Football in India
The Indian Super League, a tournament just recently recognized by AFC or FIFA, was founded in 2013 in an effort to make football a top sport in India and to make Indian football a major player worldwide. The league operates along the lines of the Twenty20 cricket Indian Premier League, and Major League Soccer of the United States. Unlike the vast majority of football leagues around the world, the ISL does not use the promotion and relegation system. Instead, it uses an American style franchise system in which ten teams were specifically created to participate in the league. Each team in the ISL is composed of players from I league or state league, apart from the foreigners who may or may not be a part of the I league. Recently it was recognised as the second national league in India, which means ISL champions from 2017–2018 leagues will be eligible for an AFC Cup qualifying slot
JCT F.C.
On 2 August JCT F.C. in collaboration with India On Track are set to revive their senior football team after three years and plan to make their return by entering the 2015 I-League second division.
In last 3 decades of its existence, the JCT is the first Indian team outside Kolkata to win the IFA Shield. Apart from this, the JCT Club have won many prestigious tournaments and brought laurels to the State of Punjab. They also won the opening edition of the National Football League in 1996. JCT Club has also been the winner of the Asian Club Championship and finished 3rd in the 2007–2008 season of the newly formed I-League. The team has been 8 times winner of the Punjab Football League and 5 times winner of the Durand Cup. The success and the constant good performance of the club is attributed to its owner, the Thapars who apart from being business moguls, have been in constant effort to enhance the bar of their club at all the levels.