2012–13 I-League

The 2012–13 I-League was the sixth season of the I-League, the Indian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2007. The season began on 6 October 2012 and finished on 12 May 2013 with Churchill Brothers crowned champions in matchday 25.

I-League

Season	2012–13
Champions	Churchill Brothers 2nd I-League title 2nd Indian title
Relegated	Air India United Sikkim
AFC Champions League	Pune
AFC Cup	Pune Churchill Brothers
Matches played	182
Goals scored	531 (2.92 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ranti Martins (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Prayag United 10–1 United Sikkim (10 November 2012) Salgaocar 9–0 United Sikkim (13 April 2013)
Biggest away win	Air India 0–6 Pune (20 April 2013)
Highest scoring	Churchill Brothers 8–4 Sporting Goa (16 December 2012)
Longest winning run	6 games Churchill Brothers
Longest unbeaten run	10 games Churchill Brothers Mohun Bagan
Longest losing run	6 games Air India
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

Dempo were the defending champions, having won their third I-League title the previous season.

On 29 December 2012, Mohun Bagan were barred from competing in the I-League for 2 years following a decision taken by the I League core committee. This was because they failed to turn up in the second half of the match against East Bengal because of crowd trouble. All their results in the I-League were declared null and void and all their remaining fixtures were cancelled.^[1]
But on 15 January 2013, Mohun Bagan appealed the decision to ban them from the league and were reinstated, but would start on 0 points.^[2]

Teams

A total of 14 teams contested the league, including 12 sides from the 2011–12 season and two promoted from the 2012 I-League 2nd Division.

ONGC as champions and United Sikkim as runners-up secured direct promotion from the 2012 I-League 2nd Division. ONGC returned to the I-League after a one-year absence, while United Sikkim made their debut in the I-League.

Stadium Changes

Air India and Mumbai FC

Due to the ongoing redevelopment of the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai which is the regular home for Mumbai F.C. and Air India FC in the I-League both clubs will play at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, Maharashtra until it is complete.^[3]

ONGC

The newly promoted ONGC F.C. also usually play at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai but due to the redevelopment the team decided to play at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi which is where the main company, ONGC, are based. However it will only be for five home matches.^[4]

Goan clubs

The four Goan clubs in the I-League, Churchill Brothers, Dempo, Salgaocar, and Sporting Clube de Goa, usually play their I-League matches at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao. However, due to a major revamp at the stadium in preparation for the 2013 Lusophony Games which will be held in Goa, the Goan home games for the I-League will be played at the Duler Stadium and then the Tilak Maidan Stadium from the end of January.^[5]

Stadiums and Locations

United Sikkim

Pune

Shillong Lajong

Kolkata

Kolkata clubs:
East Bengal
Mohun Bagan
Palian Arrows
Prayag United

Goa

Goa clubs:
Churchill Brothers
Dempo
Salgaocar
Sporting Goa

Mumbai

Mumbai clubs:
Air India
Mumbai
ONGC

Locations of teams in the 2012–13 I-League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Air India	Mumbai, Maharashtra	Balewadi Sports Complex	22,000 #
Churchill Brothers	Salcette, Goa	Duler Stadium	6,000 #
Dempo	Panjim, Goa	Duler Stadium	6,000 #
East Bengal	Kolkata, West Bengal	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Mohun Bagan	Kolkata, West Bengal	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Mumbai	Mumbai, Maharashtra	Balewadi Sports Complex	22,000 #
ONGC	Mumbai, Maharashtra	Ambedkar Stadium	20,000 #
Pailan Arrows	Kolkata, West Bengal	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Prayag United	Kolkata, West Bengal	Salt Lake Stadium	120,000
Pune	Pune, Maharashtra	Balewadi Sports Complex	22,000
Salgaocar	Vasco da Gama, Goa	Duler Stadium	6,000 #
Shillong Lajong	Shillong, Meghalaya	Nehru Stadium	30,000
Sporting Goa	Panjim, Goa	Duler Stadium	6,000 #
United Sikkim	Gangtok, Sikkim	Paljor Stadium	25,000

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Air India	Naushad Moosa	Vijith Shetty	Air India
Churchill Brothers	Mariano Dias	Beto	Churchill
Dempo	Armando Colaco	Clifford Miranda	Dempo
East Bengal	Trevor Morgan	Sanju Pradhan	Kingfisher
Mohun Bagan	Karim Bencherifa	Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Fila
Mumbai	Khalid Jamil	Zohib Amiri	TEN HD
ONGC	Santosh Kashyap	Jatin Singh	ONGC
Pailan Arrows	Arthur Papas	Shouvik Ghosh	Poto Potato Flakes
Prayag United	Eelco Schattorie	Deepak Mondal	Prayag Group
Pune	Derrick Pereira	Pierre Douhou	Peninsula
Salgaocar	David Booth	Luciano Sabrosa	Salgaocar
Shillong Lajong	Thangboi Singto	Renedy Singh	Aircel
Sporting Goa	Oscar Bruzon	Matthew Gonsalves	Models
United Sikkim	Nathan Hall	Anwar Ali	URO

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
ONGC	Caetano Pinho	Unknown	30 April 2012	Pre-Season	Subrata Bhattacharya	30 April 2012[6]
Pailan Arrows	Sujit Chakravarty	End of tenure as interim manager	7 May 2012	Pre-Season	Arthur Papas	24 May 2012[7]
Mohun Bagan	Prasanta Banerjee	Sacked	26 May 2012	Pre-Season	Santosh Kashyap	26 May 2012[8]
Air India	Santosh Kashyap	Signed by Mohun Bagan	26 May 2012	Pre-Season	Godfrey Pereira	3 July 2012[9]
Shillong Lajong	Pradyum Reddy	Changed to a Head of Youth	8 June 2012	Pre-Season	Desmond Bulpin	8 June 2012[10]
Churchill Brothers	Carlos Roberto Pereira	Did not renew contract	7 May 2012	Pre-Season	Mariano Dias	13 July 2012[11]
Mohun Bagan	Santosh Kashyap	Resigned	13 October 2012	11th (2 games In)	Mridul Banerjee	19 October 2012[12]
Salgaocar	Karim Bencherifa	Resigned	20 October 2012	9th (2 games In)	Peter Vales	20 October 2012[13]
Prayag United	Sanjoy Sen	Resigned	8 November 2012	5th (4 games In)	Eelco Schattorie	8 November 2012[14]
Salgaocar	Peter Vales	Interem period ended	9 November 2012	9th (4 games In)	David Booth	9 November 2012[15]
United Sikkim	Philippe De Ridder	Changed Post to football director	13 November 2012	11th (5 games In)	Baichung Bhutia	13 November 2012[16]
Mohun Bagan	Mridul Banerjee	Interim period ended	19 November 2012	5th (6 games in)	Karim Bencherifa	19 November 2012[17]
Sporting Goa	Ekendra Singh	Moved to Goalkeeper Coach	3 December 2012	11th (9 games in)	Oscar Bruzon	3 December 2012[18]
United Sikkim	Baichung Bhutia	Interim period ended	10 December 2012	12th (10 games in)	Nathan Hall	10 December 2012[19]
ONGC	Subrata Bhattacharya	Sacked	18 December 2012	14th (11 games in)	Santosh Kashyap	18 December 2012[20]
Air India	Godfrey Pereira	Resigned	27 December 2012	10th (10 games in)	Anthony Fernandes	30 December 2012[21]
Shillong Lajong	Desmond Bulpin	Sacked	22 January 2013	12th (16 games in)	Thangboi Singto	22 January 2013[22]
Air India	Anthony Fernandes	Interim period ended	2 March 2013	12th (17 games in)	Naushad Moosa	2 March 2013[23]

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team could use three foreign players on the field each game including a least one player from the AFC country.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player
Air India	Henry Ezeh	Junior Obagbemiro	Amos Omeje	Mujtaba Faiz
Churchill Brothers	Beto	Henry Antchouet	Lamine Tamba	Balal Arezou
Dempo	Johnny Menyongar	Koko Sakibo	None	Ryuji Sueoka
East Bengal	Chidi Edeh	Uga Okpara	Penn Orji	Andrew Barisić
Mohun Bagan	Quinton Jacobs	Echezona Anyichie	Odafe Okolie	Tolgay Özbey
Mumbai	Evans Quao	Yusif Yakubu	David Opara	Zohib Amiri
ONGC	Eric Brown	Muritala Ali	Hassan Odeola	Katsumi Yusa
Pailan Arrows	Pailan Arrows don't use foreigners as they are a Developmental Team
Prayag United	Carlos Hernández	Ranti Martins	Bello Razaq	Kayne Vincent[nb 1]
Pune	Pierre Douhou	Chika Wali	James Moga	Boima Karpeh
Salgaocar	Josimar	Luciano Sabrosa	O. J. Obatola	John Wilkinson
Shillong Lajong	Sho Kamimura	Taisuke Matsugae	Edinho Júnior	Minchol Son
Sporting Goa	Ogba Kalu Nnanna	Ángel Berlanga	Juanfri	Seiya Sugishita
United Sikkim	John Landa	Salau Nuruddin	Pablo Rodríguez	Steve Hayes

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Churchill Brothers (C)	26	16	7	3	56	22	+34	55	Qualification for 2014 AFC Cup group stage
2	Pune	26	16	4	6	53	26	+27	52	Qualification for 2014 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off[a]
3	East Bengal	26	13	8	5	44	18	+26	47
4	Prayag United	26	13	5	8	55	35	+20	44
5	Dempo	26	11	7	8	45	33	+12	40
6	Sporting Goa	26	9	8	9	36	41	−5	35
7	Salgaocar	26	9	6	11	34	29	+5	33
8	Mumbai	26	8	8	10	36	42	−6	32
9	ONGC (R)	26	7	10	9	30	40	−10	31	Excluded[b]
10	Mohun Bagan	26	11	8	7	40	34	+6	29[c]
11	Shillong Lajong	26	6	10	10	26	40	−14	28
12	Pailan Arrows	26	6	5	15	25	45	−20	23
13	Air India (R)	26	4	7	15	28	63	−35	19	Excluded[b]
14	United Sikkim (R)	26	2	9	15	23	63	−40	15	Relegation to 2014 I-League 2nd Division

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

1. Pune were chosen to represent India in the AFC Champions League as they passed the club licensing requirements.^[24]
2. ONGC and Air India were expelled from I-League because they failed to meet Asian Football Confederation's licensing criteria.^[25]
3. On 29 December 2012, Mohun Bagan failed to turn up in the second half of the match against East Bengal due to crowd trouble; their record was expunged, with their remaining fixtures scratched, and they were banned from the I-League for until 2015 by the I-League core committee.^[26] On 15 January 2013, Mohun Bagan appealed the decision to ban them from the league and were reinstated, but would start on 0 points.^[27]

Results

Home \ Away	AI	CB	DEM	EB	MB	MUM	ONGC	PA	USC	PFC	SFC	SLFC	SCG	USFC
Air India		0–3	2–1	0–3	0–1	4–1	1–2	1–1	1–4	0–6	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–3
Churchill Brothers	3–0		2–2	0–3	1–1	3–1	5–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	2–1	6–0	8–4	2–1
Dempo	1–0	2–1		2–2	3–0	2–2	1–1	0–2	3–1	1–5	2–1	4–1	0–1	7–0
East Bengal	1–1	0–3	1–1		3–0	2–0	5–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	6–0
Mohun Bagan	3–2	0–2	2–1	0–0		3–2	3–1	2–0	1–2	1–3	3–0	2–2	3–1	0–0
Mumbai	3–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1		1–0	1–1	2–1	0–3	0–1	4–1	3–2	1–0
ONGC	2–4	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–1		3–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–1
Pailan Arrows	2–1	0–3	1–2	1–2	2–3	3–2	4–1		1–2	0–2	1–2	1–0	0–2	1–1
Prayag United	5–1	1–2	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–3	3–1	4–1		2–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	10–1
Pune	4–0	0–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	3–2	3–2	2–0	3–1		0–2	2–2	0–0	2–2
Salgaocar	4–0	0–0	1–2	1–4	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–2		2–0	1–3	9–0
Shillong Lajong	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–1	3–2	1–2	1–1		1–2	2–1
Sporting Goa	0–1	1–0	0–5	0–0	1–5	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–0		2–1
United Sikkim	5–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	0–3	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	3–2	0–0	0–3

Source: I-League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistical leaders

Top scorers As of 12 May 2013 Rank Player Club Goals 1 Ranti Martins Prayag United 26 2 Odafe Onyeka Okolie Mohun Bagan 19 3 Chidi Edeh East Bengal 18 4 James Moga Pune 16 5 Henry Antchouet Churchill Brothers 14 6 Beto Churchill Brothers 13 7 Ogba Kalu Nnanna Sporting Goa 11 Ryuji Sueoka Dempo 9 Akram Moghrabi Churchill Brothers 10 Yusif Yakubu Mumbai Tolgay Özbey Mohun Bagan

Top Indian Scorers As of 12 May 2013 Rank Player Club Goals 1 C.K. Vineeth Prayag United 7 2 Joaquim Abranches Dempo 6 Bineesh Balan Churchill Brothers Francis Fernandes Salgaocar 5 Peter Carvalho Dempo 5 Dawson Fernandes Sporting Goa Arata Izumi Pune Jeje Lalpekhlua Pune Holicharan Narzary Pailan Arrows Clifford Miranda Dempo Sushil Kumar Singh Shillong Lajong Milan Singh Pailan Arrows Lalrindika Ralte East Bengal

Hattricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Round	Date
Ranti Martins	Prayag United	Air India	5–1	1	7 October 2012
Akram Moghrabi	Churchill Brothers	ONGC	5–0	2	11 October 2012
Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Mohun Bagan	Sporting Goa	3–1	4	4 November 2012
Ranti Martins[nb 2]	Prayag United	United Sikkim	10–1	5	10 November 2012
Bineesh Balan	Churchill Brothers	Sporting Goa	8–4	11	16 December 2012
Chidi Edeh	East Bengal	Salgaocar	4–1	14	5 January 2013
Koko Sakibo	Dempo	United Sikkim	7–0	17	19 January 2013
C.K. Vineeth	Prayag United	Air India	4–1	19	2 February 2013
Odafe Onyeka Okolie	Mohun Bagan	Sporting Goa	5–1	23	7 April 2013
Josimar	Salgaocar	United Sikkim	9–0	24	13 April 2013

Notes

1. Prayag United are allowed up to four foreign players (per I-League rules), one of which must be from Asia. Despite being a New Zealander and having represented them at youth international level Kayne Vincent is considered Japanese due to his Japanese mother.
2. Martins scored 5 goals in this match.