Indian Football Association
Encyclopedia
| Country: | India |
|---|---|
| Founded: | 1893 |
| President: | S.B. Ganguly |
| Vice-President: | Subrata Dutta,Biswadeep Gupta, Md. Moinuddin Bin Moksud |
| Hony. Secretary: | Utpal Kumar Ganguli |
The Indian Football Association (Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
: ভারতীয় ফুটবল এসোসিয়েশন), [abbreviated as IFA] is the organization that administers association football in the state of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It is the oldest Football Association in India and was founded in 1893. Amongst the founders was former England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
international Elphinstone Jackson
Elphinstone Jackson
Elphinstone Jackson was an English amateur footballer who made one appearance as a full back for England in 1891.__FORCETOC__-Career:...
.. Also, in 1896, Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
, then a young lawyer in South Africa, was among a group of Indian men who helped found the Transvaal Indian Football Association. Peter Alegi, a professor of African history at Michigan State University, considers it “most likely the first organized football group on the continent that was not run by whites”.
Contrary to the name, the association does not administer the game in India, a task which falls to the All India Football Federation
All India Football Federation
The All India Football Federation is the organisation which manages the game of association football in India. It administers the running of the India national football team and also controls the I-League, India's premier domestic club competition, in addition to various other competitions and...
(AIFF). However before the formation of the AIFF the IFA was in de-facto control of football in India by virtue of its administration by Englishmen
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as well as its affiliation to the Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
of England. The IFA was instrumental in creating the AIFF to govern football on a national basis.
Clubs from outside West Bengal complained about the lack of neutrality in the affairs of the IFA. This disillusionment of clubs and patrons led to the formation of associations like the Western Indian Football Association which preferred to be governed by themselves rather than by the IFA. Later, the IFA helped form the AIFF.
The IFA organizes tournaments like the Calcutta Football League
Calcutta Football League
Calcutta Football League is the football league where several football clubs of the Indian city of Kolkata participate. The CFL is now having a Seven League Division....
and the IFA Shield
IFA Shield
The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. It is the fourth oldest club cup competition in the world after the English and Scottish FA cup's and the Durand Cup.-Results of IFA Shield:...