IFA Shield

The IFA Shield is a football competition organized by the Indian Football Association, the football governing body in the Indian state of West Bengal.^[1] The IFA came into existence in 1893,^[2] and was named after the association. The IFA Shield tournament was started in the same year. It is the third oldest football tournament in India, after Durand Cup and Trades Cup, and is among the oldest football competitions in the world.^[3]

IFA Shield

Organising body	Indian Football Association (West Bengal)
Founded	1893; 132 years ago (1893)
Region	India (primarily West Bengal)
Number of teams	Various
Related competitions	Women's IFA Shield
Current champions	Real Kashmir (2nd title)
Most successful club(s)	East Bengal (29 titles)
Website	ifawb.in
2025

History

The royal houses of Patiala and Cooch Behar, A.A. Apcar of Armenian Club and J Sutherland of Dalhousie AC had financially contributed for the inception of the Shield. The coveted shield was designed by Walter Locke & Co. (Calcutta) and made by Messrs Elkington & Co. (London).^[4]

Mohun Bagan, the first all-Indian side to lift the IFA Shield.

During the initial years of the competition, the IFA Shield was dominated by British Army teams and the Royal Irish Rifles defeated W.D.R.A. to lift the first IFA Shield in 1893. However, their stranglehold over the Shield was broken in 1911,^[5] when Mohun Bagan became the first all-Indian side to win the IFA Shield by defeating East Yorkshire Regiment by 2–1.^[6][7][8] That was a historic moment for Indian football as well the struggle for independence, as the natives beat the Englishmen in their own game. While the Royal Irish Rifles remains the most successful British Army side with 5 titles, East Bengal Club has won the IFA Shield a record 29 times.

The 1949 IFA Shield won by East Bengal, the most successful club in the tournament's history.

From 2015 to 2018, the IFA Shield was designed as an youth tournament wherein youth teams of all divisions were allowed to participate.^[9] The decision was taken by IFA due to busy schedule of AIFF which includes Indian Super League, I-League, I-League 2nd Division, State leagues and Super Cup among others. In 2020, the tournament was once again organised as a senior event.^[10]

Results

Pre-independence era (1893–1946)

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Notes
1893	Royal Irish Rifles	1–0	W.D.R.A.
1894	Royal Irish Rifles (2)	2–0	Rifle Brigade
1895	Royal Welch Fusiliers	1–0	King's Shropshire Light Infantry
1896	Calcutta	3–0	King's Shropshire Light Infantry
1897	Dalhousie	4–0	31st Field Battalion
1898	Gloucestershire Regiment	1–0	42nd Highlanders
1899	South Lancashire Regiment	2–0	Barrackpore Artillery
1900	Calcutta (2)	0–0; 6–0	Dalhousie
1901	Royal Irish Rifles (3)	4–0	Black Watch
1902	93rd Highlanders	3–0	Dalhousie
1903	Calcutta (3)	0–0; 1–1; 2–1	King's Own Scottish Borderers
1904	Calcutta (4)	1–0	King's Own Royal Regiment
1905	Dalhousie (2)	4–3	Calcutta
1906	Calcutta (5)	1–0	Highland Light Infantry
1907	Highland Light Infantry	0–0; 1–0	Calcutta
1908	Gordon Highlanders	2–0	Calcutta Customs
1909	Gordon Highlanders (2)	0–0; 3–0	Calcutta Customs
1910	Gordon Highlanders (3)	0–0; 2–0	Calcutta
1911	Mohun Bagan	2–1	East Yorkshire Regiment	3
1912	Royal Irish Rifles (4)	1–0	Black Watch
1913	Royal Irish Rifles (5)	2–0	91st Highlanders
1914	King's Own Royal Regiment	1–0	Calcutta
1915	Calcutta (6)	0–0; 3–0	Calcutta Customs
1916	North Staffordshire Regiment	2–1	Calcutta
1917	10th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment	2–0	Brecknockshire Battalion
1918	Training Reserve Battalion	1–0	Signal Service Depot
1919	1st Battalion of Brecknockshire	3–1	Calcutta
1920	Black Watch	2–0	Kumartuli
1921	3rd Battalion of Brecknockshire (2)	3–1	Calcutta
1922	Calcutta (7)	1–0	Dalhousie
1923	Calcutta (8)	3–0	Mohun Bagan	[11]
1924	Calcutta (9)	5–1	23rd Brigade of Royal Engineers Association
1925	2nd Battalion of Royal Scots Fusiliers	5–1	Cheshire Regiment
1926	Sherwood Foresters	5–1	Cheshire Regiment
1927	Sherwood Foresters (2)	2–0	Dalhousie
1928	Sherwood Foresters (3)	2–0	Dalhousie
1929	2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles (6)	2–0	Rangoon Customs
1930	Seaforth Highlanders	3–0	Royal Regiment
1931	Highland Light Infantry	1–1; 2–1	Durham Light Infantry
1932	2nd Battalion Essex Regiment	2–1	Seaforth Highlanders
1933	Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry	2–1	King's Royal Rifles
1934	Tournament declared void ( King's Royal Rifles and Durham Light Infantry: 2–2)			4
1935	East Yorkshire Regiment	1–0	Royal Regiment
1936	Mohammedan	0–0; 0–0; 2–1	Calcutta
1937	6th Fire Brigade	4–1	Police
1938	East Yorkshire Regiment (2)	1–1; 1–1; 2–0	Mohammedan
1939	Police	2–1	Calcutta Customs
1940	Aryan	4–1	Mohun Bagan
1941	Mohammedan (2)	2–0	King's Own Scottish Borderers
1942	Mohammedan (3)	1–0	East Bengal
1943	East Bengal	3–0	Police
1944	Eastern Bengal Railway	1–0	East Bengal
1945	East Bengal (2)	1–0	Mohun Bagan
1946	Not held			1

Post-independence era (1947–present)

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Notes
1947	Mohun Bagan (2)	1–0	East Bengal
1948	Mohun Bagan (3)	1–1; 2–1	Bhawanipore
1949	East Bengal (3)	2–0	Mohun Bagan
1950	East Bengal (4)	3–0	Services
1951	East Bengal (5)	0–0; 2–0	Mohun Bagan
1952	Tournament declared void (Mohun Bagan and Rajasthan Club: 0–0; 2–2)
1953	Indian Culture League	0–0; 0–0; 1–1	East Bengal	5
1954	Mohun Bagan (4)	1–0	Hyderabad Sporting
1955	Rajasthan Club	0–0; 1–0	Aryan
1956	Mohun Bagan (5)	4–0	Aryan
1957	Mohammedan (4)	3–0	Railways SC
1958	East Bengal (6)	1–1; 1–0	Mohun Bagan
1959	Abandoned due to dispute over date of finals
1960	Mohun Bagan (6)	1–0	Indian Navy
1961	East Bengal (7) and Mohun Bagan (7)	0–0	–	2
1962	Mohun Bagan (8)	3–1	Hyderabad XI
1963	Bengal Nagpur Railway	1–0	Mohammedan
1964	Tournament declared void (Mohun Bagan and East Bengal: 1–1)
1965	East Bengal (8)	1–0	Mohun Bagan
1966	East Bengal (9)	1–0	Bengal Nagpur Railway
1967	Tournament declared void (Mohun Bagan and East Bengal: 0–0)
1968	Abandoned due to court injunction
1969	Mohun Bagan (9)	3–1	East Bengal
1970	East Bengal (10)	1–0	PAS Tehran
1971	Mohammedan (5)	2–0	Tollygunge Agragami	[12]
1972	East Bengal (11)	0–0; 0–1	Mohun Bagan	6
1973	East Bengal (12)	3–1	Pyongyang
1974	East Bengal (13)	1–0	Mohun Bagan
1975	East Bengal (14)	5–0	Mohun Bagan
1976	East Bengal (15) and Mohun Bagan (10)	0–0	–	2
1977	Mohun Bagan (11)	1–0	East Bengal
1978	Mohun Bagan (12) and Ararat Yerevan	2–2	–	2
1979	Mohun Bagan (13)	1–0	East Bengal
1980	Tournament abandoned
1981	Mohun Bagan (14) and East Bengal (16)	2–2	–	2
1982	Mohun Bagan (15)	2–1	Mohammedan
1983	East Bengal (17) and Aryan (2)	0–0	–	2
1984	East Bengal (18)	1–0	Mohun Bagan
1985	Peñarol	1–0	Shakhtar Donetsk
1986	East Bengal (19)	0–0 (4–2 p)	Mohun Bagan
1987	Mohun Bagan (16)	1–0	Punjab Police
1988	Not held			1
1989	Mohun Bagan (17)	1–0	Tata Football Academy
1990	East Bengal (20)	1–0	Mohammedan	7
1991	East Bengal (21)	3–1	Army XI
1992	Not held			1
1993	Pakhtakor Tashkent	1–1 (5–4 p)	Irtysh Pavlodar
1994	East Bengal (22)	2–1	Mohun Bagan
1995	East Bengal (23)	1–1 (3–1 p)	Mohammedan Dhaka
1996	JCT	1–0	Al-Karkh	[13]
1997	East Bengal (24)	3–2	Kochin
1998	Mohun Bagan (18)	2–1	East Bengal
1999	Mohun Bagan (19)	1–0	Tollygunge Agragami
2000	East Bengal (25)	1–1 (4–1 p)	Mohun Bagan
2001	East Bengal (26)	1–0	Palmeiras B	8
2002	East Bengal (27)	0–0 (5–4 p)	Churchill Brothers
2003	Mohun Bagan (20)	0–0 (5–3 p)	East Bengal
2004	Finance and Revenue	1–1 (4–2 p)	Mohun Bagan
2005	Bayern Munich II	5–1	Eveready
2006	Mahindra United	1–0	Mohun Bagan
2007	Not held			1
2008	Mahindra United (2)	3–1	Santos
2009	Churchill Brothers	2–0	Mohun Bagan
2010	Not held			1
2011	Churchill Brothers (2)	2–1	Mohun Bagan
2012	East Bengal (28)	4–2	Prayag United
2013	Prayag United	1–0	East Bengal
2014	Mohammedan (6)	1–1 (4–3 p)	Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi
2015	United U19 (2)	2–1	East Bengal U19	9
2016	Tata Football Academy	3–2 (a.e.t.)	AIFF U19	9[14]
2017	FC Pune City U19	3–0	Mohun Bagan U19	9
2018	East Bengal U19 (29)	1–1 (4–2 p)	Mohun Bagan U19	9
2019	Not held			1
2020	Real Kashmir	2–1	George Telegraph	[15]
2021	Real Kashmir (2)	2–1	Sreenidi Deccan	[16]
2022	Not held
2023	Not held
2024	Not held			[17]
2025

Notes:

1. ^ Tournament not held.

2. ^ Joint winners.

3. ^ An all-Indian side won the Shield for the first time.

4. ^ The final was abandoned due to a dispute between the finalists over extra time.^[18]

5. ^ A scheduled fourth match was scratched and Indian Culture League were awarded the Shield as East Bengal played with an unregistered player in the third match.^[19]

6. ^ The replay was abandoned due to torrential rain, but Mohun Bagan objected to a third match and refused to play: the third match was scratched and East Bengal were awarded the Shield.^[20]

7. ^ The final was abandoned at half-time after Mohammedan Sporting refused to continue, and East Bengal were awarded the Shield.^[21]

8. ^ The final was abandoned after 35 minutes after Palmeiras started a violent brawl, with Palmeiras fans also throwing chairs onto the pitch: East Bengal were awarded the Shield, and the IFA ordered that Palmeiras' results be deleted from the records.^[22][19]

9. ^ Organised as an Under-19 tournament.

Performance by teams

Performance by Indian teams

Though the tournament was dominated by the British Army teams during its initial years, yet British Indian teams too participated representing India prior to the independence, but very few were an all-Indian side. Mohun Bagan AC the first all-Indian side to win the tournament in 1911.

Top 10 Indian teams in IFA Shield

No.	Team	Championships (Latest)	Runner-ups
1	East Bengal	29 (2018)	11
2	Mohun Bagan	20 (2003)[23]	20
3	Calcutta	9 (1924)	8
4	Mohammedan	6 (2014)	4
5	Dalhousie	2 (1905)	5
6	Churchill Brothers	2 (2011)	1
	United	2 (2015)	1
8	Mahindra United	2 (2008)	0
	Real Kashmir	2 (2021)	0
10	Aryan	2 (1983)	2
	Police	1 (1939)	2

Performance by Overseas teams

• Winners:
  • FC Ararat Yerevan (1978)
  • Club Atlético Peñarol (1985)
  • Pakhtakor Tashkent FK (1993)
  • Finance and Revenue FC (2004)
  • FC Bayern Munich II (2005)

• Runners-up:
  • PAS Tehran FC (1970)
  • Pyongyang SC (1973)
  • FC Shakhtar Donetsk (1985)
  • Irtysh Pavlodar FK (1993)
  • Mohammedan SC Dhaka (1995)
  • Al-Karkh SC (1996)
  • Palmeiras B (2001)
  • Santos FC (2008)
  • Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club (2014)

Awards

Since the 123rd edition of the tournament, the awards for the Best Coach of the tournament, the Best Player of the tournament, the highest goalscorer of the tournament and Fair Play has been renamed in honour of India's football icons- P. K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami and Krishanu Dey,^[24][25] and renowned sports photojournalist – Ronojoy 'Ronny' Roy.^[26][27]

Krishanu Dey Memorial Award

As of December 2020^[update]

Year	Player	Goals	Club
2020	Abegunrin Adefemi Lukman	5	Real Kashmir
2021	Rahim Osumanu	5	Gokulam Kerala

P. K. Banerjee Memorial Award for the Best Coach

As of December 2020^[update]

Year	Head Coach	Club
2020	Ranjan Bhattacharya	George Telegraph

Chuni Goswami Memorial Award for the Best Player

As of December 2020^[update]

Year	Player	Club
2020	Mason Robertson	Real Kashmir
2021	Mason Robertson	Real Kashmir

Ronny Roy Fair Play Award

As of December 2021^[update]

Year	Club
2020	Real Kashmir FC
2021	Indian Arrows

See also

• List of oldest football competitions