| Competition: | I-League |
| Season: | 2011–12 |
| Winners: | Dempo 3rd I-League title 5th Indian title |
| Relegated: | Chirag Club Kerala HAL |
| Continentalcup1: | AFC Cup |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | East Bengal Churchill Brothers |
| League Topscorer: | Ranti Martins (32 goals) |
| Biggest Away Win: | HAL 1-8 East Bengal |
| Biggest Home Win: | Dempo 5-0 Mohun Bagan[1] |
| Highest Scoring: | HAL 1-8 East Bengal |
| Matches: | 181 |
| Total Goals: | 521 |
| Longest Wins: | 7 games Dempo |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 7 games Dempo |
| Longest Losses: | 6 games Chirag United Kerala |
| Highest Attendance: | 90,000 Mohun Bagan 1-0 East Bengal |
| Prevseason: | 2010–11 |
| Nextseason: | 2012–13 |
The 2011–12 I-League was the fifth season of the I-League. The season began in October 2011 and ended in May 2012. Salgaocar are the defending champions, having won their maiden title in the previous season.
The current edition has a total of 14 teams contesting for the honors. These include the top twelve teams from the 2010–11 season along with the two promoted sides, Shillong Lajong and Sporting Clube de Goa, who had been the winner and the runner-up in the 2011 I-League 2nd Division respectively.
According to the AIFF's rules, the two bottom-most teams from the 2010–11 season-ending points table were supposed to be relegated to the second tier, but in actuality, only ONGC FC were relegated after their second to last place finish, while the team finishing the last, JCT FC decided to disband their senior football team at the close of the session.
Shillong Lajong FC and Sporting Clube de Goa, the Champions & Runner-up respectively, of the 2011 I-League 2nd Division, were promoted to the I-League after being relegated only the previous year.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air India | Mumbai | Cooperage Ground | ||
| Chirag United Kerala | Kozhikode | Kaloor International Stadium | ||
| Churchill Brothers | Salcette | Fatorda Stadium | ||
| Dempo | Panjim | Fatorda Stadium | ||
| East Bengal | Kolkata | Salt Lake Stadium | ||
| HAL | Bangalore | Bangalore Football Stadium | ||
| Mohun Bagan | Kolkata | Salt Lake Stadium | ||
| Mumbai | Mumbai | Cooperage Ground | ||
| Pailan Arrows | Kolkata | Salt Lake Stadium | ||
| Prayag United | Kolkata | Salt Lake Stadium | ||
| Pune | Pune | Balewadi Sports Complex | ||
| Salgaocar | Vasco | Fatorda Stadium | ||
| Shillong Lajong | Shillong | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium | ||
| Sporting Goa | Panjim | Fatorda Stadium |
In chronological order from the bottom
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohun Bagan |  | Caretaker | 1 June 2011 | Pre-season | 19 July 2011 | ||
| Churchill Brothers | Caretaker | 1 June 2011 | Pre-season | Manuel Gomes | 9 June 2011 | ||
| Pailan Arrows | Sacked | 13 August 2011 | Pre-season | Sukhwinder Singh | 13 August 2011 | ||
| Chirag United Kerala | P. K. Unnikrishnan | Sacked | 1 October 2011 | Pre-season |  Pakir Ali | 2 October 2011 | |
| Mohun Bagan | Resigned | 15 October 2011 | Pre-Season | | 18 October 2011 | ||
| Pailan Arrows | Sukhwinder Singh | Resigned | 7 February 2012 | 13th | Sujit Chakravarty | 8 February 2012 | |
| Churchill Brothers |  Manuel Gomes | Sacked | 14 February 2012 | 5th |  Carlos Roberto Pereira | 15 February 2012 | |
| Chirag United Kerala | Pakir Ali | Sacked | 18 February 2012 | 12th | Biswajit Bhattacharya | 18 February 2012 |
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Asian Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air India |  Henry Ezeh |  Lamine Tamba |  Takayuki Omi | |
| Chirag United Kerala |  Isaac Boakye | Charles Dzisah | David Sunday | None |
| Churchill Brothers | Roberto Mendes Silva |  Henry Antchouet | David Opara |  Antun Kovacic |
| Dempo | Ranty Martins | Koko Sakibo |  Densill Theobald | Yusuke Kato |
| East Bengal | Edmilson | Uga Samuel Okpara | Penn Orji | Tolgay Özbey |
| HAL | Joseph Femi Adeola |  Rohit Chand | ||
| Mohun Bagan | Jose Ramirez Barreto | Hudson Lima Silva | Odafa Onyeka Okolie | None |
| Mumbai | Kingsley Chioma | Gbeneme Friday | Ebi Sukore |  Zohib Islam Amiri |
| Pailan Arrows | Pailan Arrows don't use foreigners as they are an Indian Developmental Side | |||
| Prayag United | Josimar | Yusif Yakubu | Bello Razaq | Kayne Vincent[2] |
| Pune |  Keita Mandjou | Pierre Djidjia Douhou | Chika Wali | Arata Izumi |
| Salgaocar | Luciano Sabrosa |  Maxime Belouet | Chidi Edeh | Ryuji Sueoka |
| Shillong Lajong |  James Gbilee | Johnny Menyongar | Christopher Chizoba | Matthew Mayora |
| Sporting Goa | Boubacar Keita | Ogba Kalu Nnanna | James Moga | Park Jae-Hyun |
| Club | New owner | Previous owner | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pailan Arrows | Pailan Group | All India Football Federation | [3] | |
| Prayag United | Prayag Group | RP-Chirag | [4] | |
| Chirag United Kerala | Chirag Computers | Viva Kerala Group | [5] | |
| Shillong Lajong | Anglian Holdings (20% stake)1 | [6] | ||
IMG Reliance and the I-League have joined hands with the polio eradication campaign India Unite to End Polio Now. IUEPN is an initiative of Aidmatrix Foundation, supported by UNICEF, and a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), World Health Organization (WHO), National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP), Rotary International and US Centre for Disease Control (CDC).[7]
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranti Martins | Dempo | 32 |
| 2 | Odafa Onyeka Okolie | Mohun Bagan | 26 |
| 3 | Tolgay Özbey | East Bengal | 18 |
| Henry Antchouet | Churchill Brothers | ||
| 5 | James Moga | Sporting Goa | 16 |
| Mandjou Keita | Pune | ||
| 7 | Yusif Yakubu | Prayag United | 12 |
| 8 | Josimar | Prayag United | 11 |
| Ogba Kalu | Sporting Goa | ||
| 10 | Gbeneme Friday | Mumbai | 10 |
| David Sunday | Chirag United Kerala |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinadorai Sabeeth | Pailan Arrows | 9 |
| Manandeep Singh | Air India | ||
| 3 | Abdul Hamza | HAL | 8 |
| C.K. Vineeth | Chirag United Kerala | ||
| 5 | Sandesh Gadkari | Air India | 7 |
| Subhash Singh | Pune | ||
| 7 | Dawson Fernandes | Sporting Goa | 6 |
| Clifford Miranda | Dempo | ||
| Lalrindika Ralte | Churchill Brothers |
| Player | For ! | Against | Result | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohun Bagan | Pailan Arrows | 3–1 | |||
| Sporting Clube de Goa | Salgaocar | 4–2 | |||
| Prayag United | Pune | 5–1 | |||
| East Bengal | HAL | 8–1 | |||
| Churchill Brothers | Shillong Lajong | 6–0 | |||
| Churchill Brothers | Sporting Clube de Goa | 5–0 | |||
| Mohun Bagan | Churchill Brothers | 3–2 | |||
| Churchill Brothers | Chirag United Kerala | 4–0 | |||
| HAL | Pune | 4–6 | |||
| Mumbai | HAL | 5–1 | |||
| Chirag United Kerala | East Bengal | 3–4 | |||
| Pailan Arrows | Chirag United Kerala | 3–0 |
Francis Fernandes Manandeep Singh Ranti Martins Syed Rahim NabiFormation: 4-4-2[11]