Western India Football Association

Western India Football Association
SportFootball
Jurisdiction Maharashtra
Membership36 district associations
AbbreviationWIFA
Founded1902; 123 years ago (1902)
(as Bombay Football Association)
AffiliationAll India Football Federation (AIFF)
HeadquartersMumbai
PresidentPraful Patel
SecretarySouter Vaz
Official website
wifa.in

The Western India Football Association, abbreviated as WIFA,[1][2][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.

History

The 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

Affiliated district associations

All 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

District level

Club level

Maharashtra Football League pyramid

Men's

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

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

As of 2024

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

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Neil Morrison. "India - List of Nadkarni Cup Finals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ History: The Harwood League Archived 23 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine. wifa.in. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ India - List of Mumbai (Bombay) League Champions Archived 27 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine. RSSSF. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Mumbai FC returns to Cooperage Football Stadium Archived 27 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine the-aiff.com. Retrieved 13 September 2021
  10. ^ "About – WIFA- The Western India Football Association". wifa.in. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012.