Jammu & Kashmir Premier Football League

J&K Premier Football League, also known as J&K Premier Division and Srinagar Premier League,[1][2] is the top state-level football league in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, conducted by Jammu and Kashmir Football Association (JKFA)[3] and J&K Sports Council.[4]

J&K Premier Football League
Organising bodyJammu and Kashmir Football Association
CountryIndia
Divisions5
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid5
Promotion toI-League 3
Relegation toJ&K Super Division
Current championsJ&K Bank
TV partnersSportsCast India (YouTube)

History

J&K Premier Football League

The sport was controlled by the Kashmir Olympic Association (KOA) as the governing body of football. In 1964, the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association was formed which took over the reins from KOA and framed a constitution which established itself as the apex body of football in J&K. The Premier Division is organised by JKFA which is the top tier of the state football league. The two bottom-placed teams get relegated to the Super Division league while the top two teams gets promoted to the Premier Division. The A-Division is the third tier while the fourth-tier is the B-Division. The teams which participated in the lowest tier were divided into 12 pools and following the round-robin stage, the top-two teams from each pool progressed to the knock-out stage with the two finalists qualifying to the upper tier.[1]

JKFA Professional League

The JKFA Professional League is the professional league, conducted by Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) and J&K Sports Council, was Founded in 2021, with the league is currently contested with 8 teams competing for title and I-League Qualifiers nomination in its inaugural edition.[5]

The inaugural season kicked off on 12 July 2021, with 8 teams competing for the maiden title and qualification for the I-League 2nd Division.[6] The 8 teams will play once against each other in a round-robin format. The Top 2 clubs will be nominated for I-League 2nd Division.[7]

With an idea to bring professional flavour into J&K football, the J&K Football Association (JKFA) launched JKFA Professional (Pro) Football League starting from July 12, 2021. The league would initially run parallel to main top-tier football league of J&K Premier League and with the passage of time is set to turn into completely professional league. JKFA has made it clear that this newly launched league would serve as qualifying tournament for the Second Division I-League organised by All India Football Federation (AIFF).

JKFA recently held meeting with five professional clubs of J&K who had applied for the second division I-League. As JKFA can nominate only two clubs out of five, it was decided to hold qualifying tournament for the teams. Later it was further decided to include three more teams as per AIFF directions to make it a proper Professional Qualifying League.

JKFA Professional League
Edition Years Winner Ref
1st 2021 J&K Bank [2]

League structure

There are four divisions in the league under the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA), with the J&K Premier Division being the top-most league, followed by three lower tiers.[1]

JKFA Premier Football League
Tier Division
I
(Level 5 on Indian Football pyramid)		 Premier Division
II
(Level 6 on Indian Football pyramid)		 Super Division
III
(Level 7 on Indian Football pyramid)		 A-Division
IV
(Level 8 on Indian Football pyramid)		 B-Division

Teams (2021)

A total of 8 teams participated in the league.

Team City/Town
Downtown Heroes FC Downtown Srinagar
Hyderya Sports FC Srinagar
J&K Bank FC Srinagar
J&K Sports Council Football Academy (SCFA) Srinagar
Kashmir Avengers FC Srinagar
Lonestar Kashmir FC Srinagar
Real Kashmir FC Reserves Srinagar
Shaheen FC Jammu

Media coverage
Period TV/ Live Streaming
2021 Sportscast India

Champions

J&K Premier Football League
Years Winner Ref
2017 J&K Bank [8]
2020 J&K Bank [9]
2021 J&K Bank [2]

See also

References
  1. Mukherjee, Soham (10 July 2018). "All you need to know about the football league structure in Jammu and Kashmir". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  2. "J&K Premier Football League". The Away End. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  3. "Jammu & Kashmir Football Association". www.the-aiff.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  4. "Jammu Kashmir Professional Football League 2021: Fixtures, results, standings & more". Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  5. GKNN. "JKFA set to launch first Pro Football league of J&K". Greater Kashmir. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  6. "JKFA set to launch first Pro Football league of J&K". Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  7. "JKFA Professional League". The Away End. 12 July 2021. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  8. Sports Correspondent, Excelsior (6 November 2017). "J&K Bank emerges winner of Premier Division League". www.dailyexcelsior.com. Kashmir: Daily Excelsior. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  9. Khan, Abid (8 July 2021). "'J&K Bank's dominance in football due to strong foundation laid by its academy'". www.greaterkashmir.com. Greater Kashmir. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
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