List of Indian football champions
The Indian football champions are the winners of the highest league in Indian men's football. Currently two parallel football league system exists, namely Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League. Though Indian football tournaments dates back to the eighteenth century, a proper league system was established in 1996 with the commencement of National Football League (NFL). Since its inception in the 1996–97 season, the champions of the NFL were considered as the national champions. However, after the 2006–07 season of the NFL, the league was rebranded as the I-League. Since 2007–08 season, the  I-League champions were considered the national champions until 2016–17 season. Since 2017–18 season the ISL became the joint premier football league of the country along with I-League. The ISL regular season premiers represents India in the AFC Champions League group stage, the I-League champions represents India in the AFC Cup group stage, and the winner of the Indian Super League's play-offs gets a slot into the AFC Cup play-offs. However, the winners of the ISL play-offs are considered as the ISL champions since its inception in 2014. There are 12 clubs who have  won either the National Football League or the I-League and 5 clubs who have won the Indian Super League since the league became the joint top division in India. JCT were the first club to have won any championship, winning the 1996–97 NFL. Mohun Bagan and Dempo are the most successful clubs, winning championships five times each. Mohun Bagan won the NFL thrice and the I-League twice, whereas, Dempo won the NFL twice and the I-League thrice. Also, Bengaluru is the only club who has won both the I-League and the ISL at least once; they  won the I-League twice and the ISL once. History. The first Indian football league, the National Football League (commonly known as the NFL) was an association football league competition in India which was organised into three divisions. The "Premier Division" of the league was first introduced in 1996, though the country already had a long history in the sport thanks to the likes of the IFA Shield and the Federation Cup. The league though is now transformed into the I-League and continues with that name. The change was supposed to bring more popularity to Indian Football. The first  league season of I-League consisted of eight teams from the NFL plus two promoted teams from the former Division Two. The 1996–97 Indian National Football League was the first season of the NFL and ended with JCT Mills FC being crowned champions. The NFL era though saw Kolkata clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan had the most championships with three respectively. The I-League era is different though as most of the champions of the league have come from Goa. Currently the team with the most championships in I-League is Dempo who have won three championships in the  league. They are also one of the two teams with the most championships overall along with Mohun Bagan (5 titles each). In 2014, a new football league named Indian Super League has started. In its first three seasons it was running without recognition from AFC. Before 2017–18 season, ISL get recognition from Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In July 2017, it was proposed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that the Indian Super League champion be granted a spot in the AFC Cup, Asia's second-tier club competition. On 25 July 2017, the AFC approved the AIFF's proposal . Thus, from the 2017–18 season, the Indian Super League champions were allowed to participate in the AFC Cup from the qualification stages of the competition. Meanwhile, India's spot in the AFC Champions League, Asia's top club competition, was still kept by the I-League, thus two leagues were parallelly running in the country. In October 2019, a roadmap for development of league in India was proposed. All stakeholders accepted the proposal where it was announced that ISL premiers would now be entitled to the AFC Champions League, starting from 2021 edition and the I-League champion will get  to play the AFC Cup. National League Champions. I-League and Indian Super League (2017–present). "Since 2017–18 season, I-League and Indian Super League shared joint top flight status in Indian Football" Total titles won. There are 12 clubs who have won either the National Football League or the I-League. There are also 5 clubs who have won the Indian Super League since the league became the joint top division in India. Teams in bold compete in either the I-League or Indian Super League for the 2021–22 season.