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I-League 2nd Division

Season	2022–23
Dates	Qualifying: 12 – 16 February Competition proper: 13 March – 26 May
Champions	Delhi
Promoted	Delhi Shillong Lajong
Matches played	88
Goals scored	243 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Irfan Yadwad (13 goals)
Biggest home win	Bengaluru United 5–0 Chennaiyin (R) (14 April) East Bengal (R) 5–0 The Diamond Rock (23 April) Shillong Lajong 5–0 East Bengal (R) (29 April)
Biggest away win	Chennaiyin (R) 0–5 Bengaluru United (31 March) Mumbai City (R) 0–5 Delhi (9 April)
Highest scoring	United 4–3 Ambernath United Atlanta (21 May)
Longest winless run	8 matches Mumbai City (R)
Longest losing run	6 matches The Diamond Rock
Highest attendance	5,275 Shillong Lajong 2–1 Bengaluru United (21 May)
Lowest attendance	25 Chennaiyin (R) 2–1 RKM FA (10 April)
Total attendance	39,800
Average attendance	452
← 2021 2023–24 →

2022–23 Hero I-League 2nd Division (known as Hero 2022–23 2nd Division League) was the 15th season of the I-League 2nd Division since its establishment in 2008. This was the first season of I-League 2nd Division since rebranding as the third tier of Indian football league system. The league's group stage has been played from March to May 2023, parallel to the remaining part of both I-League and Indian Super League seasons. The top two teams on the league table, Delhi and Shillong Lajong, secured a place in the 2023–24 I-League season.

On 27 September 2022, the league committee meeting presided by Lalnghinglova Hmar was held. It was initially decided that 15 teams would participate in the upcoming season, including the reserve sides of ISL teams. The final phase of the league will be played on a home-and-away basis.

However, on 16 December, the league committee decided that 20 teams would play in I-League 2, consisting of 12 state league champions along with 6 ISL reserve sides and two qualification tournament winners.

On 13 January, the League committee decided that two clubs would be promoted to I-League, and two relegated clubs, along with the remaining three final-round clubs, would directly qualify for the final round of next season.

Changes from last season

• The league will have state league champions or other eligible teams nominated by their respective state football associations besides the six reserve teams of the Indian Super League.

• Teams will be divided into zones to minimize the travel, and the winners from each zone will qualify for the final phase.

• The final round will be played on a home and away basis, consisting of 5 teams.

• The two among five teams who finish at the top of the table after the final phase is promoted to the l-League.

• The two relegated I-League teams and the other three final phase teams will directly qualify for the I-League 2 final phase next season.

• Mandatory club licensing criteria are removed for participating in the league.

Qualification

Selection criteria

1. State association can nominate the state league champions or other clubs based on the conducted state leagues in the previous season.
2. State association can also nominate other clubs for the qualifier tournament without the state league.
3. Nominated institutional clubs are ineligible for participation in the league.

Teams selection through state leagues

As per AIFF, teams will be selected to participate in I-League 2 through state leagues nominations. Only the top-qualified team can be nominated from the state league. KLASA FC was the champions of the Manipur state league, but the All Manipur Football Association didn't nominate it but instead nominated the 5th position KIYC. AIFF decided not to allow any club from Manipur in the competition.

The following clubs were confirmed by their state football associations for the 2022–23 season of I-League 2.

The following clubs were not allowed to participate by the state football associations for the 2022–23 season of I-League 2.

Reserve teams

The reserve teams of the 6 Indian Super League clubs will participate. However, they would not be eligible for promotion.

Qualification tournament

The states that did not conduct their leagues in the previous season nominated respective clubs to participate in the qualification tournament. The top 2 teams qualified for I-league 2.

Qualifier group

Clubs

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
ARA	Vivek Nagul	Naro Hari Shrestha	SEVEN	Amul
Ambernath United Atlanta	Steven Dias	Himanshu Patil		Ambernath United Atlanta
Delhi	Surinder Singh	Gurtej Singh	Astro	Colordesign India
Dempo	Samir Naik	Shallum Pires	Shiv Naresh	Dempo
Downtown Heroes	Hilal Rasool Parray	Zubair Ahad Akhoon	Chinar	J&K Bank
Bengaluru United	Fernando Varela	Sushil Meitei	Hummel	NIMIDA
Golden Threads	Samuel Geevarghese	Bibake Thapa	Nivia	Wayna
Jagat Singh Palahi	Sukhwinder Kumar	Shamsher Singh Mahala	JB Sports	JSP Football Academy
RKM FA	Jahar Das	Suresh Kumar Dhruv	Nivia
Shillong Lajong	Bobby Nongbet	Atlanson Kharmaw	Nivia
Techtro Swades United	Vipin Thapa	Janio Fernandas	King
The Diamond Rock	Chandan Rathod	Sujit Hansda	Nivia	Apollo Tyres
United	Steve Herbots	Sanjib Mondal	Trak Only
Bengaluru (R)	Kaizad Ambapardiwala	Harmanpreet Singh Lara Sharma	Puma	JSW
Chennaiyin (R)	Cleofas Alex	Aqib Nawab	Nivia
East Bengal (R)	Bino George	Sanjib Ghosh	Trak Only	Emami
Goa (R)	Sugitesh Mandrekar	Mevan Dias	T10 Sports	Parimatch News
Hyderabad (R)	Renjith Ajithkumar	Mark Zothanpuia	Hummel	Stake News
Mumbai City (R)	Anthony Fernandes	Ahan Prakash	Puma

Group stage

6 Indian Super League reserve sides play in this round, along with 12 state champions and two state qualification tournament winners.

Twenty teams are divided into four groups of 5, where each team plays each other twice in a home and away format. Each group winner along with the best second placed team qualify for the final round.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

1. ^ Head-to-head points: Ambernath United Atlanta 4, ARA 1.

Ranking of second-placed teams

Since Group B has fewer teams, the result against fifth-placed teams in other groups will not be counted for the table ranking below.

Final round

The top 5 teams from the group stage will play each other in the final round in a single-leg format. The top 2 teams will qualify for the I-League.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 26 May 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Irfan Yadwad	Bengaluru United	13
2	Hardy Nongbri	Shillong Lajong	8
3	Balwant Singh	Delhi	7
	Ateeb Ahmed Dar	Downtown Heroes
	Himanshu Patil	Ambernath United Atlanta

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Irfan Yadwad	Bengaluru United	Chennaiyin (R)	0–5 (A)	31 March 2023

Clean sheets

As of 26 May 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Bishal Lama	Shillong Lajong	6
2	Furqan Ahmad Dar	Downtown Heroes	5
	Antonio Da Silva	Dempo
	Srijith R	Bengaluru United
5	Sangramjit Roy Chowdhury	ARA	4
	Nitish Mehra	Delhi

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 4
  • Gaurav Rawat
  • Himanshu Patil
  • Shahmeer Tariq
  • Aron Vanlalrinchhana

• Most red cards: 1
  • 18 players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 21
  • FC Bengaluru United

• Most red cards: 3
  • FC Goa (R)

Attendances

Overall statistical table

Source: I-League.org

See also

• 2022–23 Indian Super League
• 2022–23 I-League
• 2022–23 Elite Youth League
• 2023 RF Development League

References

1. ^ "AIFF set to ban foreign players from lower leagues". The Times of India. 27 September 2022.
2. "Shillong Lajong return to Hero I-League after four years". the-aiff.com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. 21 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
3. Ganapathy, Vivek (21 May 2022). "Shillong Lajong Promoted to I-League After Four Years With 2–1 Win Over Bengaluru United". news18.com. New Delhi: News18 Sports. Press Trust of India. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
4. "Meghalaya | Shillong Lajong FC to participate in I-League after four years". nenow.in. Shillong: North East Now News. Press Trust of India. 22 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
5. "Delhi FC crowned Hero 2nd Division champions, earn promotion to Hero I-League". i-league.org. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
6. "Shillong Lajong return to I-League after four years". i-league.org. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
7. "AIFF League Committee meets via video conferencing". www.the-aiff.com.
8. ^ "Lalnghinglova Hmar chairs AIFF League Committee meet". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
9. ^ "AIFF League Committee meeting chaired online by Lalnghinglova Hmar". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
10. "League Committee meets over video conferencing". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
11. Mergulhao, Marcus (15 May 2022). "12-team I-League next season, no promotion from second division". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
12. "Dempo prepare for comeback with Second Division I-League". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
13. "AIFF League Committee meeting chaired online by Lalnghinglova Hmar". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
14. "Four teams will play the Hero 2nd Division League 2022-23 Qualifiers in Kokrajhar". www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
15. "Statistics: Hero 2nd Division League". I-League. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
16. "Chennaiyin (R) 0 – 5 FC Bengaluru United". i-league.org. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.

Further reading

• Media Team, AIFF (26 May 2023). "Delhi FC crowned Hero 2nd Division champions, earn promotion to Hero I-League". the-aiff.com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
• "Delhi FC clinch second division title and promotion to I-League". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. New Delhi: The Times of India. PTI. 26 May 2023. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
• Basu, Ritayan (26 May 2023). "Delhi FC Crowned 2nd Division Champions, Earn Promotion to I-League". News18.com. New Delhi. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
• "Delhi FC secure maiden I-League berth". indianexpress.com. New Delhi: The Indian Express. PTI. 26 May 2023. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

External links

• I-League
• AIFF

• I-League 2 seasons
• 2022–23 in Indian football leagues
• 2022–23 in Asian third tier association football leagues