2019–20 I-League

The 2019–20 I-League (Officially known as Hero I-League, due to sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of the I-League, one of the top Indian professional football leagues, since its establishment in 2007. A total of 11 teams competed in the league.

I-League

Season	2019–20
Dates	30 November 2019 - 14 March 2020[1]
Champions	Mohun Bagan 2nd I-League title 5th Indian title
AFC Cup	Mohun Bagan
Matches played	87 (Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
Goals scored	187 (2.15 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dipanda Dicka (12 goals)
Biggest home win	NEROCA 5−0 TRAU (8 February 2020)
Biggest away win	NEROCA 1−4 East Bengal (10 December 2019) NEROCA 0−3 Mohun Bagan (23 January 2020) Churchill Brothers 0−3 Mohun Bagan (22 February 2020)
Highest scoring	Mohun Bagan 6−2 NEROCA (14 February 2020)
Longest winning run	Mohun Bagan (7 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Mohun Bagan (14 games)
Longest winless run	Aizawl TRAU (5 games)
Longest losing run	TRAU Indian Arrows East Bengal NEROCA (3 games)
Highest attendance	63,756 Mohun Bagan 2–1 East Bengal (19 January 2020)
Lowest attendance	150 Indian Arrows 1–1 Real Kashmir (26 January 2020)
Total attendance	459,885
Average attendance	9,017
← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 18 April 2020. Season concluded with matches remaining due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Chennai City were the defending champions, having won the previous season.^[2] TRAU joined as a promoted club from the I-League 2nd Division.^[3] Shillong Lajong were relegated from the I-League last season and will play in the second division in the 2019–20 season.^[4] 2017-18 champion Minerva Punjab played as Punjab from this season as the club was renamed on 30 October 2019.^[5]

On 18 April 2020, All India Football Federation, the organising body of the league announced Mohun Bagan as champions and decided to cancel the remaining matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No team was relegated, and the remaining prize money (apart from the champion's prize money) was equally divided among the 10 teams.^[1]

Changes from last season

Promoted clubs

Promoted from the 2018–19 I-League 2nd Division

• TRAU

Relegated clubs

Relegated from the 2018–19 I-League

• Shillong Lajong

Teams

Aizawl

Chennai City

Churchill Brothers

Gokulam Kerala

Indian Arrows

Punjab

Imphal

Imphal teams
NEROCA
TRAU

Real Kashmir

Kolkata

Kolkata teams
East Bengal
Mohun Bagan

Locations of the I-League clubs

Stadiums and locations

Team	City/State	Stadium[6]	Capacity
Aizawl	Aizawl, Mizoram	Rajiv Gandhi Stadium	20,000
Chennai City	Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	30,000
Churchill Brothers	Margao, Goa	Fatorda Stadium	20,000
Gokulam Kerala	Calicut, Kerala	Kozhikode EMS Stadium	80,000
Indian Arrows	Vasco da Gama, Goa	Tilak Maidan Stadium	5,000
	Mumbai, Maharashtra	Cooperage Ground	5,000
Mohun Bagan	Kalyani, West Bengal	Kalyani Stadium	20,000
	Kolkata, West Bengal	Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan[derby 1]	85,000
NEROCA	Imphal, Manipur	Khuman Lampak Main Stadium	35,000
Punjab	Panchkula, Chandigarh	Guru Nanak Stadium	10,000
East Bengal	Kalyani, West Bengal	Kalyani Stadium	20,000
	Kolkata, West Bengal	Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan[EB 1]	85,000
Real Kashmir	Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir	TRC Turf Ground	15,000
TRAU	Imphal, Manipur	Khuman Lampak Main Stadium	35,000

1. Kolkata Derby only

1. Four home matches against Chennai City, Churchill Brothers, NEROCA and the Kolkata Derby.

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head coach	Captain	Sponsor	Kit Manufacturer
Aizawl	Stanley Rozario	Alfred Jaryan	NECS Limited	Vamos
Chennai City	Akbar Nawas	Roberto Eslava	—	Uhlsport[7]
Churchill Brothers	Bernardo Tavares	Willis Plaza	Churchill	Nivia
Gokulam Kerala	Fernando Santiago Varela	Marcus Joseph	Sree Gokulam Group	Kaizen
Indian Arrows	Shanmugam Venkatesh	Vikram Pratap Singh	Hero MotoCorp	Six5Six
Mohun Bagan	Kibu Vicuña	Dhanachandra Singh	—	Shiv Naresh
NEROCA	Gift Raikhan	Marvin Phillip	Living 3D	Vicky Transform
Punjab	Yan Law	Sanju Pradhan	Apollo Tyres	Spartan[8]
East Bengal	Mario Rivera Campesino	Lalrindika Ralte	Quess Corp	Kaizen
Real Kashmir	David Robertson	Loveday Enyinnaya	J&K Bank	Adidas
TRAU	L.Nandakumar Singh	Oguchi Uche	Aciesta	Nivia

• Note: N/A- Not Announced

Head coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Position in table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
Churchill Brothers	Petre Gigiu	Contract finished	Pre-season	Edward Ansah	16 May 2019[9]
Mohun Bagan	Khalid Jamil	Contract finished		Kibu Vicuña	10 May 2019 [10]
Gokulam Kerala	Gift Raikhan	Contract finished		Fernando Andres Santiago	1 July 2019[11]
NEROCA	Manuel Retamero Fraile	Contract finished		Gift Raikhan	1 July 2019[12]
Punjab	Sachin Badadhe	End of caretaker spell		Yan Law	1 July 2019
TRAU	L.Nandakumar Singh	Promoted to Technical Director		Dimitris Dimitriou	18 September 2019
Churchill Brothers	Edward Ansah	Demoted to Assistant Coach		Bernardo Tavares	28 November 2019
TRAU	Dimitris Dimitriou	Resigned		Douglas Silva	29 November 2019
	Douglas Silva	Resigned	3rd	L Nandkumar Singh	22 December 2019
	L Nandkumar Singh	Moved as Technical Director	3rd	Dimitris Dimitriou	2 January 2020[13]
East Bengal	Alejandro Menendez	Resigned	6th	Mario Rivera Campesino	23 January 2020[14]
TRAU	Dimitris Dimitriou	Sacked	3rd	—

Transfers

Further information: List of 2019–20 I-League season roster changes

Foreign players

Maximum 6 foreign players per team. Indian Arrows cannot sign any foreign players as they are the All India Football Federation developmental team.

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6
Aizawl	Matías Verón	Joseph Adjei	Alfred Jaryan	Abdoulaye Kanouté	Justice Morgan	Richard Kasagga
Chennai City	Katsumi Yusa	Jan Muzangu	Roberto Eslava	Adolfo Miranda	Sandro Rodríguez	Nauzet Santana
Churchill Brothers	Dawda Ceesay	Kalif Alhassan	Sócrates Pedro	Radanfah Abu Bakr	Willis Plaza	Robert Primus
East Bengal	Jhonny Acosta	Kassim Aidara	Jaimie Santos Colado	Marcos Jiménez Espada	Juan Mera	Víctor Pérez
Gokulam Kerala	Zohib Islam Amiri	Atuheire Kipson	Andre Ettienne	Nathaniel Garcia	Marcus Joseph	Henry Kisekka
Mohun Bagan	Baba Diawara	Joseba Beitia	Fran González	Fran Morante	Komron Tursunov	Daneil Cyrus
NEROCA	Philip Adjah Tetteh	Attila Busai	Boubacar Diarra	Ousmane Diawara	Marvin Phillip	Taryk Sampson
Punjab	Sérgio Barboza	Valci Júnior	Danilo Quipapá	Dipanda Dicka	Kiran Chemjong	Kingsley Obumneme
Real Kashmir	Kallum Higginbotham	Bazie Armand	Gnohere Krizo	Loveday Enyinnaya	Mason Robertson	Aaron Katebe
TRAU	Petru Leucă	Princewill Emeka	Joseph Olaleye	Joel Sunday	Oguchi Uche	Gerard Williams

League table

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Mohun Bagan (C)	16	12	3	1	35	13	+22	39	Qualification for 2021 AFC Cup group stage
2	East Bengal	16	6	5	5	23	18	+5	23
3	Punjab	16	5	8	3	23	21	+2	23
4	Real Kashmir	15	6	4	5	16	14	+2	22
5	Gokulam Kerala	15	6	4	5	20	19	+1	22
6	TRAU	17	6	4	7	17	27	−10	22
7	Chennai City	15	5	5	5	20	21	−1	20
8	Churchill Brothers	15	6	2	7	23	21	+2	20
9	NEROCA	16	5	3	8	27	35	−8	18
10	Aizawl	15	3	7	5	17	19	−2	16
11	Indian Arrows	16	2	3	11	7	20	−13	9

Source: I-league, RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	AFC	CHE	CHU	EAB	GOK	INA	MIN	MOH	NER	REK	TRU
Aizawl	—	1–1	2–2				3–3	0–0	a	0–2	2–0
Chennai City	1–1	—		0–2	0–1	1–0		2–3	2–2		1–0
Churchill Brothers		1–2	—	1–0		1–2	3–0	0–3	4–1	2–1	1–2
East Bengal	0–1		1–1	—	1–3	0–1	1–1	a		1–1	2–1
Gokulam Kerala	1–1	2–3	1–0	1–1	—				2–1	0–1	1–1
Indian Arrows	1–2			1–3	0–1	—			1–1	0–2	0–2
Punjab		3–1		1–1	3–1	1–0	—	1–1	3–2	1–0
Mohun Bagan	1–0	1–1	2–4	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	—	6–2		4–0
NEROCA	1–0			1–4	3–2	0–0		0–3	—	1–0	5–0
Real Kashmir		2–1		0–1			1–1	0–2		—
TRAU	2–1	0–0		2–4			0–0	1–3	2–1	2–2	—

Source: I-League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Note: Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Season statistics

As of 10 March 2020

Scoring

Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Dipanda Dicka Punjab 12 2 Fran González Mohun Bagan 10 Baba Diawara Mohun Bagan 4 Willis Plaza Churchill Brothers 8 Philip Adjah Tetteh NEROCA 6 Marcus Joseph Gokulam Kerala 7 7 Marcos Jiménez Espada East Bengal 6 Jaimie Santos Colado East Bengal Henry Kisekka Gokulam Kerala Mason Robertson Real Kashmir Rochharzela Aizawl 12 Katsumi Yusa Chennai City 5 Lalkhawpuimawia Churchill Brothers Source:[15]

Top Indian scorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Rochharzela Aizawl 6 2 Lalkhawpuimawia Churchill Brothers 5 3 Vikram Pratap Singh Indian Arrows 4 N. Pritam Singh NEROCA 5 Shibil Muhammed Gokulam Kerala 3 Subha Ghosh Mohun Bagan K. Krishananda Singh TRAU 8 William Lalnunfela Aizawl 2 Vinil Poojary Churchill Brothers Nongdamba Naorem Mohun Bagan V.P. Suhair Mohun Bagan Makan Chote Punjab Nganbam Naocha Singh TRAU Moirangthem Givson Singh Indian Arrows Danish Farooq Real Kashmir Deepak Devrani TRAU Vinil Poojary Churchill Brothers Source:[15]

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of I-League hat-tricks

Result column shows goal tally of player's team first.

Player	For	Against	Goals	Result	Date	Ref
Dipanda Dicka	Punjab	NEROCA	3	3−2	29 January 2020	[16]
Ningthoujam Pritam Singh	NEROCA	TRAU	3	5–0	8 February 2020	[17]
Fran González	Mohun Bagan	NEROCA	3	6–2	14 February 2020	[18]
Source:[15]

Cleansheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Sankar Roy	Mohun Bagan	6
2	Marvin Phillip	NEROCA	4
3	Ubaid CK	Gokulam Kerala	3
	Kiran Chemjong	Punjab
5	Mithun Samanta	TRAU	2
	Jafar Mondal	Churchill Brothers
	Phurba Lachenpa	Real Kashmir
	Lalbiakhlua Jongte	Indian Arrows
	Zothanmawia	Aizawl
	Mirshad Michu	East Bengal
	Nauzet Santana	Chennai City
12	Debjit Majumder	Mohun Bagan	1
	Lalremruata Arema	Aizawl
	Sayan Roy	TRAU
Source:[15]

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 5^[15]
  • Gurjinder Kumar (Mohun Bagan)
  • Charles Anandraj (Chennai City)
  • Mohammed Irshad (Gokulam Kerala)
• Most red cards: 1^[15]
  • Anwar Ali (Punjab)
  • Andre Ettienne (Gokulam Kerala)
  • Gurjinder Kumar (Mohun Bagan)
  • Joseph Adjei (Aizawl)
  • Mohamed Irshad (Gokulam Kerala)
  • Zohib Islam Amiri (Gokulam Kerala)
  • Mashoor Shereef (Chennai City)
  • Radanfah Abu Bakr (Churchill Brothers)
  • Marcos Jiménez Espada (East Bengal)
  • Sandeep Singh (TRAU)
  • Dhanachandra Singh (Mohun Bagan)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 24^[15]
  • Punjab
• Most red card: 3^[15]
  • Gokulam Kerala

Attendance

As of 7 February 2020

Team	GP	Cumulative	High	Low	Mean
Mohun Bagan	5	112,051	63,756	8,834	22,410
Gokulam Kerala	5	85,065	31,184	10,135	19,040
TRAU	4	53,042	23,682	7,564	13,260
NEROCA	4	52,808	19,782	7,444	13,202
East Bengal	7	59,471	12,722	4,573	8,496
Chennai City	4	31,302	12,307	3,863	7,825
Real Kashmir	3	26,063	11,521	6,010	8,687
Aizawl	5	26,018	7,642	2,222	5,203
Churchill Brothers	5	15,311	7,525	1,260	3,062
Punjab	6	23,674	6,421	1,131	3,945
Indian Arrows	5	3,736	1,618	150	747
Total	51	459,885	63,756	150	9,017
Legend	Lowest   Highest	Source:[19][20]

Note: Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Award

Hero of the Match

Match	Hero of the Match		Match	Hero of the Match		Match	Hero of the Match
	Player	Club		Player	Club		Player	Club
Match 1	Lalremruata Arema	Aizawl	Match 38	Gerrard Williams	TRAU	Match 75	—
Match 2	Marcus Joseph	Gokulam Kerala	Match 39	Dipanda Dicka	Punjab	Match 76
Match 3	Lalkhawpuimawia	Churchill Brothers	Match 40	Baba Diawara	Mohun Bagan	Match 77
Match 4	Adolfo Miranda	Chennai City	Match 41	Rochharzela	Aizawl	Match 78
Match 5	Juan Mera	East Bengal	Match 42	Jaime Santos Colado	East Bengal	Match 79
Match 6	Marvin Phillip	NEROCA	Match 43	Mason Robertson	Real Kashmir	Match 80
Match 7	Hormipam Ruivah	Indian Arrows	Match 44	Marcus Joseph	Gokulam Kerala	Match 81
Match 8	Danilo Quipapá	Punjab	Match 45	Dipanda Dicka	Punjab	Match 82
Match 9	Willis Plaza	Churchill Brothers	Match 46	Baba Diawara	Mohun Bagan	Match 83
Match 10	Samik Mitra	Indian Arrows	Match 47	Mason Robertson	Real Kashmir	Match 84
Match 11	Jaime Santos	East Bengal	Match 48	Lalbiakhlua Jongte	Indian Arrows	Match 85
Match 12	Kiran Chemjong	Punjab	Match 49	James Kithan	Churchill Brothers	Match 86
Match 13	Fran González	Mohun Bagan	Match 50	Nathaniel Garcia	Gokulam Kerala	Match 87
Match 14	Laishram Premjit Singh	TRAU	Match 51	Rochharzela	Aizawl	Match 88
Match 15	Dipanda Dicka	Punjab	Match 52	N. Pritam Singh	NEROCA	Match 89
Match 16	Sankar Roy	Mohun Bagan	Match 53	Phurba Lachenpa	Real Kashmir	Match 90
Match 17	William Lalnunfela	Aizawl	Match 54	Baba Diawara	Mohun Bagan	Match 91
Match 18	Jonathan Lalrawngbawla	Aizawl	Match 55	Glan Martins	Churchill Brothers	Match 92
Match 19	Khaiminthang Lhungdim	NEROCA	Match 56	Lalbiakhlua Jongte	Indian Arrows	Match 93
Match 20	Mason Robertson	Real Kashmir	Match 57	Abdoulaye Kanouté	Aizawl	Match 94
Match 21	Danish Farooq Bhat	Real Kashmir	Match 58	Marcus Joseph	Gokulam Kerala	Match 95
Match 22	Givson Singh	Indian Arrows	Match 59	Ansumana Kromah	East Bengal	Match 96
Match 23	K.Phalguni Singh	TRAU	Match 60	Fran González	Mohun Bagan	Match 97
Match 24	Willis Plaza	Churchill Brothers	Match 61	Willis Plaza	Churchill Brothers	Match 98
Match 25	Fran Morante	Mohun Bagan	Match 62	Dipanda Dicka	Punjab	Match 99
Match 26	Marcus Joseph	Gokulam Kerala	Match 63	Sayan Roy	TRAU	Match 100
Match 27	Ayush Adhikari	Indian Arrows	Match 64	Lalrindika Ralte	East Bengal	Match 101
Match 28	Isak Vanlalruatfela	Aizawl	Match 65	Sócrates Pedro	Churchill Brothers	Match 102
Match 29	Wahengbam Angousana Luwang	TRAU	Match 66	N. Pritam Singh	NEROCA	Match 103
Match 30	Daneil Cyrus	Mohun Bagan	Match 67	Fran González	Mohun Bagan	Match 104
Match 31	Sriram Boopathi	Chennai City	Match 68	Brandon Vanlalremdika	East Bengal	Match 105
Match 32	Gnohere Krizo	Real Kashmir	Match 69	Katsumi Yusa	Chennai City	Match 106
Match 33	Princewill Emeka	TRAU	Match 70	—		Match 107
Match 34	Marvin Phillip	NEROCA	Match 71			Match 108
Match 35	Danilo Quipapá	Punjab	Match 72			Match 109
Match 36	Marcus Joseph	Gokulam Kerala	Match 73			Match 110
Match 37	Joseba Beitia	Mohun Bagan	Match 74			Source:[19][21]

Note: Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]