Tamil Nadu Football Association

The Tamil Nadu Football Association (also known as Tamilnadu; abbreviated as TNFA), formerly the Madras Football Association, is one of the 36 Indian state football associations that are affiliated with the All India Football Federation. The TNFA administers football in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.^[3] It sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's National Football Championship.

Tamil Nadu Football Association

Sport	Football
Jurisdiction	Tamil Nadu
Membership	38 district association
Abbreviation	TNFA
Founded	1934; 90 years ago (1934) (as Madras Football Association)[1]
Affiliation	All India Football Federation (AIFF)
Headquarters	Chennai
President	Jesiah Villavarayar[2]

History

The first football tournament in Madras was held in 1894 with 10 teams from all over the country.^[4] From the year 1895, the Madras Gymkhana Club hosted an annual tournament. The winning team gets the EK Chetty Cup. Regimental units like Queens Own Regiment, Lancashire Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion the Dorsetshire Regiment, and 5th Field Battery - Royal Regiment of Artillery participated in the tournament. The EK Chetty Cup was won by regimental teams till 1933. The Pachaiyappa High School became the first Indian and non-military team to win it. The South Indian Athletic Association instituted the Jatprole Cup tournament.^[5]

Madras Football Association was formed on 5 January 1934, following drafting of the constitution on 26 October 1933, with jurisdiction for the whole of the original undivided state of Madras, including the present Andhra and Kerala states, by the members of the Madras United Club - a body founded by sport loving Indians.^[6] Madras Football Association league championship was started in 1934. Pachaiyappa's football club won the inaugural 1934–35 league championship. The MFA started conducting the First division league from 1936, and the Second division from 1937. In the year of 1978, Madras city clubs formed a separate association under Chennai Football Association. renaming the state federation as the Tamil Nadu Football Association.^[7]

N. Vittal served as the president of Tamil Nadu Football Association. He also served as the vice-president of All India Football Federation. T.R. Govindarajan served as the secretary of the TNFA.^[8]

Some of the tournaments conducted by the TNFA are Tamil Nadu State League,^[9][10][11] Vittal Trophy,^[12] Champions Trophy - Universal Cup,^[13] and TFA Shield.^[14] At present, all these three tournaments are not conducted.^[15] The major leagues in the Tamil Nadu happen in districts like Chennai and Madurai. Chennai district league (Chennai Super League)^[16][17] is conducted by Chennai Football Association (CFA), and the Madurai district league by Madurai District Football Association. The Tiruvallur District Football Association conducted the Don Bosco - Fr. McFerran Trophy All India football tournament sanctioned by the Tamil Nadu Football Association and All India Football Federation (AIFF).^[18]

State teams

Men Tamil Nadu football team Tamil Nadu under-20 football team Tamil Nadu under-15 football team Tamil Nadu under-13 football team

Women Tamil Nadu women's football team Tamil Nadu women's under-19 football team Tamil Nadu women's under-17 football team

Affiliated district associations

All 38 districts of Tamil Nadu are affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Football Association.

No.	Association	District	President
1	Ariyalur District Football Association	Ariyalur
2	Chengalpattu District Football Association	Chengalpattu
3	Chennai Football Association	Chennai
4	Coimbatore district Football Association	Coimbatore
5	Cuddalore district Football Association	Cuddalore
6	Dharmapuri district Football Association	Dharmapuri
7	Dindigul district Football Association	Dindigul
8	Erode district Football Association	Erode
9	Kallakurichi district Football Association	Kallakurichi
10	Kancheepuram district Football Association	Kancheepuram
11	Kanyakumari district Football Association	Kanyakumari
12	Karur district Football Association	Karur
13	Krishnagiri district Football Association	Krishnagiri
14	Madurai district Football Association	Madurai
15	Mayiladuthurai district Football Association	Mayiladuthurai
16	Nagapattinam district Football Association	Nagapattinam
17	Namakkal district Football Association	Namakkal
18	Nilgiris district Football Association	Nilgiris
19	Perambalur district Football Association	Perambalur
20	Pudukkottai district Football Association	Pudukkottai
21	Ramanathapuram district Football Association	Ramanathapuram
22	Ranipet district Football Association	Ranipet
23	Salem district Football Association	Salem
24	Sivaganga district Football Association	Sivaganga
25	Tenkasi district Football Association	Tenkasi
26	Thanjavur district Football Association	Thanjavur
27	Theni district Football Association	Theni
28	Thoothukudi district Football Association	Thoothukudi
29	Tiruchirappalli district Football Association	Tiruchirappalli
30	Tirunelveli district Football Association	Tirunelveli
31	Tirupathur district Football Association	Tirupathur
32	Tiruppur district Football Association	Tiruppur
33	Tiruvallur district Football Association	Tiruvallur
34	Tiruvannamalai district Football Association	Tiruvannamalai
35	Tiruvarur district Football Association	Tiruvarur
36	Vellore district Football Association	Vellore
37	Viluppuram district Football Association	Viluppuram
38	Virudhunagar district Football Association	Virudhunagar

Competitions

Club level

Men's Chennai Football League Tamil Nadu State League TFA Shield Vittal Trophy

Women's Tamil Nadu Women's League

Tamil Nadu Football League pyramid

Chennai Football League
Tier	Division
1 (Level 5 on Indian football pyramid)	CFA Senior Division ↑promote (I-League 3) ↓relegate
2 (Level 6 on Indian football pyramid)	CFA First Division ↑promote ↓relegate
3 (Level 7 on Indian football pyramid)	CFA Second Division ↑promote ↓relegate
4 (Level 8 on Indian football pyramid)	CFA Third Division ↑promote ↓relegate
5 (Level 9 on Indian football pyramid)	CFA Fourth Division ↑promote

See also

• Football in India

References

1. Kausik Bandyopadhyay (29 November 2020). Scoring Off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911–80. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000084054. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
2. Football Association, Tamilnadu. "State Associations". Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
3. "All India Football Federation – About AIFF – State Associations". AIFF. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
4. V, Sriram (June 2014). "When football came to Madras". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
5. Jitendran, Nikhil. "Chennai's football debt to the Madras Gymkhana Club". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
6. Musings, Madras. "Snippets from the MUC's Centenary Souvenir".
7. "CFA Senior Division". The Away End. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
8. Frederick, Prince (June 2011). "Memories of Madras - In a league of its own". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
9. 4th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament 2004 Archived 2 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine indianfootball.de. Retrieved 16 August 2021
10. 5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament 2005/06 Archived 2 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine indianfootball.de. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
11. 6th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament 2007 Archived 16 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine indianfootball.de. Retrieved 16 August 2021
12. Venkatesan, S. Prasanna (May 2018). "The lost glory of Chennai's football league". Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2018. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
13. K., Keerthivasan (April 2016). "Champions Trophy to be back in Chennai". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
14. Naveen (20 March 2013). "Football in Chennai – On a slippery surface". www.sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
15. Muralidharan, Ashwin. "All you need to know about the league structure in Tamil Nadu". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
16. India regional tournaments 1997/98 Archived 23 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine Rsssf. Retrieved 16 August 2021
17. "India 2005 Regional Championships". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
18. Matthews, Dominic. "Don Bosco – Fr. McFerran Trophy All India Football Tournament 2018". Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.

External links

• Tamil Nadu Football Association at the AIFF official website