young Hearts FC (Daman and Diu)
5. Sports Hostel Cuttack (Odisha)
6. Delhi FC,Garhwal FC (Delhi)
7. Vasco SC (Goa)
8. Gandhinagar FC,ARA FC (Gujarat)
9. Techtro Swades United FC, Shimla FC (Himachal Pradesh)
10. Peerless SC,Bhawanipore FC (West Bengal)
11. Hyderya Sports FC, Downtown Heroes FC (Jammu and Kashmir)
12. Kerala United FC,BASCO Othukkungal (Kerala)
13. FC Bengaluru United,Kickstart FC (Karnataka)
14. Madan Maharaj FC (Madhya Pradesh)
15. Ryntih FC (Meghalaya)
16. Rajasthan United FC,Zinc Football (Rajasthan)
17. Corbett FC (Uttarakhand)
18. PIFA Sports FC,Kenkre FC (Maharashtra)

Corbett

Delhi

Madan Maharaj

Rajasthan United

ARA

Kenkre

Bengaluru United

Kerala United

Ryntih

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Locations of I-League Qualifiers 2021 teams

29 teams were nominated by 18 state associations. Only twelve teams fulfilled the AIFF criteria, and ten teams were accepted for the season.^[7] Later AIFF decided to withdrawHyderya Sports FC, runners up of Jammu & Kashmir Professional League, after finding the bank guarantee submitted by them to benot genuine.^[8]

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
ARA	Vivek Nagul	Bala Dahir	SEVEN	Amul
Corbett	Caetano Pinho	Subodh Kumar	Nivia Sports	Amenity Sports Academy
Delhi	Surinder Singh	Anwar Ali	Spartan	Spartan
Bengaluru United	Richard Hood	Dharmaraj Ravanan	Six5six Sports	The Organic World
Kenkre	Akhil Kothari	Ali Azhar Delhiwala	Hummel
Kerala United	Bino George	Arjun Jayaraj	SEGA	Micro Health Laboratories
Madan Maharaj	Amit Kumar Jaiswal	Mehtab Hossain	Rocky Sports	Kamla Devi Public School
Rajasthan United	Vikrant Sharma	Ali Ola Smith	AIO Sports	MISTK
Ryntih	Wallamkupar Kharpran	Banpynkhrawnam Nongkhlaw	T10 Sports	Samkhamti

Each club could register up to three foreign players in their squad. One of the foreign players had to be from anAFC member nation.

Team	Player 1	Player 2	AFC player
ARA	Hamidou Dieye[9]	Bala Dahir	Vladislav Nuriev
Corbett	Rogelio Juárez	John Chidi
Delhi	Sérgio Barboza[10]	Willis Plaza[11]
Bengaluru United	Luka Majcen[12]	Pedro Manzi[12]
Kenkre	Zacharie Mbenda
Kerala United	Gabriel Lima Silva[13]	Francis Nwankwo
Madan Maharaj	Loveday Enyinnaya	William Twala
Rajasthan United	Akeem Abioye
Ryntih

The ten participating teams have been divided into two groups of five. They will face each other once in the first league leg.

Teams finishing at the top two group positions will proceed to the Final round, where they will play against each other once in a round-robin format. The team that finishes top after the end of 26 matches, will earn promotion to the Hero I-League 2021–22 season.

26 matches are set to be played in the entire tournament, with 20 of them being in the group stage, while six matches will be played in the Final round.^[14]

The total number of teams was reduced to nine, afterHyderya Sports FC was found to have produced fake bank guarantee documents.^[15][16]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Anwar Ali Jr.	Delhi	4
2	Sérgio Barboza	Delhi	3
3	Shubham Bhowmick	Madan Maharaj	2
	Sukjit Singh	Rajasthan United
	Jiten Murmu	Madan Maharaj
	Sheen Stevenson Sohktung	Ryntih

• I-League
• AIFF

• I-League 2 seasons
• 2020–21 in Indian football leagues
• 2021 in Asian second-tier association football leagues

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2021
• Use Indian English from April 2021
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