The 2017–18 I-League was the 11th season of the I-League. Aizawl were the defending champions. NEROCA entered as the promoted team from the 2016–17 I-League 2nd Division. The season began on 25 November 2017. Minerva Punjab won their first I-League title.
Teams All India Football Federation invited bids for new teams on 21 July 2017 from Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ranchi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Malappuram and Trivandrum, among others. On 20 September, after second round of bidding invitation, the Bid Evaluation Committee decided to award Sree Gokulam Group the right to field their team in the Hero I-League 2017–18 season onward from Kozhikode, Kerala. Bengaluru FC successfully bid for a place in 2017–18 Indian Super League and thus was not a part of I-League. NEROCA F.C. were promoted for winning 2016–17 I-League 2nd Division. After successful hosting of FIFA U-17 World Cup, AIFF revived Indian Arrows project to field the colts in I-League.
Stadiums and locations Note: Table lists in alphabetical order. Team Location Stadium Capacity Aizawl Aizawl, Mizoram Rajiv Gandhi Stadium 20,000 Chennai City Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore 30,000 Churchill Brothers Salcete, Goa Tilak Maidan Stadium 6,000East Bengal Kolkata, West BengalSalt Lake Stadium Barasat Stadium 66,00022,000Indian ArrowsDelhi, New DelhiBambolim, GoaAmbedkar Stadium GMC Bambolim Athletic Stadium 35,000 6,500 Gokulam Kerala Kozhikode, Kerala EMS Stadium54,000 Minerva Punjab Ludhiana, Punjab Guru Nanak Stadium 15,000Mohun BaganKolkata, West BengalSalt Lake StadiumBarasat StadiumMohun Bagan Ground 66,687 22,000 22,000 NEROCA Imphal, Manipur Khuman Lampak Main Stadium 30,000 Shillong Lajong Shillong, Meghalaya Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium 30,000
Personnel and kits Team Head coach Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Santosh KashyapVamos NE Consultancy Services V SoundararajanCounter SportsNone Joseph AfusiFaisports Churchill Group Khalid JamilPERFKingfisherGokulam Kerala Bino George Kaizen sports Aachi GroupIndian Arrows Luís Norton de Matos NikeNone Khogen SinghAstroApollo Tyres Sankarlal ChakrabortyShiv NareshNilkamal Gift RaikhanVector XClassic Group of Hotels Alison KharsyntiewNivia SportsNone
Foreign players On 2 August 2017, it was announced by the All India Football Federation that the number of foreigners for each I-League club would go up to six, with two of the six having to be born in Asia or registered with the AFC.
Indian Arrows cannot sign any foreign players as they are the AIFF developmental team.
ClubForeigner 1Foreigner 2Foreigner 3Foreigner 4AFC Foreigner 1AFC Foreigner 2 Aizawl Léonce Dodoz Alfred Jaryan Kareem Omolaja Andrei Ionescu Masih Saighani Yugo Kobayashi Chennai City Jean-Michel Joachim Aleksandar Rakić Uroš Poljanec Venyamin Shumeyko Kim Dong-hyeon Churchill Brothers Dawda Ceesay Francis Onyeama Monday Osagie Willis Plaza Bektur Talgat Uulu Hussein Eldor East Bengal Eduardo Ferreira Ansumana Kromah Dudu Omagbemi Katsumi Yusa Mahmoud Amnah Gokulam Kerala Daniel Addo Emmanuel Chigozie Henry Kisekka Musa Mudde Mahmood Al-Ajmi Gulom Urunov Minerva Punjab William Opoku Bazie Armand Guy Eric Dano Kassim Aidara Chencho Gyeltshen Kiran Chemjong Mohun Bagan Aser Pierrick Dipanda Akram Moghrabi Bimal Gharti Magar Kingsley Obumneme Cameron Watson Yuta KinowakiNEROCA Nedo Turković Fabien Vorbe Varney Kallon Felix Chidi Odili Nick Ward Aryn Williams Shillong Lajong Lawrence Doe Abdoulaye Koffi Daniel Odafin Saihou Jagne Oh Joo-ho
League table
Results table
Season statistics Scoring
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Aser Pierrick DipandaMohun Bagan132 Dudu OmagbemiEast Bengal83 Chencho GyeltshenMinerva Punjab7 Felix Chidi OdiliNEROCA5 Katsumi YusaEast Bengal66 Jean-Michel JoachimChennai City5 William OpokuMinerva Punjab8 Yugo KobayashiAizawl4 Mechac KoffiChurchill Brothers Abhijit SarkarIndian Arrows Subhash SinghNEROCA Abdoulaye KoffiShillong Lajong Léonce Dodoz ZikahiAizawl Akram MoghrabiMohun Bagan Henry KisekkaGokulam Kerala
Top Indian scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1Abhijit SarkarIndian Arrows4 Subhash SinghNEROCA3Laldanmawia RalteEast Bengal3 Bali GagandeepMinerva PunjabLalkhawpuimawiaAizawlMichael SoosairajChennai CitySamuel LalmuanpuiaShillong Lajong8William LalnunfelaAizawl2Aniket JadhavIndian ArrowsRonald SinghNEROCARedeem TlangShillong LajongRahul PraveenIndian ArrowsJobby JustinEast BengalSheikh Faiaz Mohun BaganKivi Zhimomi Gokulam Kerala
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Ref Dudu Omagbemi4 East Bengal Chennai City 7–0 4 Player scored 4 goals.
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Shilton PaulMohun Bagan82 Avilash PaulAizawl63 Phurba LachenpaShillong Lajong5 Uroš PoljanecChennai City Bishorjit SinghNEROCA6 Lalit ThapaNEROCA 4 Rakshit DagarMinerva Punjab8 Luis BarretoEast Bengal3 James KithanChurchill Brothers Kiran ChemjongMinerva Punjab11 Dheeraj SinghIndian Arrows2 Prabhsukhan Singh GillIndian Arrows Nidhin LalShillong Lajong Ubaid C KEast Bengal Bilal Husain KhanGokulam Kerala
Attendance
Average home attendances
TeamNEROCA9192,43835,28511,02021,382East Bengal9156,29552,9518,69217,366Mohun Bagan9142,42164,3604,36015,825Gokulam Kerala973,17725,8416218,131Chennai City973,73914,7513,0828,194Minerva Punjab951,6278,2433,8455,736Shillong Lajong949,0867,8803,0005,454Aizawl938,2977,2802,8004,256Indian Arrows929,3005,5632183,256Churchill Brothers926,2853,4372,4002,921Total90832,66564,36021810,280
Highest attendances Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Stadium1 Mohun Bagan1–0East Bengal64,360Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan2 East Bengal0–2Mohun Bagan52,951Salt Lake Stadium3 NEROCA2–1Indian Arrows35,285Khuman Lampak Main Stadium4 NEROCA1–1East Bengal28,243Khuman Lampak Main Stadium5 NEROCA2–1Chennai City27,633Khuman Lampak Main Stadium6 East Bengal1–1NEROCA26,900Salt Lake Stadium7 Gokulam Kerala1–1Chennai City25,841EMS Stadium8 NEROCA0–0Aizawl20,345Khuman Lampak Main Stadium9 Mohun Bagan1–2Chennai City18,316Mohun Bagan Ground10 NEROCA1–0Gokulam Kerala17,300Khuman Lampak Main Stadium
Awards Hero of the Match MatchHero of the MatchMatchHero of the MatchMatchHero of the Match Player Club Player Club Player Club 1 Sony Norde Mohun Bagan 31 Mahmoud Amnah East Bengal 61 Akram Moghrabi Mohun Bagan 2 Alen Deory Shillong Lajong 32 Murilo de Almeida Chennai City 62 Varney Kallon NEROCA 3 Katsumi Yusa East Bengal 33 Subhash Singh NEROCA 63 Prabhsukhan Singh Gill Indian Arrows 4 Aniket Jadhav Indian Arrows 34 Uroš Poljanec Chennai City 64 Monday Osagie Churchill Brothers 5 Chencho Gyeltshen Minerva Punjab 35 Bali Gagandeep Minerva Punjab 65 Bali Gagandeep Minerva Punjab 6 Hardy Nongbri Shillong Lajong 36 Aser Pierrick Dipanda Mohun Bagan 66 Jean-Michel Joachim Chennai City 7 Kingsley Obumneme Mohun Bagan 37 Abdoulaye Koffi Shillong Lajong 67 Lalram Hmunmawia Aizawl 8 Nikhil Bernard Gokulam Kerala 38 Mechac Koffi Churchill Brothers 68 Anwar Ali Indian Arrows 9 William Opoku Minerva Punjab 39 Michael Soosairaj Chennai City 69 Venyamin Shumeyko Chennai City 10 Felix Chidi Odili NEROCA 40 Chencho Gyeltshen Minerva Punjab 70 Aser Pierrick Dipanda Mohun Bagan 11 Laldanmawia Ralte East Bengal 41 Abhijit Sarkar Indian Arrows 71 Mahmoud Amnah East Bengal 12 Aser Pierrick Dipanda Mohun Bagan 42 David Lalrinmuana Aizawl 72 Varney Kallon NEROCA 13 Kassim Aidara Minerva Punjab 43 Rakshit Dagar Minerva Punjab 73 Edmund Lalrindika Indian Arrows 14 Masih Saighani Aizawl 44 Ogba Kalu Nnanna Churchill Brothers 74 Bilal Husain Khan Gokulam Kerala 15 Sheikh Faiaz Mohun Bagan 45 Avilash Paul Aizawl 75 Michael Soosairaj Chennai City 16 Lalit Thapa NEROCA 46 Varney Kallon NEROCA 76 Subhash Singh NEROCA 17 James Kithan Churchill Brothers 47 Monday Osagie Churchill Brothers 77 Saihou Jagne Shillong Lajong 18 Redeem Tlang Shillong Lajong 48 Felix Chidi Odili NEROCA 78 Henry Kisekka Gokulam Kerala 19 Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem Indian Arrows 49 Santu Singh Gokulam Kerala 79 Lalkhawpuimawia Aizawl 20 Rana Gharami Mohun Bagan 50 Aser Pierrick Dipanda Mohun Bagan 80 Dudu Omagbemi East Bengal 21 Jean-Michel Joachim Chennai City 51 Prabhsukhan Singh Gill Indian Arrows 81 Arjun Jayaraj Gokulam Kerala 22 Daniel Addo Gokulam Kerala 52 Abdoulaye Koffi Shillong Lajong 82 Guy Eric Dano Minerva Punjab 23 Uroš Poljanec Chennai City 53 Leonce Dodoz Zikahi Aizawl 83 Aser Pierrick Dipanda Mohun Bagan 24 Phurba Lachenpa Shillong Lajong 54 Chencho Gyeltshen Minerva Punjab 84 Leonce Dodoz Zikahi Aizawl 25 Jitendra Singh Indian Arrows 55 Prabhsukhan Singh Gill Indian Arrows 85 Michael SoosairajChennai City 26 Leonce Dodoz Zikahi Aizawl 56 Mahmood Al-Ajmi Gokulam Kerala 86 Nikhil Kadam Mohun Bagan 27 Mohammed Rafique East Bengal 57 Kiran ChemjongMinerva Punjab 87 Nidhin Lal Shillong Lajong 28 Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem Indian Arrows 58 Felix Chidi Odili NEROCA 88 Nikhil Bernard Gokulam Kerala 29 Eduardo Ferreira East Bengal 59 Wayne Vaz Churchill Brothers 89 Ricardo Cardozo Churchill Brothers 30 Andrei Ionescu Aizawl 60 Michael Soosairaj Chennai City 90 Lalit Thapa NEROCA
Season awards Hero I-League 2017–18 awards were announced on March 22.
AwardRecipient Best Goalkeeper Shilton Paul (Mohun Bagan) Jarnail Singh Award for Best Defender Varney Kallon (NEROCA) Best Midfielder Michael Soosairaj (Chennai City FC) Best Forward Chencho Gyeltshen (Minerva Punjab) Highest Scorer Aser Pierrick Dipanda (Mohun Bagan) Best Emerging Player (U-22) Samuel Lalmuanpuia (Shillong Lajong) Syed Abdul Rahim Award for Best Coach Gift Raikhan (NEROCA) Best Organizers NEROCA Fairplay award NEROCA
See also 2017–18 Indian Super League 2018 Indian Super Cup
References
External links