Concept
The I-League, officially known as the Hero I-League for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second-tier of the Indian football league system. Currently contested by 13 clubs, the winners get promoted to the Indian Super League. The competition was founded in 2007 as the successor to the National Football League, with the first season starting in November 2007. The league was launched as India's first ever top-tier professional football league with the aim to increase the player pool for the India national team. I-League operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the I-League 2 and at first only promotion system with the Indian Super League, from the 2022–23 season. Since the inception of the I-League, a total of seven clubs have been crowned champions. Dempo have won the most titles in league history, being crowned champions three times. Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan, Bengaluru, Gokulam Kerala and Minerva Punjab have won the league twice. Salgaocar, Aizawl, and Chennai City have won it once. In 1996, the first domestic league was started in India, known as the National Football League, in an effort to introduce professionalism in Indian football. Despite that ambition, that has not been achieved to this date. During the National Football League days, the league suffered from poor infrastructure and unprofessionalism from its clubs. One of the clubs in the league, FC Kochin, went defunct in 2002 after it was revealed that the club had not paid salaries since 2000, after making up 2.5 crores of losses in a season. After a decade of decline with the National Football League, the All India Football Federation decided it was time for a change. This resulted in the modern day iteration of the top-tier in India. After the 2006–07 NFL season, it was announced that it would be rebranded as the I-League for the 2007–08 season. The league's first season consisted of eight teams from the previous NFL campaign and two teams from the 2nd Division to form a 10 team league.
