National Football League (India)
The National Football League (commonly known as the NFL) was an association football league competition in India between 1996 and 2007 which was organised into three divisions. The league is now transformed into the I-League and continues with that name. The "Premier Division" of the league was first introduced in 1996, though the country already had a long history in the sport thanks to the likes of the IFA Shield and the Federation Cup. In fact, the Santosh Trophy (started in 1941) was the top football competition in the country before the then National Football League started.
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.