2016–17 I-League U18

The 2016–17 I-League U18 was the ninth season of the Indian I-League U18 and the second season of the competition as an under-18 one. The season began on 15 November with 35 teams divided into eight groups across India. The top 12 teams played in the final group stage in which they were divided into three groups of four and the top team from each group, along with the top second place team, went into the semi-finals, followed by the final.^[1] AIFF Elite Academy won the title by defeating East Bengal F.C. in the final.

I-League U18

Season	2016–17
Champions	AIFF Elite Academy
Matches played	139
Goals scored	445 (3.2 per match)
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

Teams

Kolkata	Maharashtra	Shillong–Guwahati	Delhi	Goa	Rest of India A, B, or C
East Bengal	DSK Shivajians	Gauhati Town Club	Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools	AIFF Elite Academy	Aizawl Bengaluru FC Fateh Hyderabad J&K Bank Lonestar Kashmir Minerva Academy NEROCA Ozone Pride Sports Real Kashmir Tata Football Academy
Mohun Bagan	Kenkre	Rangdajied United	Delhi United	Dempo
Mohammedan	Mumbai	Royal Wahingdoh	Hindustan	Salgaocar
SAI Kolkata	PIFA	SAI Guwahati	Sudeva Moonlight	Sporting Goa
Southern Samity	Pune City	Shillong Lajong
United

First round

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine the rankings: Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the Teams concerned Goal difference resulting from the matches between the Teams concerned Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the Teams concerned Goal difference in all the matches Greater number of goals scored in all the matches Drawing of lots

Kolkata zone

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MB	EB	USC	SAI	MSC	SS
1	Mohun Bagan[a]	10	7	2	1	17	5	+12	23			—	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	5–1
2	East Bengal	10	7	2	1	14	2	+12	23	Advance to final round		1–0	—	0–0	2–0	3–0	2–0
3	United	10	6	1	3	18	10	+8	19			0–1	0–1	—	4–3	2–1	3–2
4	SAI Kolkata	10	3	3	4	13	11	+2	12			1–1	1–0	0–1	—	0–0	2–0
5	Mohammedan	10	1	2	7	5	12	−7	5			0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	—	0–1
6	Southern Samity	10	1	0	9	5	32	−27	3			0–3	0–3	0–6	1–5	0–3	—

Source: I-league
Notes:

1. Mohun Bagan disqualified for fielding over-age player.^[2]

Maharashtra zone

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PC	DSK	MFC	KSC	PIFA
1	Pune City	8	8	0	0	30	3	+27	24	Advance to final round		—	3–0	2–1	7–0	5–0
2	DSK Shivajians	8	5	1	2	33	10	+23	16			1–2	—	4–1	1–1	6–0
3	Mumbai	8	3	1	4	16	15	+1	10			1–1	1–5	—	2–0	6–0
4	Kenkre	8	2	2	4	11	23	−12	8			1–3	1–10	0–0	—	3–0
5	PIFA	8	0	0	8	2	44	−42	0			0–8	1–6	1–5	0–5	—

Source: I-league

Shillong–Guwahati zone

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RW	SL	GT	RU	SAI
1	Royal Wahingdoh	8	7	1	0	25	4	+21	22	Advance to final round		—	5–1	2–0	4–0	3–2
2	Shillong Lajong	8	5	0	3	11	10	+1	15			0–3	—	2–0	0–1	4–1
3	Gauhati Town	8	3	1	4	7	10	−3	10			0–3	0–1	—	1–1	1–0
4	Rangdajied United	8	1	4	3	7	14	−7	7			0–0	0–2	1–3	—	2–2
5	SAI Guwahati	8	0	2	6	8	20	−12	2			1–5	0–1	0–2	2–2	—

Source: I-league

Goa zone

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AIFF	SAL	DSC	SCG
1	AIFF Academy	6	5	0	1	16	3	+13	15	Advance to final round		—	1–2	8–0	3–1
2	Salgaocar	6	3	1	2	11	7	+4	10			0–1	—	2–2	2–3
3	Dempo	6	1	2	3	3	14	−11	5			0–2	0–2	—	1–0
4	SC Goa	6	1	1	4	4	10	−6	4			0–1	0–3	0–0	—

Source: I-league

Delhi zone

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]		BBFS	SDV	HIN	DU
1	Bhaichung Bhutia FS	6	4	0	2	10	13	−3	12	Advance to final round		—	3–2	2–1	2–8
2	Sudeva Moonlight	6	3	1	2	12	7	+5	10			1–0	—	0–1	2–0
3	Hindustan	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10			1–2	2–2	—	2–0
4	Delhi United	6	1	0	5	9	13	−4	3			0–1	1–5	0–1	—

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at Ambedkar Stadium.

Rest of India – Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]		BFC	OZ	FH
1	Bengaluru FC	4	3	1	0	17	1	+16	10	Advance to final round		—	0–0	7–0
2	Ozone FC	4	1	1	2	7	8	−1	4			1–5	—	0–3
3	Fateh Hyderabad	4	1	0	3	3	18	−15	3			0–5	0–6	—

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at Bangalore Football Stadium.

Rest of India – Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]		TFA	AFC	NER	PS
1	Tata Football Academy	6	3	3	0	7	3	+4	12	Advance to final round		—	0–0	3–1	1–1
2	Aizawl	6	3	1	2	12	4	+8	10			0–1	—	0–1	5–0
3	NEROCA	6	3	1	2	8	9	−1	10			1–1	1–4	—	2–0
4	Pride Sports	6	0	1	5	3	14	−11	1			0–1	1–3	1–2	—

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at JRD Tata Sports Complex.

Rest of India – Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]		MIN	RK	LK	JKB
1	Minerva Punjab	3	3	0	0	9	3	+6	9	Advance to final round		—	3–1	1–0	5–2
2	Real Kashmir	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6				—	6–1	3–1
3	Lonestar Kashmir	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3					—	2–1
4	J&K Bank	3	0	0	3	4	10	−6	0						—

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at Ambedkar Stadium.

Final round

Main article: 2016–17 I-League U18 Final Round

Final round will feature 12 teams qualified from first round. The teams are drawn into three groups of four teams. Three group winners and one best second placed team enter semifinal.^[1]

Groups

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]
1	United	3	3	0	0	17	3	+14	9	Advance to semifinal
2	Salgaocar	3	2	0	1	14	9	+5	6
3	Royal Wahingdoh	3	1	0	2	4	7	−3	3
4	Bhaichung Bhutia FS	3	0	0	3	3	19	−16	0

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at Kalyani Stadium, Kolkata.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]
1	East Bengal	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Advance to semifinal
2	Pune City	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6
3	Tata Football Academy	3	1	0	2	1	2	−1	3
4	Shillong Lajong	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at East Bengal Ground, Kolkata.

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification[a]
1	AIFF Academy	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6	Advance to semifinal
2	DSK Shivajians	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4[b]
3	Bengaluru FC	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4[b]
4	Minerva Punjab	3	1	0	2	5	8	−3	3

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. All games played at Barasat Stadium, Kolkata.
2. DSK Shivajians head of Bengaluru FC on number of goals scored, head-to-head record and goal-difference being the same.

Ranking of runner-up teams

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Salgaocar	3	2	0	1	14	9	+5	6[a]	Advance to semifinal
2	B	Pune City	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6[a]
3	C	DSK Shivajians	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4

Source: U-18 I-league
Notes:

1. Salgaocar ahead of Pune City on goal-difference

Knock–out stage

Bracket

	Semi-Finals					Final
	United		0 (12)
	AIFF Academy		0 (13)
						AIFF Academy		2
						East Bengal		1
	East Bengal		3
	Salgaocar		2			Third Place

Semi-finals

United	0–0	AIFF Academy
	Report
Penalties
	12–13

5 May 2017

09:00 IST

Barasat Stadium, Kolkata

Attendance: 100

Referee: Valenton Raphael Fernandes

East Bengal	3–2	Salgaocar
Bidyashagar Singh 14' Suranjit Singh 43', 60'	Report	Andrus John 80' Liston Colaco 86'

5 May 2017

15:30 IST

Barasat Stadium, Kolkata

Attendance: 500

Referee: Ravindra Thapliyal

Final

AIFF Academy	2–1	East Bengal
Lalengmawia 15' Namgyal Bhutia 42'	Report	Bidyashagar Singh 14'

7 May 2017

15:30 IST

Barasat Stadium, Kolkata

Attendance: 1000

Referee: Valenton Raphael Fernandes

Statistics

Top Scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Liston Colaco	Salgaocar	16
2	Lalawmpuia	DSK Shivajians	14
3	Dipankar Baral	United	10
	Sandip Bhattacharjee	United
5	Lalcchanhima	East Bengal	8
	Kh. Tajuddin	Royal Wahingdoh
7	Sirandeep Moran	Royal Wahingdoh	7
	Pranjal Bhumij	DSK Shivajians
	Mohammad Asrar Rehbar	Real Kashmir
10	Bidyashagar Singh	East Bengal	6