# 2016–17 Kerala Premier League

The 2016–17 Kerala Premier League Season was the fourth season of the Kerala Premier League. Unlike last 3 seasons, the season featured 11 teams which were divided into 2 groups with Group A having 5 and Group B having 6 teams and wes played on a home-and-away format with half of the teams being private clubs. Later Quartz SC announced its withdrawal from the league making the number of teams 10. The season kicked off on 8 April 2017. KSEB beat FC Thrissur in the finals to clinch their maiden Kerala Premier League title.

## Teams

It featured 11 teams from Kerala affiliated to the KFA competing for the Trophy. The league is played in a home and away format for the first time. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. At the end of the season a table of the final League standings is determined, based on the following criteria in this order: points obtained, goal difference, and goals scored.
   "We have eight confirmed teams and four are private clubs: Gokulam FC (Manjeri), Quartz (Kozhikode), FC Thrissur, FC Kerala (also from Thrissur),One more club, SAT from Tirur, is likely to be included which could make it five private clubs this time."
P. Anilkumar, the Kerala Football Association secretary, on 24 January 2017

### Stadiums and locations

| Team | Stadium | Capacity |
| Central Excise | Ambedkar Stadium, Ernakulam | 10,000 |
| Cochin Port Trust | Ambedkar Stadium, Ernakulam | 10,000 |
| FC Kerala | Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium | 15,000 |
| FC Thrissur | Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium | 15,000 |
| Gokulam FC | Kottappadi Football Stadium, Malappuram | 10,000 |
| Kerala Police | Kottappadi Football Stadium, Malappuram | 10,000 |
| Sports Academy Tirur | Rajiv Gandhi Municipal Stadium, Tirur | – |
| KSEB | Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium | 25,000 |
| SBI Kerala | Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium | 25,000 |
| Accountant General Office | University Stadium (Thiruvananthapuram) | 20,000 |
| Quartz SC $^w$ | EMS Stadium | 85,000 |
$^w$ Withdrawn

## Results
### League table
#### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Gokulam FC | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 5 | +13 | 12 | Advance to Semi-finals |
| 2 | KSEB | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 11 | Advance to Semi-finals |
| 3 | FC Kerala | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 10 | |
| 4 | Cochin Port Trust | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 24 | −15 | 1 | |
| 5 | Quartz SC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrawn from the League |

#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sports Academy Tirur | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 20 | Advance to Semi-finals |
| 2 | FC Thrissur | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 18 | Advance to Semi-finals |
| 3 | Kerala Police | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 17 | |
| 4 | SBI Kerala | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 13 | |
| 5 | Accountant General Office | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 21 | −10 | 8 | |
| 6 | Central Excise | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 17 | −8 | 7 | |

### Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| A1 | Gokulam FC | 0 (5) | | | |
| B2 | FC Thrissur | 0 (6) | | | |
| B2 | FC Thrissur | 0 (6) | FC Thrissur | FC Thrissur | 2 |
| | | | KSEB | KSEB | 4 |
| A2 | KSEB | 0 (4) | KSEB | KSEB | 4 |
| B1 | Sports Academy Tirur | 0 (1) | | | |

### Fixtures and results

    Cancelled Matches
Semi-finals
Final

## Season statistics

    As of 1 June 2017

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Firos Kalathingal | Kerala Police | 7 |
| 2 | Shaheed | Sports Academy Tirur | 6 |
| 3 | Ozowara CE | FC Thrissur | 5 |
| 3 | S Rajesh | FC Thrissur | 5 |
| 3 | Sylla Sulaiman | Cochin Port Trust | 5 |
| 3 | VP Suhair | Gokulam FC | 5 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref |
| Bineesh Balan | FC Kerala | Cochin Port Trust | 5–3 | 30 April 2017 | |
| Ozowara CE | FC Thrissur | Accountant General Office | 3–1 | 17 May 2017 | |
| Firos Kalathingal | Kerala Police | Accountant General Office | 4–1 | 22 May 2017 | – |

### Season awards

| Award | Recipient |
| Most Valuable Player | Shaheed (Sports Academy Tirur) |
| Fairplay award | FC Kerala |