Calcutta Football League

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Calcutta Football League
Sport	Football
Founded	1898
No. of teams	157 (Clubs and Units)
Country	India
Current champions	East Bengal Club (Premier Division 2006) [1]

Calcutta Football League (CFL) is the football league where several football clubs of the Indian town of Kolkata (Calcutta) participate. The CFL is now having a Seven League Division.

Indian Football Association (IFA) conducts the CFL with 157 mostly Kolkata based Clubs and Units. Started in 1898, this league is the oldest league in Asia and one of the oldest in the world. There are about 8500 directly registerd players of IFA who participates in CFL.

[edit] Division structure

The divisions are (As on season starting 2005):[2]

1. Premier Division (8 Teams)
2. Super Division (8 Teams)
3. First Division:
   1. First DivisionGroup A (13 Teams)
   2. First Division Group B (14 Teams)
4. Second Division (15 Teams)
5. Third Division (16 Teams)
6. Fourth Division:
   1. Fourth Division Group A (10 Teams)
   2. Fourth Division Group B (10 Teams)
7. Fifth Division:
   1. Fifth Division Group A (45 Teams)
   2. Fifth Division Group B (Age Group: 13+ to U-16) (16 Teams)

Usually in each division, the 10-team league plays a first leg, in which all teams played against each other. Then in the second leg, the league is divided into a top and bottom half. The top 5 teams played for the title while the bottom 5 played against each other to avoid relegation to a lower division. Some of the noted clubs participating in the super division are East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan Athletic Club, Mohammedan Sporting Club etc. However for last 25 years, the league has been won by either East Bengal or Mohun Bagan clubs.

[edit] External links

• CFL at the Indian Football Association's official site

• Kolkatafootball.com