Football in India
National Football League, established in 1996 by governing body All India Football Federation (AIFF) was the first "semi-professional" football league in India. 
The League was renamed and restructured and the I-League was founded in 2006 after India's former top league the National Football League disbanded in a successful effort aimed at increasing the game in India. Links with clubs that were not in the I-League were maintained, and each season the bottom two clubs are relegated from the I-League and replaced by two from the I-League 2nd Division. The I-League is currently contested between 11 clubs. The Kolkata Derby in the I League (and other tournaments) played between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal is one of the most fierce rivalries in the world (featured in FIFA website) and one of the oldest derbies in the world (90 years). An average 80, 000 to 100, 000 supporters throng the stadium in this special fixture.
I-League
In 1996 the first domestic league was started in India known as the National Football League. The league was started in an effort to introduce professionalism to Indian football. Despite that ambition, that has never been achieved. During the National Football League days the league suffered from poor infrastructure and unprofessionalism from its clubs. One of the clubs in the league, FC Kochin went defunct in 2002 after it was revealed that the club had not paid salaries since 2000 after running up 2.5 crores in losses a season.