National Football League (NFL): List of all winners

The National Football League was later rebranded as I-League.

Much before the glittery and popular Indian Super League (ISL), and I-League, the National Football League (NFL) was the Indian top-tier competition, a league which made the Indian Football fans go gaga.

Founded in 1996 by the governing body of Indian football All India Football Federation (AIFF), NFL was the highest level of the Indian football league structure from the late 1990s till 2007, until it was modified to the I-League.

National Football League was the first of its kind in Indian football, a national level league happening for the first time in this football-crazy country, conglomerates be it Indian or foreign MNCs were starting to sponsor, and of course, the big old football clubs, clashing with the corporate-backed teams in the national stage. The league gave a new flavour, a new charm to the game’s craze here.

Clubs from various Indian states participated and fought neck-to-neck, but it would be fair to say that only the Kolkata Giants and the old Goan football sides ruled the competition more often.

The most successful clubs in the competition were the two Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. The Goan clubs also triumphed thrice in total. On that note, let’s have a look at who were the champions in every season of the National Football League until it got upgraded to the I-League.

Season	Champions	Runners-up
1996–97	JCT Mills	Churchill Brothers
1997–1998	Mohun Bagan	East Bengal
1998–1999	Salgaocar	East Bengal
1999–2000	Mohun Bagan (2)	Churchill Brothers
2000–2001	East Bengal	Mohun Bagan
2001–2002	Mohun Bagan (3)	Churchill Brothers
2002–2003	East Bengal (2)	Salgaocar
2003–2004	East Bengal (3)	Dempo
2004–2005	Dempo	Sporting Goa
2005–2006	Mahindra United	East Bengal
2006–2007	Dempo (2)	JCT Mills

From the list above it’s easy to state who were the favourites. It’s the Kolkata clubs. Back then the dominance of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal were astonishing. Today, we still see Mohun Bagan leading the championship race, East Bengal have been a bit off-track ever since their entry into the ISL.

East Bengal FC never clinched a national league other than the NFL yet, often unlucky to lose I-League titles by a whisker. East Bengal have long been predicted to win the top tier, and surely they will in the coming years. 

But what gets sad is the other champions like JCT Mills are missing from the picture entirely now. Even corporate clubs like Mahindra United have shut their business. What’s more shocking is clubs with huge fan bases like the Goan stalwarts Dempo & Salgaocar also long missing from top-division football.

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