# 2015–16 I-League U18

The 2015–16 I-League U18 is the eighth season of the Indian I-League U18 competition. The U-18 I-League is the premier age-group football tournament of the country which has been re-structured keeping AFC U-19 Championship in mind. The season began on 8 October 2015. and on 10 February 2016, AIFF Elite Academy won the title by defeating Tata Football Academy 2–0 in the final. AIFF Elite Academy also remained unbeaten in the tournament.

## Format

The teams were divided in five groups based on their geographical location and they played on home-and-away basis against each other within the groups. Two teams from each zone advanced to the next round-robin stage where the ten teams were divided into two groups of five teams each. Final round was played at Howrah Municipal Corporation Stadium and East Bengal Ground, and top two teams from each group would book their berths in the semi-finals, which was followed by the third position decider and the final.

## Teams

The participants for the 2015-16 season in the I-League U18 are:
| Group A - Maharashtra Zone | Group B - Kolkata - Jamshedpur | Group C - Shillong - Guwahati | Group D - Goa Zone | Group E - Rest of India Zone | Group E - Rest of India Zone |
| DSK Shivajians U18 Kenkre U18 Mumbai U18 PIFA U18 Pune U18 | East Bengal U18 Tata FA U18 SAI-Kolkata U18 United SC U18 Mohun Bagan U18 Mohammedan U18 | Royal Wahingdoh U18 Guwahati U18 Rangdajied United U18 Shillong Lajong U18 SAI-Guwahati U18 | Salgaocar 18 Dempo U18 Sporting Goa U18 AIFF Elite Academy U18 SAI-Goa U18 |
| Group 1 | Group 2 |
| Bengaluru FC U18 Minerva U18 Fateh Hyderabad U18 Lonestar Kashmir U18 | Aizawl U18 NEROCA U18 Gangtok Himalayan U18 |

## Group A - Maharashtra Zone

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+05:30.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| Pune U18 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 3 | +34 | 20 | Advance to final round |
| DSK Shivajians U18 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 2 | +32 | 20 | Advance to final round |
| Mumbai U18 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 25 | −21 | 8 | |
| Kenkre U18 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 22 | −16 | 7 | |
| PIFA U18 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 29 | −29 | 1 | |

### Fixtures and results
## Group B - Kolkata - Jamshedpur

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+05:30.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| Tata FA U18 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 26 | Advance to final round |
| East Bengal U18 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 19 | Advance to final round |
| SAI-Kolkata U18 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 15 | |
| United SC U18 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 10 | |
| Mohun Bagan U18 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 10 | |
| Mohammedan U18 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 30 | −28 | 1 | |

### Fixtures and results
## Group C - Shillong - Guwahati

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+05:30.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| Royal Wahingdoh U18 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | +18 | 20 | Advance to final round |
| SAI-Guwahati U18 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 16 | Advance to final round |
| Shillong Lajong U18 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 4 | +22 | 15 | |
| Guwahati U18 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 23 | −20 | 3 | |
| Rangdajied United U18 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 30 | −28 | 3 | |

### Fixtures and results
## Group D - Goa Zone

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+05:30.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| AIFF Elite Academy U18 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 5 | +29 | 22 | Advance to final round |
| Salgaocar 18 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 16 | Advance to final round |
| Sporting Goa U18 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 15 | +3 | 13 | |
| Dempo U18 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 22 | −18 | 3 | |
| SAI-Goa U18 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 23 | −20 | 2 | |

### Fixtures and results
## Group E - Rest of India Zone

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+05:30.

### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Lonestar Kashmir U18 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 14 | Advance to final round |
| 2 | Minerva U18 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 4 | +12 | 10 | |
| 3 | Bengaluru FC U18 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | |
| 4 | Fateh Hyderabad U18 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 25 | −21 | 0 | |

### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Aizawl U18 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 4 | +17 | 12 | Advance to final round |
| 2 | NEROCA U18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 3 | |
| 3 | Gangtok Himalayan U18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 17 | −11 | 3 | |

#### Fixtures and results
## Final round

Two teams each from Maharashtra, Kolkata–Jamshedpur, Shillong–Guwahati, Goa zone progressed to the final round, while one team each from two Rest of India zones advanced to the final round.

### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | AIFF Elite Academy U18 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | +14 | 10 | Advance to Semi-finals |
| 2 | TATA FA U18 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | Advance to Semi-finals |
| 3 | DSK Shivajians U18 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 7 | |
| 4 | SAI-Guwahati U18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 3 | |
| 5 | Lonestar Kashmir U18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 23 | −22 | 0 | |
*All Group A matches were played in Howrah Municipal Corporation Stadium, Kolkata between 27 January to 4 February 2016.

### Group B

*All Group B matches were played in East Bengal Ground, Kolkata between 27 January to 4 February 2016.

### Bracket

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+05:30.
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| AIFF Academy U18 | 3 | | |
| Aizawl U18 | 0 | | |
| Aizawl U18 | 0 | AIFF Academy U18 | 2 |
| | | Tata Football Academy U18 | 0 |
| Salgaocar U18 | 0 | Tata Football Academy U18 | 0 |
| Tata Football Academy U18 | 2 | Third place | Third place |
| | | Aizawl U18 | 1 |
| | | Salgaocar U18 | 3 |

### Final
## Statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | L. Lalawmpuia | Pune U18 | 14 |
| 2 | Lallianzuala Chhangte | DSK Shivajians U18 | 11 |
| 3 | Simranjit Singh | TFA U18 | 10 |
| 4 | Akeraj Martins | Sporting Goa U18 | 9 |
| 4 | Edmund Lalrindika | AIFF Elite Academy U18 | 9 |
| 4 | Ronaldo Oliveira | Salgaocar U18 | 9 |
| 7 | Shubham Sarangi | Minerva U18 | 8 |
| 7 | Rochharzela | Aizawl U18 | 8 |
| 7 | Rahul Yadav | AIFF Elite Academy U18 | 8 |
| 7 | Pranjal Bhumij | SAI-Guwahati U18 | 8 |
Source: I-League

### Most assists

| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
| 1 | M Mawihmingthanga | DSK Shivajians U18 | 6 |
| 2 | Sannik Murmu | Pune U18 | 5 |
| 3 | Jesse Ralte | DSK Shivajians U18 | 4 |
| 3 | Laishram Suraj Meitei | Royal Wahingdoh U18 | 4 |
| 3 | Kamalpreet Singh | Minerva U18 | 4 |
| 4 | Lalawmpuia Hnmate | Aizawl U18 | 3 |
| 4 | Suhail Sayed | DSK Shivajians U18 | 3 |
| 4 | Rochharzela | Aizawl U18 | 3 |
| 4 | Rohit Kumar | DSK Shivajians U18 | 3 |
| 4 | Shivam Pandey | Fateh Hyderabad U18 | 3 |