Which are the top five oldest club competitions in Indian football?

These tournaments hold immense prestige among the players and fans.

Football in India was introduced by the British around the start of the 18th century. After the beautiful game started to surge in England, the British soldiers often played it as a recreational activity in India. They formed their own teams of different British regiments and army teams. Ultimately, they also allowed the Indian people to participate in their matches too.

Thus began the rise in popularity of football in India. Well after India’s independence, football maintained its stance in the sporting culture. More Indian clubs started forming as the decades past, with heritage clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal maintaining their grip at the top of Indian football.

With that being said, a few of the competitions introduced by the British were retained in Indian football after their exit from the country. The British created a number of tournaments, some of which are played to this day. With that being said, let’s have a look at the top five oldest club competitions in India.

5. Subroto Cup

The Subroto Cup was a prominent football competition introduced at a point when Indian football was starting to boom. A competition organized by the Indian Armed Forces, it was named after Indian Air Force Marshal Subroto Mukherjee. It is an inter-school football tournament that is held in New Delhi, every year.

It features the best football school teams across the country, being played at the youth level. The Subroto Cup has been taking place since 1960 and was held every year from 1960-2019 – before the Covid-19 pandemic suspended the 2020 and 2021 editions. However, it kickstarted last year once again and is planned to maintain its tradition as one of the oldest active football competitions in India.

4. Mumbai Football League

 Kolkata and Mumbai were two cities where the club football scene started to boom among the British rule in the early 1900s. The British soldiers psoted in Mumbai (known as Bombay at the time) decided to create the Mumbai Football League in 1902. In the early years, only English teams were allowed to take part in this competition. It was a short league where teams played each other twice and the team with the most point reigned supreme.

The Oxfordshire Light Infantry team won the first MFL title in 1902 and British teams dominated the league for decades to come. The first native Indian side to win the division was Western India Automobile Association Staff in 1942. The MFA (Mumbai Football Association) have kept his competitive alive over the decades – with Ambernath United Atlanta FC winning the last two MFA Elite Divisions. The Mumbai Football League has now been stretched to have multiple divisions, but the top-most division remains among the oldest in the country.

3. Calcutta Football League

The first ever league-based competition to be introduced to Indian football was the Calcutta Football League. The British soldiers posted in Calcutta were not content with playing knockout-based cup competitions and wanted to play a season-long division where the team with most points reigned supreme. The CFL was, hence, kickstarted in 1898. Till this day, it remains the oldest association football league in Asia. The Gloucestershire Regiment won the first-ever CFL title in 1898 and a year later, a British Raj club Calcutta Cricket & Football club (CC&FC) won it.

Mohammedan Sporting became the first all-Indian club to win the CFL in 1934 and won five consecutive titles from 1934-38. The CFL has retained its prestige and reputation, taking place almost every single year (barring 1930 due to the Satyagraha Movement and 2020 due to Covid-19) since it was kick-started in 1989. East Bengal have won it most times (39) and the CFL mostly takes place during the monsoon season in Kolkata every year – attracting thousands of football-loving fans.

2. IFA Shield

The IFA (Indian Football Association) shield was created when the royal houses of Patiala and Cooch Behar financially contributed to create it in 1893. It’s still regarded as the second oldest active competition in Indian football and one of the oldest cup competitions in the entire football world. The IFA shield is recognized for its incredible shield that was designed by Walter Locke & co and constructed in London by the Elkington & co. The Royal Irish Rifles won the first-ever IFA Shield title in 1893.

The first Indian side to win it, of course, created a legend in Indian football. It was Mohun Bagan who became the first-ever Indian side to win an IFA Shield title in 1911, proving that the Indian players could oust the British soldiers too. The IFA shield has lost some of its prestige in recent years, with teams mostly playing their junior teams or weaker clubs playing in it. However, it still remains the second oldest active competition in Indian football and one that is still highly reputed.

1. Durand Cup

 The oldest competition in the history of not just Indian football, but Asian Football, is the prestigious Durand Cup. It was created in 1888 by British diplomat Sir Henry Mortimar Durand to encourage sporting competition in India and also promote a healthy lifestyle. The first-ever Durand Cup competition was played in 1888, which the Royal Scots Fusillers won. Mohammedan Sporting was the first Indian side to win the competition in 1940.

It has been taking place regularly since 1888, only being stopped from 1914-1919 due to World War I and from 1941-47 due to World War II and the Indian Independence. It was also not hosted in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Durand Cup is currently regarded as a curtain-raiser in Indian football. It’s a competition in which all the major teams play in a pre-season tournament. Despite that, it remains one of the most prestigious tournaments in Asia and the Indian Armed Forces have done a respectable job in keeping its glory alive all through the years.