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.
Chennai City were the defending champions, having won the previous season. TRAU joined as a promoted club from the I-League 2nd Division. Shillong Lajong were relegated from the I-League last season and will play in the second division in the 2019–20 season. 2017-18 champion Minerva Punjab played as Punjab from this season as the club was renamed on 30 October 2019.
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.
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
Stadiums and locations Team City/State Stadium 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, KeralaKozhikode EMS Stadium 80,000 Indian Arrows Vasco da Gama, Goa Tilak Maidan Stadium 5,000 Mumbai, MaharashtraCooperage Ground5,000 Mohun Bagan Kalyani, West Bengal Kalyani Stadium 20,000 Kolkata, West Bengal Vivekananda Yuba Bharati KriranganKolkata Derby only 85,000 NEROCA Imphal, Manipur Khuman Lampak Main Stadium 35,000 Punjab Panchkula, ChandigarhGuru Nanak Stadium 10,000East BengalKalyani, West BengalKalyani Stadium 20,000 Kolkata, West Bengal Vivekananda Yuba Bharati KriranganFour home matches against Chennai City, Churchill Brothers, NEROCA and the Kolkata Derby. 85,000 Real Kashmir Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir TRC Turf Ground 15,000 TRAU Imphal, Manipur Khuman Lampak Main Stadium 35,000
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 Churchill Brothers Bernardo Tavares Willis Plaza Churchill Nivia Gokulam Kerala Fernando Santiago Varela Marcus Joseph Sree GokulamGroup Kaizen Indian Arrows Shanmugam Venkatesh Vikram Pratap Singh Hero MotoCorp Six5SixMohun Bagan Kibu Vicuña Dhanachandra Singh Shiv NareshNEROCA Gift Raikhan Marvin Phillip Living 3D Vicky Transform Punjab Yan Law Sanju Pradhan Apollo Tyres Spartan 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
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departurePosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Churchill Brothers Petre Gigiu Contract finished Pre-season Edward Ansah 16 May 2019 Mohun Bagan Khalid Jamil Contract finished Kibu Vicuña 10 May 2019 Gokulam Kerala Gift Raikhan Contract finished Fernando Andres Santiago 1 July 2019 NEROCA Manuel Retamero Fraile Contract finished Gift Raikhan 1 July 2019 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 2019TRAU 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 East Bengal Alejandro Menendez Resigned 6th Mario Rivera Campesino23 January 2020 TRAU Dimitris Dimitriou Sacked 3rd—
Transfers
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.
TeamPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 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 PrimusEast 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 García Marcus Joseph Henry Kisekka Mohun Bagan Baba Diawara Joseba Beitia Fran González Fran Morante Komron Tursunov Daneil CyrusNEROCA 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
Results Note: Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Season statistics
Scoring
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Dipanda DickaPunjab122 Fran GonzálezMohun Bagan10 Baba DiawaraMohun Bagan4 Willis PlazaChurchill Brothers8 Philip Adjah TettehNEROCA6 Marcus JosephGokulam Kerala77 Marcos Jiménez EspadaEast Bengal6 Jaimie Santos ColadoEast Bengal Henry KisekkaGokulam Kerala Mason RobertsonReal Kashmir RochharzelaAizawl12 Katsumi YusaChennai City5 LalkhawpuimawiaChurchill Brothers Source:
Top Indian scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1RochharzelaAizawl62LalkhawpuimawiaChurchill Brothers53Vikram Pratap SinghIndian Arrows4N. Pritam SinghNEROCA5Shibil MuhammedGokulam Kerala3Subha GhoshMohun BaganK. Krishananda SinghTRAU8William LalnunfelaAizawl2Vinil PoojaryChurchill BrothersNongdamba NaoremMohun BaganV.P. SuhairMohun BaganMakan ChotePunjabNganbam Naocha SinghTRAUMoirangthem Givson SinghIndian ArrowsDanish FarooqReal KashmirDeepak DevraniTRAUVinil PoojaryChurchill Brothers Source:
Hat-tricks
Result column shows goal tally of player's team first. Player For Against Goals Result Date Ref Punjab NEROCA 3 3−2 NEROCA TRAU 3 5–0 Mohun Bagan NEROCA 3 6–2 Source:
Cleansheets
RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Sankar RoyMohun Bagan62 Marvin PhillipNEROCA43 Ubaid CKGokulam Kerala3 Kiran ChemjongPunjab5 Mithun SamantaTRAU2 Jafar MondalChurchill Brothers Phurba LachenpaReal Kashmir Lalbiakhlua JongteIndian Arrows ZothanmawiaAizawl Mirshad MichuEast Bengal Nauzet SantanaChennai City12 Debjit MajumderMohun Bagan1 Lalremruata AremaAizawl Sayan RoyTRAU Source:
Discipline Player Most yellow cards: 5 Gurjinder Kumar (Mohun Bagan) Charles Anandraj (Chennai City) Mohammed Irshad (Gokulam Kerala) Most red cards: 1 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 Punjab Most red card: 3 Gokulam Kerala
Attendance
TeamMohun Bagan5112,05163,7568,83422,410Gokulam Kerala585,06531,18410,13519,040TRAU453,04223,6827,56413,260NEROCA452,80819,7827,44413,202East Bengal759,47112,7224,5738,496Chennai City431,30212,3073,8637,825Real Kashmir326,06311,5216,0108,687Aizawl526,0187,6422,2225,203Churchill Brothers515,3117,5251,2603,062Punjab623,6746,4211,1313,945Indian Arrows53,7361,618150747Total51459,88563,7561509,017LegendSource: Note: Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Award Hero of the Match MatchHero of the MatchMatchHero of the MatchMatchHero of the Match Player Club Player Club Player Club Match 1 Lalremruata AremaAizawl Match 38 Gerrard WilliamsTRAU Match 75— Match 2 Marcus JosephGokulam Kerala Match 39 Dipanda Dicka Punjab Match 76 Match 3 LalkhawpuimawiaChurchill Brothers Match 40 Baba DiawaraMohun 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 GonzálezMohun Bagan Match 50 Nathaniel García 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 SinghNEROCA Match 89 Match 16 Sankar RoyMohun Bagan Match 53 Phurba LachenpaReal Kashmir Match 90 Match 17 William Lalnunfela Aizawl Match 54 Baba DiawaraMohun Bagan Match 91 Match 18 Jonathan Lalrawngbawla Aizawl Match 55 Glan Martins Churchill Brothers Match 92 Match 19 Khaiminthang Lhungdim NEROCA Match 56 Lalbiakhlua JongteIndian 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 JosephGokulam 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 PlazaChurchill Brothers Match 98 Match 25 Fran Morante Mohun Bagan Match 62 Dipanda DickaPunjab Match 99 Match 26 Marcus Joseph Gokulam Kerala Match 63 Sayan RoyTRAU Match 100 Match 27 Ayush Adhikari Indian Arrows Match 64 Lalrindika RalteEast Bengal Match 101 Match 28 Isak Vanlalruatfela Aizawl Match 65 Sócrates PedroChurchill Brothers Match 102 Match 29 Wahengbam Angousana LuwangTRAU Match 66 N. Pritam SinghNEROCA Match 103 Match 30 Daneil CyrusMohun Bagan Match 67 Fran GonzálezMohun Bagan Match 104 Match 31 Sriram BoopathiChennai City Match 68 Brandon VanlalremdikaEast Bengal Match 105 Match 32 Gnohere KrizoReal Kashmir Match 69 Katsumi YusaChennai City Match 106 Match 33 Princewill EmekaTRAU Match 70— Match 107 Match 34 Marvin PhillipNEROCA Match 71 Match 108 Match 35 Danilo QuipapáPunjab Match 72 Match 109 Match 36 Marcus JosephGokulam Kerala Match 73 Match 110 Match 37 Joseba Beitia Mohun Bagan Match 74 Source: Note: Matches after 14 March 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
References
See also 2019–20 Indian Super League 2019–20 in Indian football