2023 CFL Premier Division

The 2023 CFL Premier Division is the 125th overall season of the Calcutta Football League – highest state-level football divisions of West Bengal. The 2023 edition saw two top tiers merged, with 26 teams participating in the tournament for the first time since its inception.[1]

CFL Premier Division
Season2023
Dates25 June – 30 November
ChampionsMohammedan (14th title)
RelegatedWest Bengal Police FC
Calcutta FC
Matches played196
Goals scored579 (2.95 per match)
Top goalscorerDavid Lalhlansanga (21)
Highest scoringEast Bengal 10–1 Kidderpore (26 September)
George Telegraph 10-1 FCI (20 November)
Longest unbeaten run12 matches (East Bengal)
2022
2024 →

Format

The 2023 CFL Premier Division merged the top two tiers, Premier A and B, to form an expanded 26-team competition.[2] Two groups of thirteen teams were divided ,with each team playing every other in the group once. The top three teams proceeded to the Super Six round, where they vied for the championship with the points from group stage being carried over.[3] Each group's bottom four teams enter the relegation round.[1][4]As per the rules set by AIFF, this year, no foreign players will be participating in the league. [5]

Available venues

Teams

2023 CFL Premier Division (West Bengal)
2023 CFL Premier Division (Kolkata)

The 26 teams were divided into two groups based on a draw held on 5 June 2023.[1][6][7]

Group AGroup B
TeamHead coachCaptainTeamHead coachCaptain
Army Red L Antony Ramesh Suresh MeiteiAryan Rajdeep Nandy Laltu Mondal
Calcutta FC Jamshid Nassiri Surojit DasBhawanipore Ranjan Chaudhuri Jiten Murmu
Dalhousie AC Mridul Banerjee Karan GomesBSS Subrata Biswas Surajit Seal
Diamond Harbour FC Kibu Vicuna Abhishek DasCalcutta Customs Biswajit Bhattacharya Amit Chakraborty
FCI (East Zone) Arun Saha Dhananjoy AdhikariEast Bengal Bino George Subhendu Mandi
Kalighat MS Patam Bahadur Thapa Madan MandiEastern Railway Prasanta Chakraborty Sumit Orao
Mohammedan Sporting Mehrajuddin Wadoo Samad Ali MallickGeorge Telegraph Goutam Ghosh Sourish Lodh Chowdhury
Mohun Bagan SG Bastab Roy Sumit RathiKidderpore Sayantan Das Roy Gurmeet Singh
Pathachakra Rajarshi Ghosh Ankan BhattacharjeePolice AC Supriya Dasgupta Suraj Bahadur Gurung
Peerless Hemanta Dora[8] Amit TuduRailway Kaushik Paul Monish Majumder
Southern Samity Ranjan Bhattacharjee Debayan HazraRainbow Aditya Chatterjee Debayan Saha
Tollygunge Agragami Arindam Deb Sujoy MondalWari Micky Fernandes Swarup Sarkar
United Steven Herbots Sanjib MondalWest Bengal Police FC Ashok Chakraborty Subrata Biswas

First stage

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Mohammedan SC12921339+2429Qualified for the Super Six round
2Diamond Harbour FC12921265+2129
3Mohun Bagan SG127323013+1724
4Kalighat MS12732218+1324
5Army Red125611811+721
6Peerless SC12552229+1320
7United SC12615258+1719
8Southern Samity124351417−315
9Tollygunge Agragami FC12228928−198
10Pathachakra121471328−157Relegation round
11Calcutta FC12147838−307
12FCI (East Zone)12138832−246
13Dalhousie AC12048829−214
Updated to match(es) played on 17 September 2023. Source: The Away End
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1East Bengal12930296+2330Qualified for the Super Six round
2Bhawanipore12831238+1527
3Kidderpore128131611+525
4Aryan128042812+1624
5Calcutta Customs126151313019
6ASOS Rainbow125251110+117
7Wari125161623−716
8Railway FC123361221−912
9BSS122551214−211
10George Telegraph123271119−811Relegation round
11Eastern Railway123271626−1011
12Police AC123181022−1210
13West Bengal Police122281224−128
Updated to match(es) played on 7 September 2023. Source: The Away End
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots

Super Six

The top three teams from both groups qualified for the Super Six round with the points from group stage being carried over.[9]

Standings

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Mohammedan (C)1714214411+3344Champions
2East Bengal1713315010+4042
3Diamond Harbour (Q)1610333212+2033Eligible for 2024–25 I-League 3[a]
4Bhawanipore168442618+828
5Mohun Bagan SG158343319+1425[b]
6Kidderpore158161729−1225
Updated to match(es) played on 30 November 2023. Source: The Away End
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) fair play ranking; 7) drawing of lots
(C) Champions; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Notes:

Fixtures

Team 1 \ Team 2BHADHBEABKIDMOHMBG
Bhawanipore2–20–3*DNP1–20–3*
Diamond Harbour1–43–00–2DNP
East Bengal10–11–23–0*
Kidderpore0–5DNP
Mohammedan2–0
Mohun Bagan SG
Updated to match(es) played on 12 November 2023. Source: The Away End
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Yellow = draw; Red = top row team win.

Relegation Round

Points table

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Pathachakra196583036−623
2George Telegraph196493227+522
3Police A.C.196492233−1122
4Eastern Railway195592333−1020
5Dalhousie AC193791736−1916
6FCI1934121652−3613
7WB Police1933131839−2112Relegated to the First Division
8Calcutta FC1918101650−3411
Updated to match(es) played on 20 November. Source: The Away End
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) fair play ranking; 7) drawing of lots

Fixtures

Team 1 \ Team 2CFCDALEARFCIGETPTCPACWBP
Calcutta FC1–22–20–12–22–41–10–0
Dalhousie AC2–31–01–10–02–21–0
Eastern Railway0–00–12–00–00–2
FCI1–102–41–33–2
George Telegraph2–30–15–0
Pathachakra5–01–0
Police A.C.5–2
WB Police
Updated to match(es) played on 12 November 2023. Source: The Away End
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Yellow = draw; Red = top row team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 30 December 2023
RankPlayerClubGoals
1 David LalhlansangaMohammedan SC21
2 Rahul PaswanDiamond Harbour FC12
Sahil HarijanPathachakra
4 Sagar Kumar KhamaruEastern Railway9
5 Suhail Ahmad BhatMohun Bagan SG8
Jiten MurmuBhawanipore
7 Muhammed Ashiq ShoukathaliKidderpore7
8 Anubrata MaityPathachakra6
Dipesh MurmuUnited
Mandeep Singh MultaniWari
Liton ShilArmy Red
Aman C. K.East Bengal FC
Jesin TKEast Bengal FC
Achinta GhoshAryan FC
Vishnu P.V.East Bengal FC

Hat-tricks

Note: In the result, the score of the player's team is mentioned before.

PlayerForAgainstResultDate
Saikat SarkarAryanPolice AC4–11 July 2023
David LalhlansangaMohammedan SCCalcutta FC7–012 July 2023
Beneston Piecton BarrettoMohammedan SCCalcutta FC7–012 July 2023
Lalrinliana HnamteMohun Bagan SGTollygunge Agragami5–112 July 2023
Suhail Ahmad BhatMohun Bagan SGDalhousie5–216 July 2023
Dipesh MurmuUnitedCalcutta FC8–025 July 2023
Liton ShilArmy RedSouthern Samity3–225 July 2023
Md AmirulAryanKidderpore SC4–026 July 2023
Jesin TKEast BengalGeorge Telegraph SC4–07 September 2023
Vishnu PVEast BengalKidderpore SC10–126 September 2023
Mahitosh RoyEast BengalKidderpore SC10–126 September 2023

References