• Source: Indian Football Association

The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers football in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the oldest football association in India and was founded in 1893. Among the founders was former English international Elphinstone Jackson.
The IFA organises tournaments such as the Calcutta Football League, the Calcutta Women's Football League and the IFA Shield. In 2021, the IFA also took an initiative to start its own futsal league.
It also sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's National Football Championship.




History


Contrary to the name, the association does not administer the game in India, a task that falls to the All India Football Federation (AIFF), instead governs the game in the state of West Bengal. However, before the formation of the AIFF, the IFA was in de facto control of football in India by virtue of its administration by Englishmen as well as its affiliation to the Football Association. Hence, all foreign tours were conducted by the IFA and also foreign teams negotiated with the IFA for visits to India. In its formative years, the only Indian representative in the English dominated executive committee was Kalicharan Mitra from the Sovabazar Club. By vigorously promoting the game in Bengal, the IFA became undivided India's premier football body in the early decades of the 20th century.
Through the efforts of Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari (the father of Indian football), A.R. Brown and B.C. Lindsay of Dalhousie AC, and Watson of Calcutta FC, the IFA was established in 1893. A.R. Brown was the first Secretary of the IFA. Norman Prichard, the first Indian to win an Olympic medal, was the Secretary of the IFA in 1900.The most remarkable person to head the IFA was the Maharaja of Santosh, Sir M.N. Roy Chowdhury. During his tenure the IFA played an instrumental role in the formation of the AIFF.
The IFA had organised many historical tournaments like the Trades Cup, the Gladstone Cup, the Cooch Behar Cup and the coveted IFA Shield, prior to the incorporation of Calcutta Football League in 1898. The Trades Cup is the oldest tournament in Kolkata, being instituted in 1889.
Clubs outside Bengal complained about the lack of neutrality in the affairs of the IFA. This disillusionment of clubs and patrons led to the formation of associations such as the Western India Football Association, which preferred to be governed by themselves rather than by the IFA. After years of numerous conferences and meetings, the IFA along with other five regional football associations broke their mutual deadlock to form the AIFF in 1937.




State teams






Affiliated district associations


All 23 district of West Bengal are affiliated with the Indian Football Association.




Competitions






= Men's

=
Calcutta Football League
IFA Shield
Trades Cup
Uttarbanga Cup
Jayanta Chatterjee Inter District Football Tournament
IFA Futsal Championship




= Women's

=
Calcutta Women's Football League
Women's IFA Shield




= Youth

=
CFL 5th Division Group B
IFA Nursery League




West Bengal Football League pyramid






= Men's

=




= Women's

=




Evolution






Management


As of 2022




See also


List of Indian state football associations
Football in Kolkata
Football in West Bengal
Football in India
Bengal Premier League Soccer




References






Further reading


Mitra, Soumen (1 January 2006). In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta. Kolkata: Dasgupta & Co. Private Ltd. ISBN 978-8182110229. Archived from the original on 21 October 2022.
Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
Majumdar, Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006). Goalless: The Story of a Unique Footballing Nation. Penguin India. ISBN 9780670058747.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Dutta, P. L., Memoir of 'Father of Indian Football' Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary (Calcutta: N. P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1944) (hereafter Memoir)
Ghosh, Saurindra Kumar. Krira Samrat Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary 1869–1940 (Calcutta: N. P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1963) (hereafter Krira Samrat).
Roselli, John. Self Image of Effeteness: Physical Education and Nationalism in Nineteenth Century Bengal. Past & Present (journal). 86 (February 1980). p. 121–48.
Sinha, Mrinalini. Colonial Masculinity, The Manly Englishman and the Effeminate Bengali in the Late Nineteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995).
Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Post-colonial Histories (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Mason, Football on the Maidan, p. 144; Dimeo, Football and Politics in Bengal, p. 62.
Sen, Dwaipayan (2013). "Wiping the Stain Off the Field of Plassey: Mohun Bagan in 1911". In Bandyopadhyay, Kausik; Mallick, Sabyasachi (eds.). Fringe Nations in World Soccer. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-99810-5.
Nath, Nirmal (2011). History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service. ISBN 9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
"Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
D'Mello, Anthony (1959). Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London.
From recreation to competition: Early history of Indian football Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine. pp. 124–141. Published online: 6 Aug 2006. www.tandfonline.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.




External links


Indian Football Association on Facebook
Indian Football Association on Twitter
Indian Football Association on Instagram
IFA on the-AIFF.com
IFA on YouTube

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Mohun Bagan Super Giant
• Amerika Serikat
• Diego Forlán
• ISO 3166-1
• Perlis FA
• Hyundai Motor Group
• Hak siar Piala Dunia FIFA
• Fox Sports Asia
• Liga Champions Dua AFC 2024–2025
• Mola
• Indian Football Association
• Football in India
• Indian Olympic Association
• Association football
• All India Football Federation
• History of football in India
• Calcutta Football League
• Football in West Bengal
• Indian football league system
• List of Indian state football associations