| Pixels: | 220 |
| Competition: | I-League qualifiers |
| Matches: | 54 |
| Total Goals: | 148 |
| Highest Attendance: | 1,209 |
| Lowest Attendance: | 23 |
| Average Attendance: | 239 |
| Prevseason: | 2018–19 |
| Nextseason: | 2021 |
The 2020 I-League qualifiers (also known as Hero I-League Qualifiers 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of I-League 2nd Division, the second division of Indian football league, since its establishment in 2008. The league was kicked-off from 25 January 2020.[1] [2]
The season was shortened due to COVID-19 pandemic in India and Mohammedan won the league, being promoted to 2020–21 I-League.
This season, 17 teams participated, including one reserve side from I-League (Punjab) and eight from Indian Super League (ATK, Jamshedpur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennaiyin, Mumbai City, Goa and Kerala Blasters). All the teams had been divided into three groups of six teams in A and C, and five teams in group B. The teams which made their debut this season were Bengaluru United, Rajasthan FC, Punjab FC (reserves), Hyderabad FC (reserves) and Mumbai City FC (reserves). Indian Arrows reserves were supposed to debut this season, but later withdrew, since it consists of U-16 and U-18 players, which had their board examinations.[3]
| Team | City/State | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA | Ahmedabad, Gujarat | EKA Arena | 22,000 | |
| ATK (R) | Barasat, West Bengal | Aditya Academy Ground | 10,000 | |
| Rajasthan | Jodhpur, Rajasthan | Maharaja Umed Singh Stadium | 6,000 | |
| Bengaluru (R) | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Bengaluru Football Stadium | 8,400 | |
| Bengaluru United | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Bengaluru Football Stadium | 8,400 | |
| Bhawanipore | Kolkata, West Bengal | Kalyani Stadium | 20,000 | |
| Chennaiyin (R) | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | SSN College Ground | 400 | |
| Garhwal | New Delhi, Delhi | Ambedkar Stadium | 35,000 | |
| Goa (R) | Margao, Goa | GMC Stadium | 3,200 | |
| Hyderabad (R) | Hyderabad, Telangana | Gachibowli Athletic Stadium | 30,000 | |
| Jamshedpur (R) | Jamshedpur, Jharkhand | JRD Tata Sports Complex | 24,500 | |
| Kerala | Thrissur, Kerala | Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium | 15,000 | |
| Kerala Blasters (R) | Ernakulam, Kerala | Panampally Ground | 300 | |
| Lonestar Kashmir | Katra, Jammu and Kashmir | SMVDSB Sports Complex | 2,600 | |
| Mohammedan | Howrah, West Bengal | Sailen Manna Stadium | 15,000 | |
| Mumbai City (R) | Mumbai, Maharashtra | Cooperage Ground | 5,000 | |
| Punjab (R) | Ludhiana, Punjab | Guru Nanak Stadium | 15,000 |
| Team | Manager | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA |  Vivek Nagul | SEVEN | Amul | |
| ATK (R) | Deggie Cardozo | Nivia | ||
| Bengaluru (R) | Naushad Moosa | Puma | Kia Motors | |
| Bengaluru United | Richard Hood | MS Sportswear | The Organic World | |
| Bhawanipore | Sankarlal Chakraborty | Cosco | Sangbad Pratidin | |
| Chennaiyin (R) | Santosh Kashyap | Performax | Apollo Tyres | |
| Garhwal | Vikas Rawat | Vector X | ONGC | |
| Goa (R) | Clifford Miranda | T10 | Adda52.com | |
| Hyderabad (R) | Anshul Katiyar | Reyaur Sports[5] | Jai Raj Steel[6] | |
| Jamshedpur (R) | Noel Wilson | Nivia | Tata Steel | |
| Kerala | TG Purushothaman | Cosco | Yologans | |
| Kerala Blasters (R) | Renjith Ajithkumar | Reyaur Sports | Muthoot | |
| Lonestar Kashmir |  Kenichi Yatsuhashi | Kaizen | Rising Kashmir | |
| Mohammedan | Sol Campbell | Kaizen | TRAK Only | |
| Mumbai City (R) | Mohan Das | Squad Gear | SportsAdda | |
| Punjab (R) | Spartan | Apollo Tyres | ||
| Rajasthan | Mangesh Desai | AIO Sports | AU Small Finance Bank |
| Team | Outgoing Head Coach | Manner of departure | Incoming Head Coach | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammedan | Raghunath Nandi | 2019 | Yan Law | 2020 |
| Lonestar Kashmir |  Miki Lladó | 2019 | Kenichi Yatsuhashi | 2020 |
Each club, excluding the reserve sides, can register three foreign players in their squad. One of the foreign players has to be from an AFC Member Nation.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Asian Visa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA |  Eze Stanley |  Camara Bakia |  Rajesh Pariyar | |
| Rajasthan |  Collins Patterson |  Muhammad Iqbal | ||
| Bengaluru United | Robert Primus | William Opoku | ||
| Bhawanipore | Philip Adjah |  Ansumana Kromah | ||
| Garhwal | Bala Dahir | Ekomobong Victor Philip | ||
| Kerala |  Cyrille Brohiri | |||
| Lonestar Kashmir |  Ellon Maxwell | Bema Coulibaly | ||
| Mohammedan | Willis Plaza | Eze Kingsley | Abhishek Rijal |
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, usual final round format was scrapped off. It was decided that the final round of the league will be rescheduled into a new format and all the non-reserve teams from the preliminary stage will automatically progress to this round. It was officially named as I-League Qualifiers.[7] The teams in this round will play in a round-robin format in two venues, at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata and Kalyani Stadium in Kalyani, near Kolkata. The team with highest points would advance to the 2020–21 I-League.[8] [9] Out of the eight non-reserve teams, FC Kerala, Lonestar Kashmir FC and Rajasthan FC pulled out from tournament due to financial and other constraints.[10]
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Syed Shoaib Ahmed | ARA | 7 |
| Ekombong Victor Philip | Garhwal | ||
| 3 |  Dieye Hamidou | ARA | 6 |
| 4 | Shakir Ahmed Sheikh | Lonestar Kashmir | 5 |
| John Chidi Uzodinma | Mohammedan | ||
| William Pauliankhum | ATK (R) | ||
| 7 | Billu Teli | Jamshedpur (R) | 4 |
| Kerala Blasters (R) |
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syed Shoaib Ahmed | ARA | Mumbai City (R) | 5–0 | 25 January 2020 | ||
| Mohammad Asrar Rehbar | Bengaluru United | Mumbai City (R) | 6–0 | 1 March 2020 | ||
| John Chidi Uzodinma | 3–1 | 5 March 2020 | ||||
| Syed Shoaib Ahmed | ARA | 3–1 | 6 March 2020 | |||
| Ekombong Victor Philip | 4–1 | 10 March 2020 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Srijith R | Bengaluru United | 4 |
| 2 | Iprotip Das | ARA | 3 |
| Priyant Singh | Mohammedan | ||
| 4 | Nitin Meel | Rajasthan | 2 |
| Raj Kumar Mahato | Jamshedpur (R) | ||
| Amrit Gope | Jamshedpur (R) | ||
| Ahamed Afsar | Kerala | ||
| Lara Sharma | ATK (R) | ||
| Garhwal | |||
| Antonio da Silva | Goa (R) |
| width=160 | Team | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F.C. Kerala | 2 | 900 | 700 | 200 | 450< | -- 700+200 +--> | ||||
| ARA | 4 | 1150 | align=center | 450 | 150 | 287< | -- 450+300+250+150 +--> | |||
| Bhawanipore | 3 | 395 | align=center | 300 | 20 | 131< | -- 300+20+75 +--> | |||
| Rajasthan | 2 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200< | --200+ +--> | ||||
| Lonestar Kashmir | 4 | 567 | 350 | 52 | 141< | --52+65+100+350 +--> | ||||
| Garhwal | 3 | 1400 | 550 | 350 | 466< | --350+550+500 +--> | ||||
| Mohammedan | 2 | 1400 | align=center bgcolor="#98FB98" | 1200 | 200 | 700< | --1200+200+ +--> | |||
| Bengaluru United | 4 | 1050 | 450 | 150 | 262< | --250+200+450+150 +--> | ||||
| ATK (R) | 5 | 1201 | 700 | 50 | 240< | -- 700+76+50+250+125 +--> | ||||
| Goa (R) | 4 | 1250 | 500 | 200 | 312< | --250+200+500+300 +--> | ||||
| Mumbai City (R) | 4 | 760 | 200 | 160 | 190< | --200+160+200+200 +--> | ||||
| Kerala Blasters (R) | 3 | 360 | 250 | 50 | 120< | --50+250+60 +--> | ||||
| Bengaluru (R) | 2 | 555 | 455 | 100 | 277< | --100+ +--> | ||||
| Chennaiyin (R) | 4 | 215 | 100 | 25 | 53< | -- 40+100+50+25 +--> | ||||
| Hyderabad (R) | 3 | 375 | 200 | 50 | 125< | --125+200+50 +--> | ||||
| Punjab (R) | 3 | 465 | 250 | 105 | 155< | --250+110+105 +--> | ||||
| Jamshedpur (R) | 4 | 697 | 237 | 60 | 174< | --200+237+200+60 +--> | ||||
| Total | 54 | 12,940 | 1200 | 20 | 239 |