NEW DELHI: I-League, the country’s second division football league, has officially been rebranded as the Indian Football League, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced on Thursday.
“The All India Football Federation’s Executive Committee, in an online meeting on Thursday, approved the rebranding of the I-League to the Indian Football League from the 2025-26 season,” AIFF posted on its official X account.
The I-League, which was launched in 2007 as the top tier league, was officially demoted to second division status in the 2022-23 season. Ahead of the 2025-26 season, which is slated to kick-off on February 21, the club owners along with the AIFF proposed for a name change in a press conference last month.
“There has been a negativity surrounding the I-League, so we wanted to usher in a new era,” Arshad Shawl, the owner of Real Kashmir FC, told Sportstar. “We wanted to give it a shape, a structure. This has been a league that’s been around for many years, this is the league that created the club culture in India. Considering the issues we have faced in Indian football recently, we wanted to give it a professional look.” Agencies
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