# 2009–10 I-League

The 2009–10 I-League season began on 1 October 2009 with Mahindra United hosting defending champions Churchill Brothers in Mumbai. The season marked the addition of four new teams, with Lajong, Pune, Salgaocar and Viva Kerala were confirmed to participate in the I-League. With the inception of these four clubs, many club transfers have been undergone within India, and around the world. The length of the regular season will be longer than in previous years, with 26 rounds rather than 22.

## Rule changes

India became the latest member association to adopt AFC's 3+1 rule which will allow clubs to recruit one player of Asian origin in addition to their regular quota of three foreigners.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) executive committee decided to embrace the new AFC rule which encourages the mobility of talented Asian players and provides a fillip to the regional game.

## AFC Campaign

Two of the I-League teams were playing in the 2010 AFC Cup. This had caused some delays in scheduling. East Bengal lost all its round robin matches and was out of the tournament, but Churchill Brothers were at Knockout stage.

## Stadia and locations

| Club | Location | Stadium |
| Churchill Brothers | Goa | Fatorda Stadium |
| Dempo | Goa | Fatorda Stadium |
| Sporting Goa | Goa | Fatorda Stadium |
| Salgaocar | Goa | Fatorda Stadium |
| Mohun Bagan | Kolkata | Yuva Bharati Krirangan |
| East Bengal | Kolkata | Yuva Bharati Krirangan |
| Prayag United | Kolkata | Yuva Bharati Krirangan |
| Mahindra United | Mumbai | Cooperage Ground |
| Mumbai | Mumbai | Cooperage Ground |
| Air India | Mumbai | Cooperage Ground |
| Pune | Pune | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex |
| JCT | Phagwara | Guru Gobind Singh Stadium |
| Shillong Lajong | Shillong | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium |
| Viva Kerala | Kozhikode | Municipal Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode |

## Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Mahindra United | Derrick Pereira | Resigned | David Booth | | Pre season |
| Mumbai | David Booth | Resigned | Khalid Jamil | 20 June 2009 | Pre season |
| Shillong Lajong | Herring Shangpliang | Sacked | Stanley Rozario | 1 June 2009 | Pre season |
| Salgaocar | Peter Vales | Promoted to technical director | Tim Hankinson | 12 July 2009 | Pre season |
| Sporting Goa | Clifford Chukwuma | Lacked qualifications | Roy Barreto | | Pre season |
| Churchill Brothers | Zoran Đorđević | Contract Expired | Carlos Roberto Pereira da Silva | 3 July 2009 | Pre season |
| Pune | Stewart Hall | Contract Expired |
| East Bengal | Subhash Bhowmick | Resigned | Philippe De Ridder | | 12 |
| Sporting Goa | Roy Barreto | Resigned | Vishwas Goankar | 14 December 2009. | 14 |
| Air India | Bimal Ghosh | Resigned | Yusuf Ansari | 8 January 2010. | 12 |
| Mohun Bagan | Karim Bencherifa | Sacked | Satyajit Chatterjee | | 7 |
| Salgaocar | Tim Hankinson | Sacked | Karim Bencherifa | | |
| Mohun Bagan | Satyajit Chatterjee | Resignation | Biswajit Bhattacharjee | 1 April 2010 | 5 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Dempo (C) | 26 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 54 | 31 | +23 | 54 | 2011 AFC Champions League playoff |
| 2 | Churchill Brothers | 26 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 50 | 35 | +15 | 43 | |
| 3 | Pune | 26 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 38 | 23 | +15 | 42 | |
| 4 | Mahindra United | 26 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 45 | 29 | +16 | 41 | Disbanded |
| 5 | Mohun Bagan | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 48 | 43 | +5 | 36 | |
| 6 | Salgaocar | 26 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 34 | 38 | −4 | 33 | |
| 7 | JCT | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 26 | 29 | −3 | 32 | |
| 8 | Prayag United | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 33 | 39 | −6 | 32 | |
| 9 | East Bengal | 26 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 31 | −4 | 31 | 2011 AFC Cup group stage |
| 10 | Viva Kerala | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 25 | 36 | −11 | 30 | |
| 11 | Mumbai | 26 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 24 | 26 | −2 | 29 | |
| 12 | Air India | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 28 | 46 | −18 | 28 | |
| 13 | Sporting Goa | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 30 | 40 | −10 | 27 | Relegation to 2011 I-League 2nd Division |
| 14 | Shillong Lajong | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 23 | 39 | −16 | 26 | Relegation to 2011 I-League 2nd Division |
* ↑ East Bengal qualified for the 2011 AFC Cup as 2010 Indian Federation Cup winners.

## Fixtures and results

| Home \ Away | CB | DEM | MAH | SCG | MB | EB | MUM | PRY | JCT | AI | SLFC | PFC | VK | SFC |
| Churchill Brothers | | 3–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 |
| Dempo | 4–2 | | 2–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Mahindra United | 1–1 | 3–1 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Sporting Goa | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–3 |
| Mohun Bagan | 2–2 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| East Bengal | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–5 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Mumbai | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Prayag United | 2–4 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| JCT | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 5–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 1–1 |
| Air India | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Shillong Lajong | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Pune | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Viva Kerala | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 1–1 |
| Salgaocar | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | |

## Top goalscorers

As of 18 May 2010 (season end)

### 21 goals

* Odafa Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Brothers)

### 16 goals

* Muritala Ali (Mahindra United)
* Josimar (Chirag United Kerala)
* Ekene Ikenwa (Salgaocar)

### 15 goals

* Ranty Martins (Dempo)

### 14 goals

* Edmar Figueira (Pune)
* N.D.Opara (Air India)
* Mohammed Rafi (Mahindra United)
* Jose Ramirez Barreto (Mohun Bagan)

### 12 goals

* Chidi Edeh (Mohun Bagan)
* Edmilson (Chirag United Kerala)

### 11 goals

* Felix Chimaokwu (Churchill Brothers)

### 10 goals

* Arata Izumi (Pune)
* Junior Obagbemiro (Sporting Goa)

### Hat tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Odafa Onyeka Okolie | Churchill Brothers | Chirag United Kerala | 4–2 | 2010-3-07 |
| Muritala Ali | Mahindra United | Air India | 4–0 | 2009-11-12 |
| Muritala Ali | Mahindra United | Salgaocar | 4–1 | 2009-10-18 |
| Baljit Singh Sahni | JCT | Shillong Lajong | 5–1 | 2009-10-4 |