2008–09 I-League

The 2008–09 I-League season began on 26 September 2008 and finished on 16 April 2009 with a break in December for the Federation Cup and Durand Cup. Most games this season were played on Saturday's and Sunday's to attract larger crowds. After a successful first season for the I League, the second season featured 12 teams from four cities – again this would be expanded in the 2009–10 season to 14 teams.

2008–09 I-League

Season	2008–09 I-League Season
Dates	26 September 2008– 16 April 2009
Champions	Churchill Brothers 1st I-League title 1st Indian title
Relegated	Mohammedan Vasco
AFC Champions League	Churchill Brothers
AFC Cup	East Bengal (as Federation Cup Winners)
Matches played	132
Goals scored	318 (2.41 per match)
Top goalscorer	Odafa Onyeka Okolie
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The champion in the I-League qualified for the AFC Champions League 2010 qualifying playoffs in 2010, while the bottom two teams were relegated to I-League 2nd Division for the next season.

Gallery

• 
  Abhishek Yadav of Mumbai FC and Samir Naik of Dempo during I-League match at Fatorda Stadium Goa
• 
  Sayed Rahim Nabi of East Bengal and Daniel of Chirag United during at 2008–09 I-League at Salt Lake Stadium
• 
  I League Daniel of Chirag United takes a freekick against Mahindra United at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata
• 
  Wilton Gomes of Sporting Clube de Goa tackles Lester Fernandes of Vasco during I-League 2008-09 match at Fatorda Stadium Goa
• 
  Baljit Saini of JCT against Dempo during I-League 2008-09 at Guru Nanak Stadium Ludhiana

Teams

JCT

Kolkata

Kolkata clubs:
Chirag United
East Bengal
Mohammedan
Mohun Bagan

Goa

Goa clubs:
Churchill Brothers
Dempo
Sporting Goa
Vasco

Mumbai

Mumbai clubs:
Air India
Mahindra United
Mumbai

Locations of games played in the 2008–09 I-League

Club	Manager	Location	Stadia
Air India	Bimal Ghosh	Mumbai	Cooperage Ground
Churchill Brothers	Karim Bencherifa	Goa	Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium
Dempo	Armando Colaco	Goa	Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium
East Bengal	Monoranjan Bhattacharya	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium
JCT	Sukhwinder Singh	New Delhi	Ambedkar Stadium
Mahindra United	Derrick Pereira	Mumbai	Cooperage Ground
Mohammedan Sporting	Shabbir Ali	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium
Mohun Bagan	Carlos Roberto Pereira Da Silva	Kolkata	Salt Lake Stadium
Sporting Goa	Clifford Chukwuma	Goa	Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium
Vasco	Subrata Bhattacharya	Goa	Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Churchill Brothers	22	13	7	2	53	23	+30	46	2010 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off
2	Mohun Bagan	22	13	4	5	30	20	+10	43
3	Sporting Goa	22	13	4	5	28	20	+8	43
4	Dempo	22	8	7	7	35	26	+9	31
5	Mahindra United	22	8	7	7	28	22	+6	31
6	East Bengal	22	7	7	8	31	26	+5	28	2010 AFC Cup group stage[a]
7	Mumbai	22	7	7	8	22	27	−5	28
8	Chirag United	22	6	8	8	20	26	−6	26
9	JCT	22	6	7	9	19	22	−3	25
10	Air India	22	5	9	8	21	26	−5	24
11	Mohammedan Sporting	22	5	7	10	17	31	−14	22	Relegation to 2010 I-League 2nd Division
12	Vasco (R)	22	2	4	16	14	49	−35	10

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. East Bengal qualified for the 2010 AFC Cup as 2009–10 Indian Federation Cup winners.

Home and away season

Round 1

---

26 September 2008
18:30 IST

East Bengal	3–1	Chirag United Sports Club
I Surkumar Singh 10' Yakubu 19' Sunil Chetri 28'		Shankar Oraon 79'

Barasat Stadium

Referee: S Suresh

---

26 September 2008
16:00 IST

Vasco Sports Club	0–1	Sporting Clube de Goa
		Elijah Obagbemiro Jr 90+1'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Referee: Minangshu Bhattacharya

---

27 September 2008
18:30 IST

Mohun Bagan	1–2	Mumbai FC
Pachau Lalam Puia 77'		Abel Hammond 9' Kalia Kulothungan 24'

Barasat Stadium

Referee: A Arjunan

---

27 September 2008
16:00 IST

Churchill Brothers	2–1	Mahindra United
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 61' 88'		Sushil Kumar Singh 83'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Referee: Pratap Singh

---

28 September 2008
16:00 IST

Dempo Sports Club	1–2	JCT FC
Nicolau Borges 77'		Escobar 17' Balwant Singh 64'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Referee: Pradeep Kumar

---

29 September 2008
18:30 IST

Mohammedan Sporting Club	1–1	Air-India
Theodore Sunday Wrobeh 59'		Surojit Roy 23'

Barasat Stadium

Referee: Francisco Fernandes

Round 2

---

30 September 2008
18:30 IST

East Bengal	0–1	Mumbai FC
		Felix Aboagye 23'

Salt Lake Stadium

Referee: A Arjunan

---

2 October 2008
16:00 IST

Vasco Sports Club	0–0	JCT FC

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

3 October 2008
18:30 IST

Mohun Bagan	1–1	Air-India
Branco Cordozo 70'		Soccor Velho 43'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

4 October 2008
16:00 IST

Sporting Clube de Goa	3–0	Mohammedan Sporting Club
Elijah Obagbemiro Jr 63' 77' Micky Fernandes 76'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Referee: Dinesh Nair

---

4 October 2008
16:00 IST

Mahindra United	1–3	Chirag United Sports Club
Sushil Kumar Singh 12'		Subair Muritala Ali 46' Gouranga Datta 52' Hardip Singh Saini 87'

Cooperage Ground

---

5 November 2008

Churchill Brothers	3–3	Dempo Sports Club
Felix Chimaokwu 15' 19' Odafe Onyeka Okolie 31'		Mboyo Iyomi 37' 47' 76'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Round 3

---

11 October 2008
16:00 IST

JCT FC	2–0	Mohammedan Sporting Club
Saini 46' Escobar 68'

Guru Nanak Dev Stadium

---

11 October 2008

Mahindra United	0–1	Mumbai FC
		Kalia Kulothungan 23'

Cooperage Ground

Referee: Benjamin Silva

---

11 October 2008
16:00 IST

Sporting Clube de Goa	2–0	Mohun Bagan
Wilton Gomes 26' Nathaniel Amos 51'	Report

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Referee: P Bhaskar

---

12 October 2008
18:30 IST

Chirag United Sports Club	0–0	Churchill Brothers

Salt Lake Stadium

---

12 October 2008
18:30 IST

Air-India	2–0	East Bengal
Surojit Roy 48' Michael Tayo 70'

Cooperage Ground

---

12 October 2008
16:00 IST

Dempo Sports Club	2–1	Vasco Sports Club
Roberto Silva 24' Ranty Martins 30'		Ravshan Teshabaev 32'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Round 4

---

11 November 2008

Mumbai FC	0–0	Dempo SC

Cooperage Ground

---

18 October 2008
16:00 IST

JCT FC	0–1	Mahindra United
		Sukhwinder Singh 70'

Guru Nanak Dev Stadium

Referee: Nazir Ahmed

---

18 October 2008
18:30 IST

Air-India	1–0	Chirag United Sports Club
Surojit Roy 69'

Cooperage Ground

Referee: A Rowan

---

18 October 2008
18:30 IST

East Bengal	2–0	Vasco Sports Club
Yakubu 7', 90'

Salt Lake Stadium

Referee: PK Bose

---

19 October 2008
18:30 IST

Mohammedan Sporting Club	1–1	Mohun Bagan
Goutam Thakur 3'		Jose Ramirez Barreto 23'

Salt Lake Stadium

Referee: Sreenivasan Suresh

---

19 October 2008
16:00 IST

Churchill Brothers	3–0	Sporting Clube de Goa
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 14', 60' Thokchom Naoba Singh 85'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Referee: Pradeep Kumar

Round 5

---

23 October 2008

Chirag United Sports Club	0–0	JCT FC

Salt Lake Stadium

---

24 October 2008

Mohammedan Sporting Club	1–0	Mahindra United
Mike Okoro 75'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

24 October 2008

Sporting Clube de Goa	1–0	Mumbai FC
Eliga Junior 17'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

25 October 2008

Mohun Bagan	1–1	East Bengal
Baichung Bhutia 2'		Rahim Nabi 38'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

25 October 2008

Vasco Sports Club	1–4	Churchill Brothers
Agnelo Colaco 70'		Odafe Onyeka Okolie 39' 44' 62' Felix Chimaokw 41'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

26 October 2008

Dempo SC	3–1	Air-India
Ranty Martins 38' 78' Climax Lawrence 55'		Ravinder Singh 60'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Round 6

---

31 October 2008

Dempo SC	0–1	Mohun Bagan
		Jose Ramirez Barreto (P) 52'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

1 November 2008

Chirag United Sports Club	0–1	Sporting Clube de Goa
		Joseph Pereira 73'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

1 November 2008

Air-India	2–0	Mumbai FC
Soccor Velho 20 20' Subhas Singh 32'

Cooperage Ground

---

1 November 2008

Vasco Sports Club	0–2	Mahindra United
		Chiddi Edeh 43' Sushil Kumar Singh 61'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

2 November 2008

Mohammedan Sporting Club	0–0	East Bengal

Salt Lake Stadium

---

2 November 2008

Churchill Brothers	1–1	JCT FC
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 27'		Amandeep Singh 48'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Round 7

---

7 November 2008

East Bengal	1–1	Mahindra United
Chhetri 61'		Paresh Shivalkar 59'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

8 November 2008

Mumbai FC	1–1	Vasco Sports Club
Kulothungan 25'		Abhiskek Yadav 65'

Cooperage Ground

---

8 November 2008

Dempo SC	0–1	Sporting Clube de Goa
		Elija Jr. 83'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

8 November 2008

Chirag United Sports Club	1–0	Mohammedan Sporting Club
Gouranga Dutta 62'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

9 November 2008

Mohun Bagan	1–0	Churchill Brothers
P Lalwampuia 14'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

9 November 2008

Air-India	1–0	JCT FC
Samson Singh 86'

Cooperage Ground

Round 8

---

14 November 2008

Mohammedan Sporting Club	1–0	Vasco Sports Club
Bimal Parier 87'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

14 November 2008

Mahindra United	1–1	Air-India
Sushil Kumar 55'		Subhash Singh 66'

Cooperage Ground

---

15 November 2008

East Bengal	3–1	Sporting Clube de Goa
Chhetri 14' Syed Rahim Nabi 26' 31'		Harmanjot Khabra 54'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

15 November 2008

Churchill Brothers	2–2	Mumbai FC
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 21' Reisangmi Vashum 70'		Abhishek Yadav 10' Kulothungan 75'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

16 November 2008

Mohun Bagan	2–0	JCT FC
Ishfaq Ahmed 15' Jose Ramirez Barreto 30 pen'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

16 November 2008

Dempo SC	4–0	Chirag United Sports Club
Ranty Martins 4' 70' Joaquim Abranches 45+1' Roberto Mendes Silva 58'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

Round 9

---

18 November 2008
16:00 IST

Churchill Brothers	1–1	Air-India
Felix Chimaokwu 38'		Michael Tayo 90+3'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

19 October 2008
18:30 IST

Mahindra United	0–0	Sporting Clube de Goa

Cooperage Ground

---

20 November 2008

Mohammedan Sporting Club	0–2	Dempo Sports Club
		Anthony Pereira 9' Ranti Martins 41'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

20 November 2008

Vasco Sports Club	1–2	Mohun Bagan
Lalnun Puia 29'		Rakesh Masih 31' Lalkamal Bhowmick 55'

Jawaharlal Nehru – Fatorda Stadium

---

21 November 2008

Chirag United Sports Club	1–1	Mumbai FC
Shankar Orao 12'		Riston Rodrigues 59'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

22 November 2008
16:00 IST

JCT FC	1–0	East Bengal
Escobar 58'

Guru Nanak Dev Stadium

Round 10

---

23 November 2008

Mohammedan Sporting Club	0–1	Churchill Brothers
		Okolie 70'

Salt Lake Stadium

---

24 November 2008

Mohun Bagan AC	1–0	Mahindra United
Bhaichung Bhutia 46'

Salt Lake Stadium

Referee: P. Basu

---

25 November 2008

Chirag United Sports Club	3–1	Vasco Sports Club

Salt Lake Stadium

---

26 November 2008

Dempo Sports Club	1–0	East Bengal
[Beto] 78'

Goa

---

26 November 2008

JCT FC	2–3	Mumbai FC

Cooperage Ground

Round 12

---

23 January 2009

Mumbai FC	0–3	Mohun Bagan AC

Cooperage Ground, Mumbai

---

23 January 2009

JCT FC	2–1	Dempo Sports Club

Guru Nanak Dev Stadium

---

24 January 2009

Chirag United Sports Club	0–0	East Bengal

Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata

---

24 January 2009

Mahindra United	1–3	Churchill Brothers SC

Cooperage Ground, Mumbai

---

25 January 2009

Air-India	1–1	Mohammedan Sporting Club

Cooperage Ground, Mumbai

---

25 January 2009

Sporting Clube de Goa	0–1	Vasco Sports Club

Fatorda Stadium, Margao

Round 13

---

31 January 2009

Mohammedan Sporting Club	0–1	Sporting Clube de Goa

---

31 January 2009

JCT FC	1–1	Vasco Sports Club

---

31 January 2009

Mumbai FC	2–1	East Bengal
A. Yadav 47' A. Hammond 88'		Yakubu 13'

---

1 February 2009

Chirag United Sports Club	0–2	Mahindra United

---

1 February 2009

Air-India	1–2	Mohun Bagan AC

---

1 February 2009

Dempo Sports Club	1–1	Churchill Brothers SC

Round 14

---

6 February 2009

Mohun Bagan AC	1–0	Sporting Clube de Goa

---

6 February 2009

Mumbai FC	0–0	Mahindra United

---

7 February 2009

Mohammedan Sporting Club	2–0	JCT FC

---

7 February 2009

Churchill Brothers SC	3–0	Chirag United Sports Club

---

7 February 2009

East Bengal	3–1	Air-India
Yakubu 49' Sunil Chetri 56' Sanju Pradhan 81'		Subhash Singh 88'

---

8 February 2009

Vasco Sports Club	2–2	Dempo Sports Club

Round 15

---

13 February 2009

Dempo Sports Club	3–0	Mumbai FC

---

14 February 2009

Vasco Sports Club	1–4	East Bengal
Sherzod Nazarov 52'		Chhetri 29' 90', Yakubu 46', 56'

---

14 February 2009

Chirag United Sports Club	1–0	Air-India

---

14 February 2009

Mahindra United	0–0	JCT FC

---

15 February 2009

18:30 IST

Mohun Bagan AC	1–0	Mohammedan Sporting Club
James Lukram Singh 14'

Salt Lake Stadium

Referee: Pradeep Kumar

---

15 February 2009

Sporting Clube de Goa	1–0	Churchill Brothers SC

Round 16

---

20 February 2009

Air-India	0–0	Dempo Sports Club

---

20 February 2009

Churchill Brothers SC	9 -1	Vasco Sports Club
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 42' 50' 57' 82' 89' 90'

---

21 February 2009

Mahindra United	0–0	Mohammedan Sporting Club

---

21 February 2009

JCT FC	0–1	Chirag United Sports Club
		Ayeni Bidemi Daniel 38'

---

22 February 2009

East Bengal	3–0	Mohun Bagan AC
Syed Rahim Nabi 22', 40' Chhetri 47'

Salt Lake Stadium

Attendance: 90,000

---

22 February 2009

Mumbai FC	1–2	Sporting Clube de Goa

Round 17

---

26 February 2009

JCT FC	1–2	Churchill Brothers SC

---

27 February 2009

Sporting Clube de Goa	2–2	Chirag United Sports Club

---

28 February 2009

Mumbai FC	1–1	Air-India
Kalia Kulothungan 38'		Emmanuel Ovieghara

Cooperage, Mumbai

---

28 February 2009

East Bengal	2–2	Mohammedan Sporting Club
Nirmal Chhetri 48'; Chhetri 54'		Okoro 4'; Eugene Gray

Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata

Referee: Shaji Kurian

---

1 March 2009

Mahindra United	4–0	Vasco Sports Club

---

12 April 2009

Mohun Bagan AC	2–1	Dempo SC

Round 18

---

4 March 2009

Churchill Brothers SC	3–1	Mohun Bagan AC
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 45', Ogba Kalu Nnanna 57', 77'		Jose Ramirez Barreto 28'

Referee: Pradeep Kumar (Tamil Nadu)

---

5 March 2009

Sporting Clube de Goa	2–1	Dempo SC

---

6 March 2009

Mahindra United	2–1	East Bengal
C.Edeh 54' 70'		Sunil Chetri 50'

---

7 March 2009

Mohammedan Sporting Club	2–2	Chirag United Sports Club

---

7 March 2009

JCT FC	1–1	Air-India

---

8 March 2009

Vasco Sports Club	1–2	Mumbai FC
		Kalia Kulothungan 89', Abhishek Yadav 10'

Round 19

---

14 March 2009

Air-India	1–3	Mahindra United
		Sushil Kumar Singh 56'

---

14 March 2009

Vasco Sports Club	0–1	Mohammedan Sporting Club

---

15 March 2009

Sporting Clube de Goa	1–1	East Bengal
J. Pereira 64'		I. Addo 42'

---

15 March 2009

Mumbai FC	2–3	Churchill Brothers SC
Anees Kutty 15'

---

28 March 2009

JCT FC	1–1	Mohun Bagan AC

---

28 March 2009

Chirag United Sports Club	0–0	Dempo SC

Round 20

---

21 March 2009

JCT FC	2–0	Sporting Clube de Goa
Paul M. Nwachukwu 11', Jagpreet singh 81'

---

22 March 2009

Mohammedan Sporting Club	2–0	Mumbai FC
Satyajit Bose 14'

---

22 March 2009

Churchill Brothers SC	3–1	East Bengal
Odafe Onyeka Okolie 45' 75' Kalu 53'		Yakubu 86'

---

22 March 2009

Air-India	1–0	Vasco Sports Club
Singam Subash Singh 67'

---

23 March 2009

Dempo SC	3–2	Mahindra United
		Arata izumi 1', Sushil Kumar Singh 65'

---

23 March 2009

Chirag United Sports Club	1–2	Mohun Bagan AC

Round 21

---

28 March 2009

Air-India	1–1	Churchill Brothers SC

---

28 March 2009

Sporting Clube de Goa	2–0	Mahindra United

---

1 April 2009

Mumbai FC	0–0	Chirag United Sports Club

---

2 April 2009

Dempo SC	4–1	Mohammedan Sporting Club

---

2 April 2009

Mohun Bagan AC	3–0	Vasco Sports Club

---

3 April 2009

East Bengal	2–1	JCT FC
Yakubu 35' 69'		Edu 76'

Round 22

---

16 April 2009

Churchill Brothers	6–2	Mohammedan Sporting Club
Vashum 5' Okolie 8', 84' Chimaokwu 61' Paite 63' N. Singh 87'	Report	Okoro 52' Jothikumar 90'

Nehru Stadium, Margao

---

16 April 2009

Air-India	1–3	Sporting Clube de Goa

---

16 April 2009

JCT FC	1–0	Mumbai FC

---

16 April 2009

East Bengal	2–2	Dempo SC
Yakubu 12' I. Addo 60'		C. Antao 21' Beto 22'

---

16 April 2009

Mahindra United	2–1	Mohun Bagan AC

---

16 April 2009

Vasco Sports Club	1–4	Chirag United Sports Club

Top scorers

As of 23 March 2009

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Churchill Brothers	24
2	Jose Ramirez Barreto	Mohun Bagan	10
	Felix Chimaokwu	Churchill Brothers
4	Sunil Chhetri	East Bengal	9
	Ranty Martins Soleye	Dempo
	Chidi Edeh	Mahindra United
	Yusif Yakubu	East Bengal
8	Singam Subash Singh	Air India	7
	Sushil Kumar Singh	Mahindra United
	Kalia Kulothungan	Mumbai
	Junior Obagbemiro	Sporting Goa
12	Baichung Bhutia	Mohun Bagan	6
	Ogba Kalu Nnanna	Churchill Brothers
	Joseph Pereira	Sporting Goa

External links

• I League news and results
• I League Photos at Mango Peel