2023 CFL Premier Division explained

Competition:CFL Premier Division
Season:2023
Dates:25 June – 30 November
Winners:Mohammedan (14th title)
Relegated:West Bengal Police FC
Calcutta FC
Matches:196
Total Goals:579
League Topscorer:David Lalhlansanga (21)
Highest Scoring: (26 September)
(20 November)
Longest Unbeaten:12 matches (East Bengal)
Prevseason:2022
Nextseason:2024

The 2023 CFL Premier Division is the 125th overall season of the Calcutta Football League  - highest state-level football divisions of West Bengal. The 2023 edition saw two top tiers merged, with 26 teams participating in the tournament for the first time since its inception.[1]

Format

The 2023 CFL Premier Division merged the top two tiers, Premier A and B, to form an expanded 26-team competition.[2] Two groups of thirteen teams were divided,with each team playing every other in the group once. The top three teams proceeded to the Super Six round, where they vied for the championship with the points from group stage being carried over.[3] Each group's bottom four teams enter the relegation round.[1] [4] As per the rules set by AIFF, this year, no foreign players will be participating in the league. [5]

Venues

Teams

The 26 teams were divided into two groups based on a draw held on 5 June 2023.[1] [6] [7]

Group AGroup B
TeamHead coachCaptainTeamHead coachCaptain
Army Red L Antony Ramesh Suresh MeiteiAryan Rajdeep Nandy Laltu Mondal
Calcutta FC Jamshid Nassiri Surojit DasBhawanipore Ranjan Chaudhuri Jiten Murmu
Dalhousie AC Mridul Banerjee Karan GomesBSS Subrata Biswas Surajit Seal
Diamond Harbour FC Kibu Vicuna Abhishek DasCalcutta Customs Biswajit Bhattacharya Amit Chakraborty
FCI (East Zone) Arun Saha Dhananjoy AdhikariEast Bengal Bino George Subhendu Mandi
Kalighat MS Patam Bahadur Thapa Madan MandiEastern Railway Prasanta Chakraborty Sumit Orao
Mohammedan Sporting Mehrajuddin Wadoo Samad Ali MallickGeorge Telegraph Goutam Ghosh Sourish Lodh Chowdhury
Mohun Bagan SG Bastab Roy Sumit RathiKidderpore Sayantan Das Roy Gurmeet Singh
Pathachakra Rajarshi Ghosh Ankan BhattacharjeePolice AC Supriya Dasgupta Suraj Bahadur Gurung
Peerless Hemanta Dora[8] Amit TuduRailway Kaushik Paul Monish Majumder
Southern Samity Ranjan Bhattacharjee Debayan HazraRainbow Aditya Chatterjee Debayan Saha
Tollygunge Agragami Arindam Deb Sujoy MondalWari Micky Fernandes Swarup Sarkar
United Steven Herbots Sanjib MondalWest Bengal Police FC Ashok Chakraborty Subrata Biswas

First stage

Group A

Group B

Super Six

The top three teams from both groups qualified for the Super Six round with the points from group stage being carried over.[9]

Standings

Fixtures

Relegation Round

Fixtures

Season statistics

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 David LalhlansangaMohammedan SC21
2 Rahul PaswanDiamond Harbour FC12
Sahil Harijan Pathachakra
4 Sagar Kumar KhamaruEastern Railway9
5 Suhail Ahmad BhatMohun Bagan SG8
Bhawanipore
7 Muhammed Ashiq ShoukathaliKidderpore7
8 Anubrata Maity Pathachakra 6
Dipesh MurmuUnited
Mandeep Singh MultaniWari
Liton ShilArmy Red
East Bengal FC
East Bengal FC
Achinta Ghosh Aryan FC
Vishnu P.V.East Bengal FC

Hat-tricks

Note: In the result, the score of the player's team is mentioned before.

PlayerForAgainstResultDate
Saikat SarkarAryanPolice AC4–1
David LalhlansangaMohammedan SCCalcutta FC7–0
Beneston Piecton BarrettoMohammedan SCCalcutta FC7–0
Lalrinliana HnamteMohun Bagan SGTollygunge Agragami5–1
Suhail Ahmad BhatMohun Bagan SGDalhousie5–2
Dipesh MurmuUnitedCalcutta FC8–0
Liton ShilArmy RedSouthern Samity3–2
Md Amirul AryanKidderpore SC4–0
East BengalGeorge Telegraph SC4–0
Vishnu PV East BengalKidderpore SC10–1
Mahitosh Roy East BengalKidderpore SC10–1

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 5 Jun 2023. Calcutta Football League (CFL) goes bigger than ever for its historic 125th season. The Fan Garage. 5 June 2023. 6 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230606060715/https://thefangarage.com/articles/19091-calcutta-football-league-cfl-goes-bigger-than-ever-for-its-historic-125th-season. live.
  2. Web site: TNN. 31 May 2023. CFL Premier Div 'A' & 'B' to be merged. Kolkata. The Times of India. 8 June 2023. 31 May 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230531031053/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/cfl-premier-div-a-b-to-be-merged/articleshow/100636021.cms?from=mdr.
  3. Web site: 9 September 2023. Calcutta Football League 2023: Confirmed Super Six Phase Teams. Indian Football News. 17 September 2023.
  4. Web site: Tania. Roy. 2 June 2023. কলকাতা লিগে নিয়মে বদল,শুরুর আগেই বিদ্রোহী কিছু ক্লাব, ভবানীপুর নেমে পড়ল অনুশীলনে. Change in rules in Calcutta league, before the start some clubs rebel, Bhavanipur came down to practice. bn. Hindustan Times Bangla. 5 June 2023. 5 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230605154508/https://bangla.hindustantimes.com/sports/football/rules-are-being-changed-in-calcutta-football-league-bhavanipur-club-has-started-training-to-become-champion-31685709922235.html. live.
  5. Web site: Ankon. Ghosh. 6 July 2023. AIFF bars foreign players in State league.
  6. Web site: Sanghamitra. Chakraborty. 5 June 2023. Calcutta Football League: মোহনবাগান-মহমেডানের গ্রুপে অভিষেকের ক্লাব, ইস্টবেঙ্গলের গ্রুপে ভবানীপুর. Calcutta Football League: Debutant club in Mohun Bagan-Mohammedan group, Bhavanipur in East Bengal group. bn. TV9 Bangla. 5 June 2023. 5 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230605154245/https://tv9bangla.com/sports/football/have-a-look-on-2023-calcutta-football-league-premier-division-group-stage-830841.html. live.
  7. Web site: Koushik. Biswas. 5 June 2023. Calcutta Football League : বাজল কলকাতা ফুটবল লিগের ঘণ্টা, কঠিন গ্রুপে মোহনবাগান. Calcutta Football League: Bell of Calcutta Football League rings, Mohun Bagan in tough group. bn. Ei Samay. 5 June 2023. 5 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230605154719/https://eisamay.com/sports/football/news/mohun-bagan-is-in-comparatively-tough-group-in-calcutta-football-league/articleshow/100770942.cms. live.
  8. Web site: Peerless: জয়ের সরণীতে রয়েছে জামশিদ নাসিরির পিয়ারলেস. kolkata24x7.in. কলকাতা 24×7. Kolkata, West Bengal. 17 July 2022. 18 July 2022. bn. Sports Desk. 24x7. https://web.archive.org/web/20220717133154/https://kolkata24x7.in/sports-news/football/peerless-will-face-united-sports/. 17 July 2022.
  9. Web site: 9 September 2023. Calcutta Football League 2023: Confirmed Super Six Phase Teams. Indian Football News. 17 September 2023.