Women’s Football
The Indian Women's League: how the top division works
Eight clubs, one round of fixtures and a direct route into Asian football. Here is how the Indian Women's League is built and what it decides.
The women’s national team, the league and the players pushing the game forward.
Eight clubs, one round of fixtures and a direct route into Asian football. Here is how the Indian Women's League is built and what it decides.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Organiser | All India Football Federation (AIFF) |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Teams this season | 8 |
| Format | Single round-robin league |
| Relegation | Indian Women's League 2 |
| Reigning champions | East Bengal (2nd title) |
| Most titles | Gokulam Kerala (3) |
| Continental route | AFC Women's Champions League; SAFF Women's Club Championship |
Eight clubs is a small league by design: the IWL concentrates the country's best women's teams into a short, intense season, with the second division and the state championships feeding it. That structure is why the title race tends to be decided by head-to-head results rather than squad depth over 20-plus matches.
