2003–04 National Football League (India)

The 2003–04 National Football League was the eighth season of National Football League, the top Indian league for association football clubs, since its inception in 1996.

National Football League

Season	2003–04
Dates	28 November 2003 – 14 May 2004
Champions	East Bengal 3rd NFL title 3rd Indian title
Relegated	Mohammedan Sporting Indian Bank
AFC Cup	East Bengal Dempo
Top goalscorer	Cristiano Júnior (15 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	East Bengal 4–0 Mohammedan Sporting (16 January 2004)[2] Vasco 5–1 Mohun Bagan (16 April 2004)[3]
Biggest away win	Mohammedan Sporting 1–5 Mahindra United (17 March 2004)[4]
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Overview

The fixtures for the first phase of the season (till round 11) were announced on 20 November 2003.^[5] It was contested by 12 teams, and East Bengal won the championship, in the month of April under the coach Subhas Bhowmick. Dempo came second and Mahindra came third. Indian Bank and Mohammedan were relegated from the National Football League next season.

League standings

JCT Mills

Indian Bank

Mahindra United

Kolkata

Kolkata clubs:
East Bengal
Mohammedan
Mohun Bagan
Tollygunge Agragami

Goa

Goa clubs:
Churchill Brothers
Dempo
Salgaocar
Sporting Goa
Vasco

Locations of teams in the 2003–04 National Football League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	East Bengal	22	15	4	3	37	13	+24	49
2	Dempo	22	12	9	1	28	12	+16	45
3	Mahindra United	22	12	5	5	34	21	+13	41
4	Churchill Brothers	22	10	6	6	29	24	+5	36
5	JCT Mills	22	8	9	5	23	21	+2	33
6	Vasco	22	6	10	6	22	19	+3	28
7	Salgaocar	22	7	6	9	24	23	+1	27
8	Sporting Goa	22	7	6	9	34	35	−1	27
9	Mohun Bagan	22	6	6	10	22	23	−1	24
10	Tollygunge Agragami	22	4	8	10	16	24	−8	20
11	Mohammedan Sporting	22	4	7	11	20	39	−19	19
12	Indian Bank	22	2	2	18	15	50	−35	8

Source: rsssf.com

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[6]
1	Cristiano Júnior	East Bengal	15
2	Yusif Yakubu	Churchill Brothers	14
3	Dudu Omagbemi	Mohammedan Sporting	13
4	Bhaichung Bhutia	East Bengal	12
5	Abdul Seriki	Mohammedan Sporting	11
6	Sunday Seah	Dempo	9
7	Abhishek Yadav	Mahindra United	7
	Harvinder Singh	JCT Mills

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Ashim Biswas	Mohun Bagan	Indian Bank	3–0 (H)	15 December 2003	[7]
Yusif Yakubu	Churchill Brothers	Indian Bank	4–1 (H)	5 March 2004	[8]
Felix Aboagye	Mahindra United	Mohammedan Sporting	5–1 (A)	17 March 2004	[4]
Dudu Omagbemi	Sporting Clube	Indian Bank	4–1 (H)	5 April 2004	[9]
Marcos Pereira	Vasco	Mohun Bagan	5–1 (H)	16 April 2004	[3]

Note: (H) – Home; (A) – Away