2023–24 I-League 3

The 2023–24 I-League 3 was the 1st season of the I-League 3, and the national fourth tier of the Indian football league system. The top three clubs qualified for 2023–24 I-League 2.^[4][5]

I-League 3

Season	2023–24
Dates	9 November – 30 December 2023[1]
Champions	Sporting Goa[2][3]
Promoted	Sporting Goa Dempo Sporting Bengaluru
Matches played	60
Goals scored	182 (3.03 per match)
Top goalscorer	Arif Shaikh (5 goals)
Biggest win	Sporting Goa 10–0 New Friends Club (13 November)
Highest scoring	Sporting Goa 10–0 New Friends Club (13 November)
Total attendance	18,580
Average attendance	309
2024–25 →

Clubs

Main article: 2022–23 Indian State Leagues

On 22 August 2023, 15 clubs were nominated for the I-League 3rd Division by nine state FAs (Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Mumbai).^[6][7][8] Nominations from 10 other states (Manipur, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Kerala, Pondicherry, Sikkim, Assam, Odisha, Telangana, and West Bengal) were assessed after due diligence.^[9]

ARA

Baroda

Millat

Kerala United

RKM

New Friends

Lake City

Bhawanipore

Diamond Harbour

Doaba United

International

Jaipur Elite

Sports Odisha

KLASA

KIYC

Chirang Duar

Rangdajied

Abbas Union

JIT

Delhi

Delhi clubs
Vatika
Garhwal

Bengaluru

Bengaluru clubs
Sporting Bengaluru
Kickstart

Goa

Goa clubs
Dempo
Sporting Goa

Locations of 2023-24 I-League 3 Group stage clubs

Group A Group B Group C Group D

Group E

No.	Club	City	State	League	Position
1	RKM	Narayanpur	Chhattisgarh	2023 Chhattisgarh State Men's Football League Championship	1st
2	New Friends	Bade Bacheli			2nd
3	Vatika	New Delhi	Delhi	2022–23 Delhi Premier League	1st
4	Garhwal				3rd
5	Dempo	Panaji	Goa	2022–23 Goa Professional League	1st
6	Sporting Goa				2nd
7	Baroda	Vadodara	Gujarat	2022–23 Gujarat SFA Club Championship	1st
8	ARA	Ahemedabad			2nd
9	Sporting Bengaluru	Bengaluru	Karnataka	2022–23 Bangalore Super Division	1st
10	Kickstart				3rd
11	Lake City	Bhopal	Madhya Pradesh	2022–23 Madhya Pradesh Premier League	1st
12	International	Phagwara	Punjab	2022 Punjab State Super Football League	3rd
13	Doaba United	Jalandhar			4th
14	Jaipur Elite	Jaipur	Rajasthan	2022 R-League A Division	1st
15	Millat	Mumbai	Maharashtra	2022–23 MFA Elite Division	3rd
16	Bhawanipore	Kolkata	West Bengal	2022 Calcutta Premier Division	2nd
17	Diamond Harbour	Diamond Harbour		2022 Calcutta First Division	3rd
18	Kerala United	Malappuram	Kerala	2022–23 Kerala Premier League	Champions[a]
19	Rangdajied United	Shillong	Meghalaya	2022-23 Meghalaya State League	1st
20	KLASA	Bishnupur	Manipur	2022 Manipur State League	Champions[a]
21	KIYC	Imphal			Semifinalist[a]
22	United Chirang Duar	Chirang	Assam	2023 ATPA Shield	Champions[b]
23	Sports Odisha	Cuttack	Odisha	2023 FAO Super Cup	Champions[a]
24	Abbas Union	Hyderabad	Telangana	Rahim League “A” Division	-
25	Jeppiaar Institute of Technology	Pondicherry	Pondicherry	Pondicherry Men's League Championship	-

1. The club qualified via a cup or knock-out tournament after the conclusion of the league stage
2. No state or district league conducted.

Venues

Group	City	Stadium	Capacity
A	Bhopal	Jagran Lakecity University Stadium	1,800
B	Vadodra	VMC Sports Complex	3,500
C	Panjim	Dempo Academy Ground	500
D	Bangalore	Bangalore Football Stadium	8,400
		HAL Sports Club Ground	2,000
E	Narainpur	Ramakrishna Mission Sports Complex	1,000
Playoffs	Vasco	Tilak Maidan	5,000
	Nagoa	Nagoa Ground	1,000

Changes from last season

Until the previous season, the AIFF allowed only state champions to feature in the qualifiers, but with the removal of the ISL reserve teams^[10] and the creation of the I-League 3 from where teams would move to I-League 2 in the same season, state FAs were allowed to nominate a second team.^[11]

Group stage

25 teams are divided into five groups of five each. Each team will play the teams in the same group in single-legged fixtures.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SPG	LKC	INT	ARA	NFC
1	Sporting Goa	4	3	1	0	13	0	+13	10	Advanced to Play-offs					2–0
2	Lake City (H)	4	2	2	0	10	4	+6	8	Relegated to State leagues		0–0				7–2
3	International	4	2	0	2	5	3	+2	6			0–1	1–2
4	ARA	4	1	1	2	7	4	+3	4				1–1	0–1
5	New Friends	4	0	0	4	2	26	−24	0			0–10		0–3	0–6

Source: i-league.org The Away End^[12]
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KLA	ODI	CHD	BAR	JPE
1	KLASA	4	3	1	0	4	1	+3	10	Advanced to Play-offs				2–1
2	Sports Odisha	4	2	1	1	6	3	+3	7	Relegated to State leagues		0–1		1–1		3–1
3	United Chirang Duar	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5						2–1	1–1
4	Baroda (H)	4	1	0	3	3	5	−2	3			0–1	0–2
5	Jaipur Elite	4	0	2	2	2	6	−4	2			0–0			0–2

Source: i-league.org The Away End^[13]
(H) Hosts

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		DEM	RGD	KST	JIT	MIL
1	Dempo (H)	4	3	1	0	5	0	+5	10	Advanced to Play-offs				2–0	2–0
2	Rangdajied United	4	2	2	0	8	2	+6	8	Relegated to State leagues		0–0				5–0
3	Kickstart	4	2	1	1	15	4	+11	7				2–2		7–0	6–0
4	JIT	4	1	0	3	2	11	−9	3				0–1
5	Millat	4	0	0	4	1	14	−13	0			0–1			1–2

Source: i-league.org The Away End^[14]
(H) Hosts

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SCB	DHB	VAT	DUN	ABU
1	Sporting Bengaluru (H)	4	3	1	0	13	3	+10	10	Advanced to Play-offs					6–0	3–1
2	Diamond Harbour	4	3	1	0	8	2	+6	10	Relegated to State leagues		2–2		3–0
3	Vatika	4	2	0	2	5	7	−2	6			0–2				3–2
4	Doaba United	4	1	0	3	3	11	−8	3				0–2	0–2		3–1
5	Abbas Union	4	0	0	4	4	10	−6	0				0–1

Source: i-league.org The Away End
(H) Hosts

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KUN	BHW	GRH	KYC	RKM
1	Kerala United	4	2	2	0	10	6	+4	8	Advanced to Play-offs				3–0		2–1
2	Bhawanipore	4	2	1	1	8	6	+2	7	Relegated to State leagues		3–3		0–1	2–1
3	Garhwal	4	2	0	2	5	8	−3	6						1–4
4	KIYC	4	1	1	2	8	7	+1	4			2–2				1–2
5	RKM (H)	4	1	0	3	5	9	−4	3				1–3	1–3

Source: i-league.org The Away End^[15]
(H) Hosts

Play-offs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion		SPG	DEM	SCB	KUN	KLA
1	Sporting Goa (C, H)	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1	7	Promoted to I-League 2			1–0	1–0
2	Dempo (H)	4	2	1	1	6	2	+4	7					1–1	1–0	4–0
3	Sporting Bengaluru	4	2	1	1	6	5	+1	7						2–1
4	Kerala United	4	2	0	2	5	5	0	6			2–1				2–1
5	KLASA	4	0	1	3	4	10	−6	1			1–1		2–3

Updated to match(es) played on 30 December 2023. Source: ^[16][17]
(C) Champions; (H) Hosts

Broadcast

Matches are broadcast by AIFF, SportsKPI SportsCast India on their official YouTube channels.^[18][19]

Statistics

30 December 2023

Top scorers

Bold indicates the player is currently active in the tournament.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[20]
1	Arif Shaikh	Sporting Bengaluru	5
2	Khanngam Horam	Kickstart	4
	Bijoy ghosh	KIYC
	Lloyd Cardozo	Sporting Goa
5	14 Players		3

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Bhaskar Jalmi	Sporting Goa	6
2	Wellyster Mendes	Dempo	4
3	Golmei Rongmei	KLASA	3
	Susnata Malik	Diamond Harbour
5	Dylan D'Silva	Dempo	2
	Banshanskhem Kharsyntiew	Rangdajied United
	Kabir Toufik	Kickstart

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 4
  • Dhiraj Chouhan
• Most red cards: 1
  • 6 players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 18
  • Sporting Bengaluru
• Most red cards: 2
  • Kerala United

Attendances

Group Stage

Match No.	Group A		Match No.	Group B		Match No.	Group C
	Fixture	Attendance		Fixture	Attendance		Fixture	Attendance
1	Lake City-Sporting Goa	200	1	Baroda-KLASA	350	1	Dempo-JIT	100
2	ARA-International	50	2	United Chirang Duar-Jaipur Elite	175	2	Rangdajied United-Millat	100
3	New Friends-ARA	20	3	Sports Odisha-United Chirang Duar	75	3	Kickstart-Rangdajied United	100
4	International-Sporting Goa	20	4	Jaipur Elite-KLASA	375	4	Millat-JIT	50
5	International-Lake City	10	5	Jaipur Elite-Baroda	250	5	Millat-Dempo	100
6	New Friends-Sporting Goa	10	6	Sports Odisha-KLASA	180	6	Kickstart-JIT	50
7	Sporting Goa-ARA	10	7	KLASA-United Chirang Duar	280	7	JIT-Rangdajied United	50
8	Lake City-New Friends	10	8	Baroda-Sports Odisha	315	8	Dempo-Kickstart	100
9	New Friends-International	10	9	Sports Odisha-Jaipur Elite	45	9	Kickstart-Millat	50
10	ARA -Lake City	20	10	United Chirang Duar-Baroda	65	10	Rangdajied United-Dempo	100
Group A Total		360	Group B Total		2,110	Group C Total		800
Match No.	Group D		Match No.	Group E
	Fixture	Attendance		Fixture	Attendance
1	Diamond Harbour-Vatika	120	1	RKM-Garhwal	3,100
2	Sporting Bengaluru-Abbas Union	180	2	KIYC-Kerala United	1,600
3	Doaba United-Diamond Harbour	75	3	Garhwal-KIYC	800
4	Vatika-Abbas Union	250	4	RKM-Bhawanipore	2,100
5	Doaba United-Abbas Union	250	5	Kerala United-RKM	1,100
6	Vatika-Sporting Bengaluru	50	6	Bhawanipore-Garhwal	800
7	Abbas Union-Diamond Harbour	75	7	Bhawanipore-KIYC	400
8	Sporting Bengaluru-Doaba United	50	8	Kerala United-Garhwal	500
9	Doaba United-Vatika	60	9	Bhawanipore-Kerala United	800
10	Diamond Harbour-Sporting Bengaluru	150	10	KIYC-RKM	1,100
Group D Total		1,260	Group E Total		12,300

Playoffs

Match No.	Playoffs
	Fixture	Attendance
1	Sporting Goa-Sporting Bengaluru	50
2	Kerala United-KLASA	150
3	Dempo-Kerala United	150
4	KLASA-Sporting Bengaluru	250
5	KLASA-Sporting Goa	100
6	Dempo-Sporting Bengaluru	250
7	Sporting Bengaluru-Kerala United	50
8	Sporting Goa-Dempo	250
9	Dempo-KLASA	250
10	Kerala United-Sporting Goa	250
Total		1,750

Source: I-League

See also

• Men
  • 2023–24 Indian Super League (Tier I)
  • 2023–24 I-League (Tier II)
  • 2023–24 I-League 2 (Tier III)
  • 2023–24 Indian State Leagues (Tier V)
  • 2023 Durand Cup
  • 2024 Super Cup
  • 2024 Reliance Foundation Development League
• Women
  • 2023–24 Indian Women's League
  • 2023–24 Indian Women's League 2