Calcutta Football League
ক্যালকাটা ফুটবল লিগ

Organising body	Indian Football Association (West Bengal)
Founded	1898; 127 years ago (1898)
First season	1898
Country	India
Confederation	AFC
Divisions	7
Number of clubs	26 (Premier Division) 160+ (overall)
Level on pyramid	5–10
Promotion to	Various
Relegation to	Various
Domestic cup	IFA Shield
League cup	Trades Cup
Current champions	East Bengal (41st title) (2025)
Most championships	East Bengal (41 titles, Premier Division)[1]
Broadcaster(s)	Zee 24 Ghanta SSEN (digital)
Current:2025 CFL Premier Division

TheCalcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-basedfootball competition in the Indian state ofWest Bengal, organised by theIndian Football Association (WB) as part of thestate leagues. It is theoldest football league inAsia.^[2][3]

The CFL is divided intoCFL Premier Division,CFL 1st Division,CFL 2nd Division,CFL 3rd Division,CFL 4th Division,CFL 5th Division A, andCFL 5th Division B with promotion and relegation between them.^[4][5] CFL has more than 160 mostly Kolkata-based clubs and units. Started in 1898, this league is the oldest football league in Asia and one of the oldest football competitions in the world.^[6][7] CFL currently consists of a seven-tier pyramid system,^[6] with more than 8,500 directly registered players of IFA participating in CFL every year, making it one of the biggest leagues in the country.

In 1898,IFA introduced a two-tiered football league inCalcutta on the lines ofEnglish Football League inEngland andWales.^[5] Until 1937, CFL was a major tournament with participation open to every team across the nation but after the establishment ofAIFF, CFL became a regional competition.

TheBritish Indian Armygarrison stationed atFort William played an instrumental role in shaping the Calcutta Football League by putting forth numerous teams alongside otherEuropean settlers.^[8] The Army teams won all but twelve of the titles until 1933. On eight of those twelve occasions the title was claimed byCalcutta and the rest byDalhousie. Native teams were barred from participating for the first 15 seasons, and only clubs designated forcivil servants,merchants,missionaries and otherEuropean nationalities made up the rest of the league, in a clearly designed exercise to excludeIndians of any religion.^[9]

In 1914, IFA permitted only two native clubs,Mohun Bagan andAryan, in the Second Division of CFL. Mohun Bagan had a successful campaign and earned promotion to the Premier Division in their debut season, whereas Aryan was promoted to the top division two years later. From 1917 to 1920, the Second Division was won by two other native clubs, namelyKumortuli Club (in 1917, 1918 and 1919) and Town Club (in 1920), but their promotions were denied due to the allowance of only two native clubs to play in each tier.^[10][11]

1921 saw the rise ofEast Bengal who began their CFL journey in the Second Division in place ofTajhat Club who had withdrawn from the league. Three years later East Bengal finished the Second Division as the joint-winners withCameroons B and since Cameroons A was in the Premier Division, East Bengal got the opportunity for promotion. As two native clubs were already playing in the Premier Division, East Bengal's promotion was to be rejected as well. At this, the club called foramendments and in the following General Meeting of IFA, the nine British teams conveyed their approval, while Mohun Bagan and Aryan opposed it. Eventually the rule regulating the promotion of native clubs was abolished by majority.^[11]

Even though the native clubs got more opportunities yet the British dominance continued till 1933. In 1934,Mohammedan won the title in their debut season and became the first native club to win CFL.^[12][13] The club went on to win the league six out of seven times from 1935 to 1941, with 1939 being the only exception when they did not participate and Mohun Bagan went away with their first league title that year.^[10][14]

In the post-independence years, many other state leagues were introduced and various clubs from other states rose in glory, but CFL was still considered to be one of the top leagues in the nation and provided innumerable young talents. The league matches were mostly played inmonsoon and matches involving theBig Three of Calcutta (Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan) regularly attracted more than 30,000 spectators.^[10] From 1934 to 1981,Eastern Railway was the only club outside of the Big Three to win the title in 1958.^[15][16]

The CFL had a long history of crowd trouble, and the burgeoning fanfare exacerbated it. The rapidly increasing off-the-field rivalry between the respective fans of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal saw one of the darkest days ofIndian football when 16 fans lost their lives because of a stampede and rioting during aKolkata Derby in CFL on 16 August 1980 inEden Gardens. Since then the day is celebrated every year as theFootball Lover's Day.^[17][10]

In the 80s and 90s, the league caught many eyes with the rivalry between the two of Indian football's finest tacticians—P.K. Banerjee andAmal Dutta, besides the decades old rivalry among the Big Three.^[18][10]

Due to the rise in financial demands and steady modernisation of the sport, the league became dominated by the Big Three clubs as the smaller clubs struggled to keep up with their economy. The league saw the beginning of a major downfall with the introduction ofNFL (nowI-League). The importance of regional competitions decreased as all the top clubs in the state were racing for the national honours. From the later 20th century, Mohammedan eventually lost its stronghold and, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal became the only dominant teams in the league. In the new century, the IFA revamped the competition into a six-tier competition with the seventh tier, called the nursery league, reserved for sub-junior teams. The top tier, Premier Division, was also divided into two groups so as to include more teams.

Starting in 2010, East Bengal won a record eight consecutive titles until their arch-rivals Mohun Bagan broke the streak in2018. In 2018, the league's popularity had a sudden upsurge and recorded more than 15,000 spectators even in matches involving small clubs. Most news reports in the local media reverberated the popular feeling— "The passion of the 70s is back." Small clubs likePeerless andGeorge Telegraph introduced some of the foreign talents that later went on to become big names in the country.^[10]

In2019, Peerless clinched the honour and became the second team outside the Big Three after Eastern Railway to win the league since 1958.^[19]Since the independence of India, the CFL was never cancelled until 2020 when after a lengthy delay due to theCOVID-19 pandemic it was decided to cancel the then CFL season.^[20]

With the season starting from 2023, the clubs/units were redistributed among the first six divisions and the last division was reserved only for youth teams.^[6]

Starting from 2023, 26 teams participate in thePremier Division, divided into two groups at the same pyramid level and compete in asingle-leg round robin tournament.^[21] The top three teams in each 13-team group will compete in a single-leg round robin tournament and the group leaders will be declared the champions. The top two teams, not already in theISL orI-League are promoted to theI-League 3. The bottom three teams in each 13-team group also compete in a separate single-leg round robin tournament and the bottom four teams are relegated to the First Division.

Apart from the Premier Division A, most other divisions are competed by about 20 teams, and the format of the tournaments in the lower divisions isn't always the same. The top teams in respective divisions are promoted to the division higher to it and the bottom teams get relegated to the lower one.

The most successful clubs participating in the top-tier of the league includesEast Bengal,Mohun Bagan andMohammedan. However, since 1982, the league has been won by either East Bengal or Mohun Bagan until 2019 whenPeerless made history by winning their maiden league title and becoming the first team outside theKolkata's Big Three to win the league after a gap of 61 years sinceEastern Railway had won.^[22]

CFL Premier Division is the top-tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

CFL 1st Division is the 2nd tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

Format (2024–25): Twenty-six teams are divided into two groups in the first phase, where each plays twelve matches in round robin format. Top three teams from the two groups shall proceed to the championship round, where each play five more matches to determine the champion. The bottom two teams from both groups play the relegation round. Top two teams of Championship round are promoted into "CFL Premier Division", and last two teams of relegation round are relegated into "CFL 2nd Division".

CFL 2nd Division is the 3rd tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

Format (2024–25): Sixteen teams are playing single round robin league format. Top two teams are promoted intoCFL 1st Division, and last two are relegated intoCFL 3rd Division.

CFL 3rd Division is the 4th tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

CFL 4th Division is the 5th tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

CFL 5th Division Group A is the 6th tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

Format (2024–25): Thirty five teams are divided into four groups. Eight teams are promoted toCFL 4th Division and six teams are relegated toCFL 5th Division Group B.

CFL 5th Division Group B is the 7th tierstate levelfootball league in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.

Format (2024–25): Eighteen teams are divided in two groups of nine, with each team playing other in the group once. Top three teams of two groups proceed to the Super Six round. Top four teams are promoted inCFL 5th Division Group A.

Year	Winner	Note
1898	Gloucestershire Regiment
1899	Calcutta FC
1900	Royal Irish Rifles
1901
1902	King's Own Scottish Borderers
1903	Sutherland Highlanders
1904	King's Own Regiment
1905
1906	Highlander Light Infantry
1907	Calcutta FC
1908	Gordon Light Infantry
1909
1910	Dalhousie
1911	70th Company Royal Garrison Artillery
1912	Black Watch
1913
1914	Argyllshire Highlanders
1915	10th Middlesex Regiment
1916	Calcutta FC
1917	Royal Lincolnshire Regiment
1918	Calcutta FC
1919	12th Special Service Battalion
1920	Calcutta FC
1921	Dalhousie
1922	Calcutta FC
1923
1924	Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
1925	Calcutta FC
1926	North Staffordshire Regiment
1927
1928	Dalhousie
1929
1930	None	Cancelled due to nationwideSatyagraha movement.[31]
1931	Durham Light Infantry
1932
1933
1934	Mohammedan	First all-Indian club to win the league.[14]
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939	Mohun Bagan
1940	Mohammedan
1941
1942	East Bengal
1943	Mohun Bagan
1944
1945	East Bengal
1946
1947	None	Cancelled due toIndian independence movement.
Source:IFA (WB)

The list only contains the names of the teams that have won the top-most division of the Calcutta Football League more than once.^[12]

Club	Titles	Winning years
East Bengal	41	1942, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1961, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014, 2015,2016,2017,2024/25,2025
Mohun Bagan	30	1939, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009,2018
Mohammedan	14	1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1957, 1967, 1981,2021,2022,2023
Calcutta FC	8	1899, 1907, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1925
Dalhousie	4	1910, 1921, 1928, 1929
Durham Light Infantry	3	1931, 1932, 1933
Black Watch	2	1912, 1913
Gordon Light Infantry		1908, 1909
King's Own Regiment		1904, 1905
North Staffordshire Regiment		1926, 1927
Royal Irish Rifles		1900, 1901
Peerless	1	2019

• Bengal Super League
• Premier League Soccer
• Football in West Bengal
• Football in Kolkata

Cited sources

Further reading

• "The Calcutta Football League (CFL) — Winners of each season".ifawb.org. Kolkata: Indian Football Association. 2021. Archived fromthe original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved31 October 2023.

• Official website of theIndian Football Association (IFA)
• "IFAWB Clubs".ifawb.org.Indian Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 9 October 2022.

• Calcutta Football League
• Regional Football leagues in India
• Football competitions in West Bengal
• 1898 establishments in India
• Recurring sporting events established in 1898

• CS1 Bengali-language sources (bn)
• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2018
• Use Indian English from August 2018
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Official website not in Wikidata