Western India Football Association

Western India Football Association
SportFootball
Jurisdiction Maharashtra
Membership36 district associations
AbbreviationWIFA
Founded1902 (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 Rajmata Jijabai Trophy.

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.AssociationDistrict Representative
1Ahmednagar District Football AssociationAhmednagar Narenda S. Firodia
2Akola District Football AssociationAkola Shyam Sarjuprasad Awasthi
3Amravati district Football AssociationAmravati Arun M. Jaiswal
4Aurangabad district Football AssociationAurangabad Ranjitsingh Bhardwa
5Beed district Football AssociationBeed Amarsingh Pandit
6Bhandara district Football AssociationBhandara Ahmed Lalani
7Buldhana district Football AssociationBuldhana S. S. Thakare
8Chanda district Football AssociationChandrapur K. K. Singh
9Dhule district Football AssociationDhule Amrishbhai Patel
10Gadchiroli district Football AssociationGadchiroli Ravindra Darekar
11The Gondia District Football AssociationGondia Praful Patel
12Hingoli district Football AssociationHingoli Ab Samad
13Jalgaon district Football AssociationJalgaon Ulhas Patil
14Jalna district Football AssociationJalna Kailash Gorantyal
15Kolhapur Sports AssociationKolhapur Malojiraje Chhatrapati
16Latur district Football AssociationLatur Shaikh Nizamoddin
17 Mumbai Football AssociationMumbai City Aaditya Thackeray
18Mumbai Suburban
19The Nagpur District Football AssociationNagpur Haresh K Vora
20Nanded district Football AssociationNanded Md. Sadique
21Nandurbar district Football AssociationNandurbar D.R.Patel
22Football Association of Nashik districtNashik Dr. Anniruddha Dharmadhikari
23Osmanabad District Haushi Football AssociationDharashiv Sayyed Khalil Saif
24Palghar district Football AssociationPalghar Parth Jindal
25District Football Association ParbhaniParbhani Abdul Gaffar Master
26Poona District Football AssociationPune Vishwajeet Kadam
27Raigad district Football AssociationRaigad Aadesh Bandekar
28Football Association of Ratnagiri districtRatnagiri Prasad Pranjape
29Sangli district Football AssociationSangli Jaggu Sulaiman Sayed
30Satara district Football AssociationSatara Dhananjay Jadhav
31Sindhudurg district Football AssociationSindhudurg Laxman Dalvi
32Solapur City & District Football AssociationSolapur Mahesh Gadekar
33Thane Football AssociationThane Shrikant Shinde
34District Football Association WardhaWardha Anand Kalokar
35Washim district Football AssociationWashim K.M.Azhar Hussain
36Yavatmal district Football AssociationYavatmal Indranil Naik

Competitions

District level

Club level

Maharashtra Football League pyramid

Men's

Level State leagues
1 Maharashtra State Senior Men's Football League
promotion (to I-League 3) ↑↓ relegation
District leagues
District level Mumbai city and suburban Pune Nagpur Kolhapur Thane Aurangabad Nashik Palghar
2 1 Mumbai Premier League

↑promote ↓relegate

 PDFA Super Division League

↑promote ↓relegate

 NDFA Elite Division League

↑promote ↓relegate

 Kolhapur Senior League

↑promote

 Thane Super Division

↑promote

 Aurangabad Football League

↑promote

 Nashik Football League

↑promote

 Palghar Football League

↑promote

3 2 Mumbai Super League

↑promote ↓relegate

 PDFA First Division League

↑promote ↓relegate

 NDFA Super Division League

↑promote ↓relegate

 1 divisions
4 3 MFA First Division

↑promote ↓relegate

 PDFA Second Division League

↑promote ↓relegate

 NDFA Senior Division League

↑promote

5 4 MFA Second Division

↑promote ↓relegate

 PDFA Third Division League

↑promote

 3 divisions
6 5 MFA Third Division

↑promote

 4 divisions

Women's

Level State leagues
1 Maharashtra State Senior Women's Football League
promotion (to Indian Women's League 2) ↑↓ relegation
District leagues
District level Mumbai city and suburban Pune Kolhapur Thane Palghar
2 1 Women's Premier League

↑promote ↓relegate

 PDFA Women's Division

↑promote

 Kolhapur Women's League

↑promote

 Thane District Women’s League

↑promote

 Palghar DFA 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. 1 2 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.
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