The 2020–21 I-League (known as the Hero I-League for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the I-League, one of the top tier Indian professional football leagues, since its establishment in 2007. The tournament was hosted in bio-secure bubble across four venues in Kolkata due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation in India.
Mohun Bagan was declared the champion of the 2019–20 season after the cancellation of matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic, since the second placed team could not catch up even if all 20 games were completed. However, following Mohun Bagan's merger with Indian Super League (ISL) club ATK, the club began competing in the ISL from the 2020–21 ISL season.
Throughout the First Phase, Churchill Brothers kept its dominance with an unbeaten run of 11 games, while in the Second Phase, Gokulam Kerala, Churchill Brothers and TRAU traded the lead several times throughout the Championship Stage. Entering the final matchday, Gokulam Kerala were ahead on goal difference. However, with the Gokulam and TRAU facing off, either team could claim the title with a win. A draw in the Gokulam Kerala–TRAU match and a win were needed for Churchill Brothers to be crowned champions. The game ended in a 4–1 win for Gokulam, giving the Malabarians their first I-league title and qualification for the AFC Cup. NEROCA finished bottom of the Relegation Stage and were to relegated, but were reinstated by AIFF after the viewing the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Changes from last season Changes in rules and regulations AIFF has implemented the '3+1' foreigners rule from this season. Under this rule, each club will be allowed to field a maximum of four foreign players and one of those four foreign players must be from an AFC affiliated country. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this season's league format was shortened. All teams faced each other once during the first leg of the league, then were divided into two different groups. According to the points table from the first leg, the top six teams would face each other once again in the Championship stage, where the team with most points (cumulative points collected from all fifteen matches) will be declared the winner of the league and qualify for the 2022 AFC Cup group stage. The other five teams played against each other in a Relegation stage where the team with the lowest points (cumulative points collected from all fourteen matches) would be relegated to the 2nd Division League.
Number of clubs All India Football Federation (AIFF) issued an invitation to accept bids for new clubs from non I-League cities, like Delhi, Gangtok, Ranchi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Mangalore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Calicut among many others, to join the league from 2020 onward. The invitation mentioned that the entity which won the bid would be granted the right to own and operate a new football club. On 12 August, AIFF announced that Sudeva of Delhi would join the league from this season and Sreenidi Deccan, which is based in Hyderabad, would be playing from Visakhapatnam from the following season.
East Bengal and Mohun Bagan moved to the Indian Super League, when East Bengal joined the league as an expansion team, while Mohun Bagan and ATK, the champions of 2019–20 ISL season, merged to play as ATK Mohun Bagan in the ISL.
Promoted clubs Promoted from the 2020 I-League qualifiers Mohammedan
Relegated clubs Relegated from the 2019–20 I-League None
Teams
Stadiums and locations Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the matches would be played in a single venue. AIFF declared Kolkata as the venue on 14 August. Matches were played in Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kishore Bharati Krirangan and Mohun Bagan Ground in Kolkata, and Kalyani Stadium in Kalyani. StadiumCapacityLocationVivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan85,000Salt Lake, KolkataKishore Bharati Krirangan12,000Jadavpore, KolkataMohun Bagan Ground20,000Maidan, KolkataKalyani Municipal Stadium20,000Kalyani, Nadia TeamLocationAizawlAizawl, MizoramChennai CityCoimbatore, Tamil NaduChurchill BrothersMargao, GoaGokulam KeralaCalicut, KeralaIndian ArrowsMumbai, MaharashtraMohammedanKolkata, West BengalNEROCAImphal, ManipurReal KashmirSrinagar, Jammu and KashmirTRAUImphal, ManipurSudeva DelhiNew Delhi, DelhiRoundGlass PunjabLudhiana, Punjab
Personnel and sponsorship
Team Head coach Captain Kit Manufacturer Shirt Sponsor Aizawl Yan Law Alfred Jaryan Vamos NECS Limited Chennai City Satyasagara Charles Anandraj Nivia Sports TVS Group Churchill Brothers Fernando Santiago Varela Bazie Armand Nivia Sports Churchill Gokulam Kerala Vincenzo Alberto Annese Mohamed Awal SEGA Sree Gokulam Group Indian Arrows Shanmugam Venkatesh Lalchhanhima Sailo SIX5SIX Hero MotoCorp Mohammedan Sankarlal Chakraborty Kingsley Obumneme Trak Only BunkerHill Sports NEROCA Gift Raikhan Bishorjit LoitongbamAmbition SportswearGrow Manipur Team Punjab Curtis Fleming Bikramjit Singh T10 Sports RoundGlass Sports Real Kashmir David Robertson Mason Robertson Adidas Hotel CH2 Sudeva Delhi Chencho Dorji Ajay Singh Puma Liquid Life TRAU Nandakumar Singh Phalguni Konsam Romi Bag HVS Foundation
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Gokulam Kerala Fernando Santiago Varela End of contract 17 August 2020 Pre-season Vincenzo Alberto Annese 19 August 2020 Churchill Brothers Mateus Costa End of interim period 23 September 2020 Fernando Santiago Varela 23 September 2020 Chennai City Akbar Nawas Mutual consent 26 October 2020 Satyasagara 10 December 2020 Aizawl Stanley Rozario Mutual consent 18 January 2021 10th Yan Law 19 January 2021 Mohammedan José HeviaMutual consent19 February 20217th Sankarlal Chakraborty19 February 2021
Transfers
Foreign players
Minimum of three and maximum of four foreign players including one player from AFC—affiliated country per team. Indian Arrows cannot sign any foreign players as they are a part of AIFF's developmental program. The newly joined team, Sudeva Delhi fielded an all-Indian squad for its debut I-League season.
TeamPlayer 1Player 2Player 3AFC PlayerFormer Player(s) Aizawl Alfred Jaryan - - Abhishek Rijal Princewill Emeka Richard Kasagga Chennai City Vladimir Molerović Demir Avdić Elvedin Škrijelj Iqbal Hussain Churchill Brothers Clayvin Zuniga Bazie Armand Luka Majcen Hamza Kheir Gokulam Kerala Philip Adjah Denny Antwi Mohamed Awal Sharif Mukhammad Mohammedan Kingsley Obumneme John Chidi Pedro Manzi Jamal Bhuyan Mohammed Fatau Raphael Onwrebe NEROCA Varney Kallon Nathaniel García Judah García Prakash Budhathoki Punjab Chencho Gyeltshen Baba Diawara Joseba Beitia Kiran Chemjong Danilo Quipapá Real Kashmir Aser Pierrick Dipanda Lukman Adefemi Mason Robertson Zohib Islam Amiri TRAU Helder Lobato Joseph Olaleye Bruno Rodrigues Komron Tursunov
First phase Standings
Fixtures and results All matches were played at neutral venues. The "home" and "away" are designated for administrative purposes.
Positions by matchday
Results by games
Second phase Championship stage (Group A)
Fixtures and results All matches were played at neutral venues. The "home" and "away" are designated for administrative purposes.
Positions by matchday
Results by games
Relegation stage (Group B)
Fixtures and results All matches were played at neutral venues. The "home" and "away" are designated for administrative purposes.
Positions by matchday
Results by games
Final standings
Season statistics Scoring
Top scorers The table includes only the top 10 goalscorers of this season. RankPlayerClubGoals1 Bidyashagar SinghTRAU122 Luka MajcenChurchill Brothers11 Denny AntwiGokulam Kerala4 Clayvin ZunigaChurchill Brothers85 Chencho GyeltshenPunjab76 Komron TursunovTRAU6 Mason RobertsonReal Kashmir Pedro ManziMohammedan Lukman AdefemiReal Kashmir10 Philip AdjahGokulam Kerala5 Source: I-League
Top Indian scorers The table includes only the list of top Indian goalscorers with more than 2 goals in this season. RankPlayerClubGoals1Bidyasagar SinghTRAU122MC MalsawmzualaAizawl3Lalremsanga FanaiAizawlWilliam PauliankhumSudeva DelhiHarsh PatreIndian ArrowsVineeth VelmuruganChennai CityKonsam Phalguni SinghTRAUBrandon VanlalremdikaAizawlKean LewisSudeva DelhiDanish Farooq BhatReal KashmirEmil BennyGokulam KeralaSongpu SingsitNEROCA Source: I-League
Top assists The table includes only the top 10 assist providers of the season. RankPlayerClubAssists1 Denny AntwiGokulam Kerala72 Komron TursunovTRAU63 Sena RalteReal Kashmir54 Joseph OlaleyeTRAU4 Tirthankar SarkarMohammedan Deepak DevraniGokulam Kerala7 Songpu SingsitNEROCA3 Luka MajcenChurchill Brothers Nathaniel GarcíaNEROCA Bryce MirandaChurchill Brothers Source: Global Sports Archive
Hat-tricks Player Club Against Goals Date Bidyashagar SinghTRAUMohammedan35 March 2021Real Kashmir10 March 2021 Clayvin ZunigaChurchill BrothersIndian Arrows310 January 2021 Lukman AdefemiReal KashmirNEROCA313 February 2021
Clean Sheets
The table includes only the list of top goalkeepers with more than 1 cleansheet in this season. RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Kiran ChemjongPunjab72 Mithun SamantaReal Kashmir5 Rakshit DagarSudeva Delhi4 Shibinraj KunniyilChurchill Brothers4 Ubaid KadavathGokulam Kerala6 Subham RoyMohammedan3 LalmuansangaAizawl Bishorjit SinghNEROCA9 Shilton PaulChurchill Brothers2 Ahan PrakashIndian Arrows Amrit GopeTRAU ZothanmawiaAizawlSource: I-League
Discipline
Most yellow cards: 5 Lalrindika Ralte (Real Kashmir) Sairuat Kima (Sudeva Delhi)
Most red cards: 2 Vincy Barretto (Gokulam Kerala)
Awards
Match 1 - Match 55 = First Phase Match 56 - Match 80 = Second Phase
Hero of the Match