| Competition: | I-League Qualifiers |
| Dates: | 4 – 23 October |
| Winners: | Rajasthan United[1] |
| Promoted: | Rajasthan United Kenkre |
| League Topscorer: | Anwar Ali Jr. (4 goals) |
| Highest Scoring: | (8 October 2021) (9 October 2021) (23 October 2021) |
| Longest Wins: | 4 matches (Delhi) |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 6 matches (Rajasthan United) |
| Longest Winless: | 4 matches (ARA, Corbett, Madan Maharaj) |
| Longest Losses: | 3 matches (ARA, Madan Maharaj) |
| Prevseason: | 2020 |
| Nextseason: | 2022–23 |
The 2021 I-League Qualifiers or Hero I-League Qualifiers 2021 (for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of I-League 2nd Division since its establishment in 2008. The league winner secured place in 2021–22 I-League season.
Subrata Dutta, senior vice president of All India Football Federation, and AIFF league committee members held its meeting on June 26, 2021, agreeing that state associations which have conducted a league or qualifying championship, will be eligible to nominate teams for the qualifiers.[2]
Even though states are allowed to nominate two teams, the AIFF said each state association will be represented by just one team in I-League qualifiers. The AIFF has made it clear that only those states which conduct a league will be allowed to nominate a team. At least two states made direct recommendations, but were turned down.[3] AIFF allowed relaxation in case nominated clubs could not meet the financial criteria to play in I-League, if they were promoted.
On 4th December 2021, AIFF barred I-League club Chennai City from participating in 2021–22 season on failing to comply with club licensing regulations, and hence second-placed qualifiers team Kenkre FC was promoted.[4]
As per AIFF, ten teams will be selected to participate in I-League 2nd Division qualifiers, through State leagues. Only one team among the nominated two teams from each state will be selected.[3]
The following teams were nominated by state associations:[6]
29 teams were nominated by 18 state associations. Only twelve teams fulfilled the AIFF criteria, and ten teams were accepted for the season.[7] Later AIFF decided to withdraw Hyderya Sports FC, runners up of Jammu & Kashmir Professional League, after finding the bank guarantee submitted by them to be not genuine.[8]
| Region | Qualifying tournament | Selected | City | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Season | ||||||
| 1 | Karnataka | Bangalore Super Division | 2020–21 | Bengaluru United | Bangalore | Champions | |
| 2 | Kerala | Kerala Premier League | 2020–21 | Kerala United | Malappuram | Semi-final | |
| 3 | Gujarat | Gandhinagar Premier League | 2020-21 | ARA | Ahmedabad | Champions | |
| 4 | Delhi | Delhi Senior Division League | 2020-21 | Delhi | Delhi | 2nd place | |
| 5 | Rajasthan | R-League A Division | 2020-21 | Rajasthan United | Bhilwara | 2nd place | |
| 6 | Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh Premier League | 2021 | Madan Maharaj | Bhopal | Champions | |
| 7 | Meghalaya | Shillong Premier League | Ryntih | Shillong | League suspended | ||
| 8 | Maharashtra | MFA Elite Division | Kenkre | Mumbai | League not conducted | ||
| 9 | Uttarakhand | Uttarakhand Super League | Corbett | Rudrapur | League not conducted | ||
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA |  Vivek Nagul | Bala Dahir | SEVEN | Amul | |
| Corbett | Caetano Pinho | Subodh Kumar | Nivia Sports | Amenity Sports Academy | |
| Delhi | Surinder Singh | Anwar Ali | Spartan | Spartan | |
| Bengaluru United | Richard Hood | Dharmaraj Ravanan | Six5six Sports | The Organic World | |
| Kenkre | Akhil Kothari | Ali Azhar Delhiwala | Hummel | ||
| Kerala United | Bino George | Arjun Jayaraj | SEGA | Micro Health Laboratories | |
| Madan Maharaj | Amit Kumar Jaiswal | Mehtab Hossain | Rocky Sports | Kamla Devi Public School | |
| Rajasthan United | Vikrant Sharma | Ali Ola Smith | AIO Sports | MISTK | |
| Ryntih | Wallamkupar Kharpran | Banpynkhrawnam Nongkhlaw | T10 Sports | Samkhamti |
Each club could register up to three foreign players in their squad. One of the foreign players had to be from an AFC member nation.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | AFC player | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA |  Hamidou Dieye[9] |  Bala Dahir | Vladislav Nuriev | ||
| Corbett | Rogelio Juárez | John Chidi | |||
| Delhi |  Sérgio Barboza[10] | Willis Plaza[11] | |||
| Bengaluru United |  Luka Majcen | Football News - Times of India">Web site: August 26, 2021. FC Bengaluru United sign foreign strikers Luka Majcen and Pedro Manzi for upcoming season. 2021-09-16. The Times of India. en. 26 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210826130253/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/fc-bengaluru-united-sign-foreign-strikers-luka-majcen-and-pedro-manzi-for-upcoming-season/articleshow/85653465.cms. live. |  Pedro Manzi | Football News - Times of India" /> | |
| Kenkre | Zacharie Mbenda | ||||
| Kerala United | Gabriel Lima Silva[12] | Francis Nwankwo | |||
| Madan Maharaj | Loveday Enyinnaya | William Twala | |||
| Rajasthan United | Akeem Abioye | ||||
| Ryntih | |||||
The ten participating teams have been divided into two groups of five. They will face each other once in the first league leg.
Teams finishing at the top two group positions will proceed to the Final round, where they will play against each other once in a round-robin format. The team that finishes top after the end of 26 matches, will earn promotion to the Hero I-League 2021–22 season.
26 matches are set to be played in the entire tournament, with 20 of them being in the group stage, while six matches will be played in the Final round.[13]
The total number of teams was reduced to nine, after Hyderya Sports FC was found to have produced fake bank guarantee documents.[14] [15]
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anwar Ali Jr. | Delhi | 4 |
| 2 | Sérgio Barboza | Delhi | 3 |
| 3 | Shubham Bhowmick | Madan Maharaj | 2 |
| Sukjit Singh | Rajasthan United | ||
| Jiten Murmu | Madan Maharaj | ||
| Sheen Stevenson Sohktung | Ryntih | ||