Indian Women's League

This article is about the top division in women's Indian football. For top division in Indian men's football, see Indian Super League.

Indian Women's League
Organising bodyAll India Football Federation (AIFF)
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)
CountryIndia
ConfederationAFC
Number of teams8
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toIndian Women's League 2
International cup(s)AFC Women's Champions League
Current championsOdisha (1st title)
Most championshipsGokulam Kerala (3 titles)
TV partnersIndian Football (YouTube)
Websitethe-aiff.com
Current: 2024–25

The Indian Women's League (abbreviated as the IWL) is the women's top tier professional football league in India.[1] Founded in 2016, currently a total of 7 teams from across the country participate in the league.[2]

The competition was planned since 2014 and got established in 2016, with the first season starting from October 2016 in Cuttack, Odisha.[3] The league was launched as India's first professional football league for women with the aim to increase the player pool for India national team. Since 2019–20, the clubs that become champions are granted an opportunity to play in the AFC Women's Club Championship, the top tier women's club football competition in Asia.

Until now four clubs have been crowned as champions: Eastern Sporting Union, Rising Students Club, Sethu and Gokulam Kerala. Out of them Gokulam Kerala has lifted the championship trophy thrice.[4]

  1. ^ "IWL: Tough battle awaits for debutants Churchill Brothers". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Goa: The Times of India. TNN. 24 April 2023. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  2. ^ "New clubs and new goals are at the forefront of the Hero IWL". FootballExpress.in. 25 April 2023.
  3. ^ Puri, Rohan (21 April 2016). "Women's football league from October". Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Indian Women's League 2023: Gokulam Kerala thrash Kickstart FC 5–0 to win third consecutive title". sportstar.thehindu.com. Chennai: Sportstar. 21 May 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.