# 2018–19 I-League 2nd Division

The 2018–19 I-League 2nd Division (known as Hero 2018–19 I-League 2nd Division for sponsorship reasons), was the 12th season of the I-League 2nd Division, the second division Indian football league, since its establishment in 2008. The league was played from January to April 2019.
TRAU won the title and earned the promotion to 2019–20 I-League.

## Teams
### Nominated teams

At the start of the season 23 teams were nominated by the state associations for participation in this edition of the league. Following clubs were nominated:
Kerala: SAT Tirur, Quartz, Kerala
Delhi: Hindustan, Sudeva Moonlight, Delhi United
Manipur: TRAU, SSU-Singjamei
Meghalaya: Langsning
Mizoram: Chhinga Veng
Sikkim: United Sikkim
West Bengal: Mohammedan Sporting, Rainbow
Jammu and Kashmir: Lonestar Kashmir, J&K Bank
Karnataka: Ozone, South United
Telangana: Fateh Hyderabad
Odisha: Radha Raman Club
Bihar: Shirsh Bihar United
Gujarat: ARA
Jharkhand: Shivansh Jharkhand FC
Madhya Pradesh: Madan Maharaj

### Selected teams

On 7 December 2018, it was announced by the league committee that nine clubs cleared the licensing criteria and are allowed to participate in this season. Additionally TRAU F.C. were granted three days of extension to clear the club licensing, considering the situation in their state league. TRAU cleared the licensing, taking the total teams competing to sixteen.

### Stadiums and locations

| Team | City/State | Stadium | Capacity |
| ARA | Ahmedabad, Gujarat | The Arena | 22,000 |
| ATK (R) | Kolkata, West Bengal | Sailen Manna Stadium | 15,000 |
| Bengaluru (R) | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Bangalore Football Stadium | 8,400 |
| Chennaiyin (R) | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | SSN College Ground | 400 |
| Chhinga Veng | Aizawl, Mizoram | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium | 20,000 |
| Fateh Hyderabad | Hyderabad, Telangana | FSV Arena | 100 |
| Goa (R) | Margao, Goa | GMC Athletic Stadium | 3,200 |
| Hindustan | Delhi | Ambedkar Stadium | 35,000 |
| Jamshedpur (R) | Jamshedpur, Jharkhand | JRD Tata Sports Complex | 24,500 |
| Kerala Blasters (R) | Kochi, Kerala | Panampally Ground | 300 |
| Lonestar Kashmir | Katra, Jammu and Kashmir | SMVDSB Sports Complex | 2,600 |
| Mohammedan | Kolkata, West Bengal | Kalyani Stadium | 20,000 |
| Ozone | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Bangalore Football Stadium | 8,400 |
| Rainbow | New Barrackpore, West Bengal | Barasat Stadium | 22,000 |
| South United | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Bangalore Football Stadium | 8,400 |
| TRAU | Imphal, Manipur | Khuman Lampak Main Stadium | 35,000 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| ARA | Vivek Nagul | Seven | Amul |
| ATK (R) | Deggie Cardozo | Nivia | CESC Limited |
| Bengaluru (R) | Naushad Moosa | Puma | Kia Motors |
| Chennaiyin (R) | Sameer Shaikh | Performax | Apollo Tyres |
| Chhinga Veng | Danny Lalduhawma | None | JSJ FitPro |
| Fateh Hyderabad | Vimal Arora | Vector X | Premier |
| Goa (R) | Clifford Miranda | Sqad Gear | Xiaomi |
| Hindustan | Sena | Cosco | Hero Motocorp |
| Jamshedpur (R) | Kundan Chandra | Nivia | Tata Steel |
| Kerala Blasters (R) | Renjith Ajithkumar | Six5Six | Muthoot |
| Lonestar Kashmir | Ishfaq Ahmed | Kaizen | Rising Kashmir |
| Mohammedan | Raghunath Nandi | Kaizen | Orion |
| Ozone | David Booth | Lotto | Ozone Group |
| Rainbow | Jahar Das | Vamos | New Barrackpore Co-operative Homes Ltd |
| South United | Noel Wilson | Pyramid Sports | Hot Fut |
| TRAU | Nandakumar Singh | VectorX | HVS Constructions |

### Coaching changes

| Team | Outgoing Head Coach | Manner of departure | Incoming Head Coach | Date of appointment |
| Mohammedan | Biswajit Bhattacharya | 2018 | Raghunath Nandi | 2018 |
| South United | Miki Lladó | 2019 | Noel Wilson | 2019 |

### Foreign players

Each club, excluding the Indian Super League reserve sides, can register three foreign players in their squad. One of the foreign players has to be from an AFC Member Nation.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Asian Visa |
| ARA | | | |
| Chhinga Veng | Godwin Quashiga | | |
| Fateh Hyderabad | Edmund Owusu Peprah | Forster Addae | Emile Demey |
| Hindustan | Trokon Saykiamien | Ronaque Bakshi | Maruf Fazly |
| Lonestar Kashmir | Wahab Lasisi | Jagaba Hamza | Lhendup Dorji |
| Mohammedan | Phillip Adjah Tetteh | Arthur Kouassi | |
| Ozone | Chika Wali | William Opoku | |
| Rainbow | Joel Sunday | Emmanuel Chigozie | |
| South United | | | |
| TRAU | Princewill Emeka | Joseph Olaleye | |

## Preliminary round

* Tiebreakers
* The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine the rankings:
* Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the Teams concerned
* Goal difference resulting from the matches between the Teams concerned
* Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the Teams concerned
* Goal difference in all the matches
* Greater number of goals scored in all the matches
* Drawing of lots

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bengaluru (R) | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 3 | +23 | 22 | |
| 2 | Goa (R) | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 15 | |
| 3 | Lonestar Kashmir | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 11 | Advance to Final Round |
| 4 | ARA | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 14 | −4 | 10 | |
| 5 | Hindustan | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 29 | −24 | 0 | |
* 1 2 Reserves team are ineligible for advance to the next round

#### Fixtures and results
### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Ozone | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 20 | Advance to Final Round |
| 2 | Fateh Hyderabad | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 13 | |
| 3 | Kerala Blasters (R) | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 8 | |
| 4 | South United | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 16 | −6 | 7 | |
| 5 | Chennaiyin (R) | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 6 | |
* 1 2 Reserves team are ineligible for advance to the next round

#### Fixtures and results
### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Chhinga Veng | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 11 | +7 | 20 | Advance to Final Round |
| 2 | TRAU | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 20 | −3 | 17 | Advance to Final Round |
| 3 | Mohammedan | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 16 | |
| 4 | ATK (R) | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 14 | |
| 5 | Rainbow | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 16 | +1 | 13 | |
| 6 | Jamshedpur (R) | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 24 | −14 | 4 | |
* 1 2 Reserves team are ineligible for advance to the next round

#### Fixtures and results
## Final round

Group champions from preliminary round and second placed team from Group C will qualify for this round. The four sides will play each other twice in the home and away format. The team that finishes top of the table in the Final Round will be crowned champions, and earn promotion.

### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | TRAU (Q) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | +8 | 15 | Promotion to I-League |
| 2 | Chhinga Veng | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 13 | |
| 3 | Ozone | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Lonestar Kashmir | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 1 | |

### Fixtures and results
## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 25 May 2019
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Phillip Adjah Tetteh | Mohammedan | 10 |
| 1 | Princewill Emeka Olariche | TRAU | 10 |
| 3 | C. S. Sabeeth | Ozone | 8 |
| 4 | Joel Sunday | Rainbow | 7 |
| 4 | Joseph Mayowa Olaleye | TRAU | 7 |
| 6 | Aaren D Silva | Goa (R) | 6 |
| 7 | Altamash Sayed | Bengaluru (R) | 5 |
| 7 | Arthur Kouassi | Mohammedan | 5 |
| 7 | Thomyo L. Shimray | ATK (R) | 5 |
| 7 | Yumnam Singh | ATK (R) | 5 |
| 7 | Roshan Singh | Bengaluru (R) | 5 |
| 7 | Jagaba Hamza | Lonestar Kashmir | 5 |
| 7 | Lalliansanga | Chhinga Veng | 5 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Syed Shoaib Ahmed | ARA FC | Hindustan FC | 4–3 (H) | 16 January 2019 |
| Liston Colaco | FC Goa (R) | Hindustan FC | 6-0 (H) | 21 January 2019 |
| Imanuel Lalthazuala | Chhinga Veng FC | Rainbow AC | 3-1 (H) | 4 March 2019 |
| Phillip Adjah Tetteh | Mohammedan | Jamshedpur (R) | 2-4 (A) | 22 March 2019 |

### Clean sheets

    As of 25 May 2019
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Zothanmawia | Chhinga Veng | 6 |
| 2 | Aditya Patra | Bengaluru (R) | 5 |
| 2 | Shubham Dhas | Goa (R) | 5 |
| 2 | Dharmindar Guru | Ozone | 5 |
| 5 | Mithun Samonto | TRAU | 4 |
| 6 | Jedidi Haokip | ATK (R) | 3 |
| 6 | Priyant Kumar Singh | Mohammedan | 3 |
| 8 | Fayaz Shaikh | Fateh Hyderabad | 2 |
| 8 | Dibyendu Sarkar | Rainbow | 2 |
| 8 | Abhishek Das | ARA | 2 |