The 2011–12 I-League was the fifth season of the I-League. The season began in October 2011 and ended in May 2012. Salgaocar are the defending champions, having won their maiden title in the previous season.
The current edition has a total of 14 teams contesting for the honors. These include the top twelve teams from the 2010–11 season along with the two promoted sides, Shillong Lajong and Sporting Clube de Goa, who had been the winner and the runner-up in the 2011 I-League 2nd Division respectively.
Teams According to the AIFF's rules, the two bottom-most teams from the 2010–11 season-ending points table were supposed to be relegated to the second tier, but in actuality, only ONGC FC were relegated after their second to last place finish, while the team finishing the last, JCT FC decided to disband their senior football team at the close of the session.
Shillong Lajong FC and Sporting Clube de Goa, the Champions & Runner-up respectively, of the 2011 I-League 2nd Division, were promoted to the I-League after being relegated only the previous year.
Stadiums and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity Air India Mumbai Cooperage Ground Chirag United Kerala Kozhikode Kaloor International Stadium Churchill Brothers Salcette Fatorda Stadium Dempo Panjim Fatorda Stadium East Bengal Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium HAL Bangalore Bangalore Football Stadium Mohun Bagan Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium Mumbai Mumbai Cooperage Ground Pailan Arrows Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium Prayag United Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium Pune Pune Balewadi Sports Complex Salgaocar Vasco Fatorda Stadium Shillong Lajong Shillong Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Sporting Goa Panjim Fatorda Stadium
Managerial changes In chronological order from the bottom
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Mohun Bagan Caretaker 1 June 2011 Pre-season 19 July 2011 Churchill Brothers Caretaker 1 June 2011 Pre-season Manuel Gomes 9 June 2011 Pailan Arrows Sacked 13 August 2011 Pre-season Sukhwinder Singh 13 August 2011 Chirag United Kerala P. K. Unnikrishnan Sacked 1 October 2011 Pre-season Pakir Ali 2 October 2011 Mohun Bagan Resigned 15 October 2011 Pre-Season 18 October 2011 Pailan Arrows Sukhwinder Singh Resigned 7 February 2012 13th Sujit Chakravarty 8 February 2012 Churchill Brothers Manuel Gomes Sacked 14 February 2012 5th Carlos Roberto Pereira 15 February 2012 Chirag United Kerala Pakir Ali Sacked 18 February 2012 12th Biswajit Bhattacharya 18 February 2012
Foreign players
Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Asian Player Air India Henry Ezeh Lamine Tamba Takayuki Omi Chirag United Kerala Isaac Boakye Charles Dzisah David Sunday None Churchill Brothers Roberto Mendes Silva Henry Antchouet David Opara Antun Kovacic Dempo Ranty Martins Koko Sakibo Densill Theobald Yusuke Kato East Bengal Edmilson Uga Samuel Okpara Penn Orji Tolgay Özbey HAL Joseph Femi Adeola Rohit Chand Mohun Bagan Jose Ramirez Barreto Hudson Lima Silva Odafa Onyeka Okolie None Mumbai Kingsley Chioma Gbeneme Friday Ebi Sukore Zohib Islam Amiri Pailan ArrowsPailan Arrows don't use foreigners as they are an Indian Developmental Side Prayag United Josimar Yusif Yakubu Bello Razaq Kayne VincentPrayag United are allowed up to four foreign players (per I-League rules), one of which must be from Asia. Despite being a New Zealander and having represented them at youth international level Kayne Vincent is considered Japanese due to his Japanese mother. Pune Keita Mandjou Pierre Djidjia Douhou Chika Wali Arata Izumi Salgaocar Luciano Sabrosa Maxime Belouet Chidi Edeh Ryuji Sueoka Shillong Lajong James Gbilee Johnny Menyongar Christopher Chizoba Matthew Mayora Sporting Goa Boubacar Keita Ogba Kalu Nnanna James Moga Park Jae-hyun
Ownership changes Club New owner Previous owner Date Pailan Arrows Pailan Group All India Football Federation Prayag United Prayag Group RP-Chirag Chirag United Kerala Chirag Computers Viva Kerala Group Shillong Lajong Anglian Holdings (20% stake)1
1: Anglian Holdings only brought 20% in Shillong Lajong. The rest of the club is still owned by Shillong Lajong plc.
League table
Season charity IMG Reliance and the I-League have joined hands with the polio eradication campaign India Unite to End Polio Now. IUEPN is an initiative of Aidmatrix Foundation, supported by UNICEF, and a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), World Health Organization (WHO), National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP), Rotary International and US Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
Season statistics
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Ranti MartinsDempo322 Odafa Onyeka OkolieMohun Bagan263 Tolgay ÖzbeyEast Bengal18 Henry AntchouetChurchill Brothers5 James MogaSporting Goa16 Mandjou KeitaPune7 Yusif YakubuPrayag United128 JosimarPrayag United11 Ogba KaluSporting Goa10 Gbeneme FridayMumbai10 David SundayChirag United Kerala
Top Indian scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Chinadorai SabeethPailan Arrows9 Manandeep SinghAir India3 Abdul HamzaHAL8 C.K. VineethChirag United Kerala5 Sandesh GadkariAir India7 Subhash SinghPune7 Dawson FernandesSporting Goa6 Clifford MirandaDempo Lalrindika RalteChurchill Brothers
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Odafa Onyeka Okolie Mohun Bagan Pailan Arrows James Moga Sporting Clube de Goa Salgaocar 4–2 Josimar Prayag United Pune 5–1 Tolgay Özbey East Bengal HAL 8–1 Henry Antchouet Churchill Brothers Shillong Lajong David Opara Churchill Brothers Sporting Clube de Goa Odafa Onyeka Okolie Mohun Bagan Churchill Brothers 3–2 David Opara Churchill Brothers Chirag United Kerala 4–0 Rohit Chand HAL Pune 4–6 Gbeneme Friday Mumbai HAL 5–1 David Sunday Chirag United Kerala East Bengal 3–4 Chinadorai Sabeeth Pailan Arrows Chirag United Kerala
Scoring First goal of the season: C.K. Vineeth for Chirag United Club Kerala against HAL (22 October 2011) Fastest goal of the season: 3 minutes – Anthony Pereira for Dempo against Shillong Lajong (23 November 2011) Widest winning margin: 7 goals HAL 1-8 East Bengal (23 November 2011) Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 10 goals Pune 6-4 HAL (10 April 2012) Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 4 goals Pune 6-4 HAL (10 April 2012) Most goals scored in a match by a single player: 4 goals Tolgay Özbey for East Bengal against HAL (23 November 2011) Gbeneme Friday for Mumbai against HAL (14 April 2012)
End-of-season awards Fan's Player of the Year — Francis Fernandes FPAI Young Player of the Year — Manandeep Singh FPAI Foreign Player of the Year — Ranti Martins FPAI Indian Player of the Year — Syed Rahim Nabi FPAI Coach of the Year — Trevor Morgan
FPAI Team of the Year Formation: 4-4-2 Nat.PositionNameClub GK Karanjit Singh Salgaocar RB Deepak Kumar Mondal Prayag United CB Mahesh Gawli Dempo CB Uga Okpara East Bengal LB Syed Rahim Nabi Mohun Bagan RM Rocus Lamare Salgaocar CM Pierre Djidjia Douhou Pune CM Beto Churchill Brothers LM Penn Orji East Bengal ST Odafa Onyeka Okolie Mohun Bagan ST Ranti Martins Dempo Coach Trevor Morgan East Bengal
Notes
References