The Western India Football Association, abbreviated as WIFA,[3] is the governing body for football in the Indian state of Maharashtra.[4][5][6] It is affiliated with the All India Football Federation, the sports national governing body. The WIFA sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's National Football Championship.
 | |
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction |  State |
| Membership | 36 district associations |
| Abbreviation | WIFA[1][2] |
| Founded | 1902 (as Bombay Football Association) |
| Affiliation | All India Football Federation (AIFF) |
| Headquarters | Mumbai |
| President | Praful Patel |
| Secretary | Souter Vaz |
| Official website | |
| wifa | |
History
editThe Bombay Football Association was established in the Bombay province of 1902. It was amalgamated with the older Rovers Football Cup Committee to form the Western India Football Association on 12 July 1911.[7] Justice Russel became president of the WIFA while P. R. Cadell became vice-president,[8] and the objective of was to improve the sport of football in the Bombay state, and in the present-day Maharashtra. Before that, football games were organised for the Rovers Cup, which is India's second oldest football tournament started in 1890.[8]
Then in 2011, after the sudden rise in the popularity of football in India, WIFA decided to revamp the Maharashtra Football System. The first thing they decided to do was renovate Mumbai's only national football stadium, the Cooperage Ground.[9] After that they will work on starting the first ever statewide football league in Maharashtra known as the Maha League. They also announced plans to revive the Rovers Cup which had its last tournament in 2001.[10]
State teams
editAffiliated district associations
editAll 36 district of Maharashtra are affiliated with the Western India Football Association.
| No. | Association | District | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ahmednagar District Football Association | Ahmednagar | Narenda S. Firodia |
| 2 | Akola District Football Association | Akola | Shyam Sarjuprasad Awasthi |
| 3 | Amravati district Football Association | Amravati | Arun M. Jaiswal |
| 4 | Aurangabad district Football Association | Aurangabad | Ranjitsingh Bhardwa |
| 5 | Beed district Football Association | Beed | Amarsingh Pandit |
| 6 | Bhandara district Football Association | Bhandara | Ahmed Lalani |
| 7 | Buldhana district Football Association | Buldhana | S. S. Thakare |
| 8 | Chanda district Football Association | Chandrapur | K. K. Singh |
| 9 | Dhule district Football Association | Dhule | Amrishbhai Patel |
| 10 | Gadchiroli district Football Association | Gadchiroli | Ravindra Darekar |
| 11 | The Gondia District Football Association | Gondia | Praful M Patel |
| 12 | Hingoli district Football Association | Hingoli | Ab Samad |
| 13 | Jalgaon district Football Association | Jalgaon | Dr. Ullas Patil |
| 14 | Jalna district Football Association | Jalna | Kailash Gorantyal |
| 15 | Kolhapur Sports Association | Kolhapur | Malojiraje Chhatrapati |
| 16 | Latur district Football Association | Latur | Shaikh Nizamoddin |
| 17 | Mumbai Football Association | Mumbai City | Aditya Thackeray |
| 18 | Mumbai Suburban | ||
| 19 | The Nagpur District Football Association | Nagpur | Haresh K Vora |
| 20 | Nanded district Football Association | Nanded | Md. Sadique |
| 21 | Nandurbar district Football Association | Nandurbar | D.R.Patel |
| 22 | Football Association of Nashik district | Nashik | Dr. Anniruddha Dharmadhikari |
| 23 | Osmanabad District Haushi Football Association | Dharashiv | Sayyed Khalil Saif |
| 24 | Palghar district Football Association | Palghar | Parth Jindal |
| 25 | District Football Association Parbhani | Parbhani | Abdul Gaffar Master |
| 26 | Poona District Football Association | Pune | Dr. Vishwajeet Kadam |
| 27 | Raigad district Football Association | Raigad | Aadesh Bandekar |
| 28 | Football Association of Ratnagiri district | Ratnagiri | Prasad Pranjape |
| 29 | Sangli district Football Association | Sangli | Jaggu Sulaiman Sayed |
| 30 | Satara district Football Association | Satara | Dhananjay Jadhav |
| 31 | Sindhudurg district Football Association | Sindhudurg | Laxman Dalvi |
| 32 | Solapur City & District Football Association | Solapur | Mahesh Gadekar |
| 33 | Thane Football Association | Thane | Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde |
| 34 | District Football Association Wardha | Wardha | Anand Kalokar |
| 35 | Washim district Football Association | Washim | K.M.Azhar Hussain |
| 36 | Yavatmal district Football Association | Yavatmal | Indranil Manohar Naik |
Competitions
editDistrict level
edit
Men'sedit
Men's youthedit
|
Women'sedit
Women's youthedit
|
Club level
editMaharashtra Football League pyramid
editMen's
edit| Level | State leagues | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District leagues | |||||||||
| District level | Mumbai city and suburban | Pune | Nagpur | Kolhapur | Thane | Aurangabad | Nashik | Palghar | |
| 1 | 1 | Mumbai Premier League
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Super Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
NDFA Elite Division League ↑promote ↓relegate |
Kolhapur Senior League ↑promote ↓relegate |
Thane Super Division ↑promote ↓relegate |
Aurangabad Football League | Nashik Football League | Palghar Football League |
| 2 | 2 | Mumbai Super League
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA First Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
NDFA Super Division League ↑promote ↓relegate |
1 divisions | ||||
| 3 | 3 | MFA First Division
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Second Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
NDFA Senior Division League ↑promote ↓relegate | |||||
| 4 | 4 | MFA Second Division
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Third Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
3 divisions | |||||
| 5 | 5 | MFA Third Division
↑promote |
4 divisions | ||||||
Women's
edit| Level | State leagues | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WIFA Women's Football League promotion (to Indian Women's League 2) ↑↓ relegation | |||
| District leagues | ||||
| District level | Mumbai city and suburban | Pune | Kolhapur | |
| 2 | 1 | Women's Premier League
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Women's Division
↑promote |
Kolhapur Women's League
↑promote |
| 3 | 2 | Women's Super League
↑promote |
1 division | |
Management
editAs of 2024[update]
| Office | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Praful Patel |
| Vice-president(s) | Haresh Vora |
| Malojiraje Chhatrapati | |
| Vishwajeet Kadam | |
| Shrikant Shinde | |
| Sunil Dhande | |
| Secretary | Kiran Chougule |
| Assistant Secretary(s) | Sushilkumar Surve |
| Khaja Ansari | |
| Ahmed Lalani | |
| Treasurer | Salim Parkote |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Neil Morrison. "India - List of Nadkarni Cup Finals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ Pathak, Manasi (23 May 2018). "All you need to know about the football league structure in Maharashtra". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ Chittu Shetty (11 August 2019). "Why this would be the right time to bring back 'Rovers Cup'". footballcounter.com. Football Counter. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ History: The Harwood League Archived 23 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine. wifa.in. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- ^ Kapadia, Novy (27 May 2012). "Memorable moments in the Santosh Trophy". www.sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ^ India - List of Mumbai (Bombay) League Champions Archived 27 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine. RSSSF. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- ^ Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (29 November 2020). Scoring off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911–80. ISBN 9781000084054. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
- ^ a b Nirwane, Sarwadnya (18 January 2022). "Rovers Cup — the second oldest Football tournament in India". thesportslite.com. Mumbai: The Sports Lite. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
- ^ Mumbai FC returns to Cooperage Football Stadium Archived 27 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine the-aiff.com. Retrieved 13 September 2021
- ^ "About – WIFA- The Western India Football Association". wifa.in. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012.