Western India Football Association
State governing body of Football in Maharashtra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Western India Football Association, abbreviated as WIFA,[1][2][3] is the governing body for football in the Indian state of Maharashtra.[4][5][6] It is affiliated with the All India Football Federation, the sports national governing body. The WIFA sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Rajmata Jijabai Trophy.
| |
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction |  Maharashtra |
| Membership | 36 district associations |
| Abbreviation | WIFA |
| Founded | 1902 (as Bombay Football Association) |
| Affiliation | All India Football Federation (AIFF) |
| Headquarters | Mumbai |
| President | Praful Patel |
| Secretary | Souter Vaz |
| Official website | |
| wifa | |
History
The Bombay Football Association was established in the Bombay province of 1902. It was amalgamated with the older Rovers Football Cup Committee to form the Western India Football Association on 12 July 1911.[7] Justice Russel became president of the WIFA while P. R. Cadell became vice-president,[8] and the objective of was to improve the sport of football in the Bombay state, and in the present-day Maharashtra. Before that, football games were organised for the Rovers Cup, which is India's second oldest football tournament started in 1890.[8]
Then in 2011, after the sudden rise in the popularity of football in India, WIFA decided to revamp the Maharashtra Football System. The first thing they decided to do was renovate Mumbai's only national football stadium, the Cooperage Ground.[9] After that they will work on starting the first ever statewide football league in Maharashtra known as the Maha League. They also announced plans to revive the Rovers Cup which had its last tournament in 2001.[10]
State teams
Men
|
Women
|
Affiliated district associations
All 36 district of Maharashtra are affiliated with the Western India Football Association.
| No. | Association | District | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ahmednagar District Football Association | Ahmednagar | Narenda S. Firodia |
| 2 | Akola District Football Association | Akola | Shyam Sarjuprasad Awasthi |
| 3 | Amravati district Football Association | Amravati | Arun M. Jaiswal |
| 4 | Aurangabad district Football Association | Aurangabad | Ranjitsingh Bhardwa |
| 5 | Beed district Football Association | Beed | Amarsingh Pandit |
| 6 | Bhandara district Football Association | Bhandara | Ahmed Lalani |
| 7 | Buldhana district Football Association | Buldhana | S. S. Thakare |
| 8 | Chanda district Football Association | Chandrapur | K. K. Singh |
| 9 | Dhule district Football Association | Dhule | Amrishbhai Patel |
| 10 | Gadchiroli district Football Association | Gadchiroli | Ravindra Darekar |
| 11 | The Gondia District Football Association | Gondia | Praful Patel |
| 12 | Hingoli district Football Association | Hingoli | Ab Samad |
| 13 | Jalgaon district Football Association | Jalgaon | Ulhas Patil |
| 14 | Jalna district Football Association | Jalna | Kailash Gorantyal |
| 15 | Kolhapur Sports Association | Kolhapur | Malojiraje Chhatrapati |
| 16 | Latur district Football Association | Latur | Shaikh Nizamoddin |
| 17 | Mumbai Football Association | Mumbai City | Aaditya Thackeray |
| 18 | Mumbai Suburban | ||
| 19 | The Nagpur District Football Association | Nagpur | Haresh K Vora |
| 20 | Nanded district Football Association | Nanded | Md. Sadique |
| 21 | Nandurbar district Football Association | Nandurbar | D.R.Patel |
| 22 | Football Association of Nashik district | Nashik | Dr. Anniruddha Dharmadhikari |
| 23 | Osmanabad District Haushi Football Association | Dharashiv | Sayyed Khalil Saif |
| 24 | Palghar district Football Association | Palghar | Parth Jindal |
| 25 | District Football Association Parbhani | Parbhani | Abdul Gaffar Master |
| 26 | Poona District Football Association | Pune | Vishwajeet Kadam |
| 27 | Raigad district Football Association | Raigad | Aadesh Bandekar |
| 28 | Football Association of Ratnagiri district | Ratnagiri | Prasad Pranjape |
| 29 | Sangli district Football Association | Sangli | Jaggu Sulaiman Sayed |
| 30 | Satara district Football Association | Satara | Dhananjay Jadhav |
| 31 | Sindhudurg district Football Association | Sindhudurg | Laxman Dalvi |
| 32 | Solapur City & District Football Association | Solapur | Mahesh Gadekar |
| 33 | Thane Football Association | Thane | Shrikant Shinde |
| 34 | District Football Association Wardha | Wardha | Anand Kalokar |
| 35 | Washim district Football Association | Washim | K.M.Azhar Hussain |
| 36 | Yavatmal district Football Association | Yavatmal | Indranil Naik |
Competitions
District level
Men's
Men's youth
|
Women's
Women's youth
|
Club level
Men'sMen's youth
|
Women'sWomen's youth
|
Maharashtra Football League pyramid
Men's
| Level | State leagues | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maharashtra State Senior Men's Football League promotion (to I-League 3) ↑↓ relegation | ||||||||
| District leagues | |||||||||
| District level | Mumbai city and suburban | Pune | Nagpur | Kolhapur | Thane | Aurangabad | Nashik | Palghar | |
| 2 | 1 | Mumbai Premier League
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Super Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
NDFA Elite Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
Kolhapur Senior League
↑promote |
Thane Super Division
↑promote |
Aurangabad Football League
↑promote |
Nashik Football League
↑promote |
Palghar Football League
↑promote |
| 3 | 2 | Mumbai Super League
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA First Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
NDFA Super Division League ↑promote ↓relegate |
1 divisions | ||||
| 4 | 3 | MFA First Division
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Second Division League
↑promote ↓relegate |
NDFA Senior Division League ↑promote | |||||
| 5 | 4 | MFA Second Division
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Third Division League
↑promote |
3 divisions | |||||
| 6 | 5 | MFA Third Division
↑promote |
4 divisions | ||||||
Women's
| Level | State leagues | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maharashtra State Senior Women's Football League promotion (to Indian Women's League 2) ↑↓ relegation | |||||
| District leagues | ||||||
| District level | Mumbai city and suburban | Pune | Kolhapur | Thane | Palghar | |
| 2 | 1 | Women's Premier League
↑promote ↓relegate |
PDFA Women's Division
↑promote |
Kolhapur Women's League
↑promote |
Thane District Women’s League
↑promote |
Palghar DFA Women's League
↑promote |
| 3 | 2 | Women's Super League
↑promote |
1 division | |||
Management
As of 2024[update]
| Office | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Praful Patel |
| Vice-president(s) | Haresh Vora |
| Malojiraje Chhatrapati | |
| Vishwajeet Kadam | |
| Shrikant Shinde | |
| Sunil Dhande | |
| Secretary | Kiran Chougule |
| Assistant Secretary(s) | Sushilkumar Surve |
| Khaja Ansari | |
| Ahmed Lalani | |
| Treasurer | Salim Parkote |