Punjab Football Association

Punjab Football Association
Abbreviation	PFA
Formation	1932; 92 years ago; (as North-West India Football Association)
Headquarters	Phagwara
Region served	Punjab, India
Membership	23 district associations
President	Samir Thapar
Secretary	Harjinder Singh
Parent organization	All India Football Federation (AIFF)
Website	punjab.football

The Punjab Football Association (PFA), formerly the North-West India Football Association, is the state-level football governing body for Punjab, India.^[2] It is affiliated with the All India Football Federation, the sports national governing body. It sends state teams for Santosh Trophy and Senior Women's National Football Championship.

History[edit]

After partition, the East Punjab Football Association, came into existence on 24 February 1948 and its first President was Mr. Sanyal of the All India Jat Heroes Memorial College. The East Punjab Football Association was soon replaced by Punjab Football Association and Mr. Jolly became its first president. The Association was again affiliated to the All India Football Federation on 24 April 1951.

In 1970, when the Punjab Football Association was bifurcated, two separate associations, namely Punjab Football Association and Haryana Football Association were formed. M.C. Jolly resigned from the President of the Association on 19 May 1970 and D.D. Sehgal took over the command of the Association as its president and remained till 19 August 1970. In the year 1970 Punjab Football Association had the honour to hold 27th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy for the first time in Jalandhar (Punjab), which was won by Punjab Team beating Mysore 4-2 (tie-breaker) in the final. Again in the year 1974, Punjab FA had the honour to host 31st National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Jalandhar, which was won by Punjab Team beating Bengal 6-0 in the finals. Randhir Cheema, minister of Punjab, became President on 19 August 1978 and remained till 10 November 1980. H.S. Ajnala, the then Education & Sports Minister of Punjab, became President on 10 November 1980 and remained till 1 October 1981. N.L. Sehgal took over the command of the Association as its President on 1 October 1981 and remained till 1 May 1986.

In the year 1986 the Punjab State Super Football League was started and the first edition of the league was held at Bassi Pathana. Prior to the commencement of Punjab State Super Football League, all the affiliated units i.e. DFAs and clubs were jointly participating in the State Senior Football Championship. Punjab Junior Team won the 24th Junior National Football Championship held at Coimbatore by beating Kerala 5-4 in the finals. P.S. Jassar became president of the Association on 1 May 1986 and remained till 10 June 1993. Punjab junior team won the 31st Junior National Football Championship held at Jammu by beating Andhra Pradesh 4-2 (tie-breaker) in the finals. On 10 June 1993, Samir Thaper and G.S. Virk were unanimously elected as President and honorary secretary of Punjab Football Association.

In the two consecutive years, 1995 & 1996, JCT Football Club from Punjab won the Federation Cup held at Calcutta and Kannur. JCT Football Club had also the honour to win Inaugural National Football League (1996–1997). Punjab Senior Football Team had won the 31st National Games Punjab 2001 held at Jalandhar/Ludhiana. In the year 2001-2002 Punjab Junior Team won the 38th Junior National Football Championship held at Jaipur/Jodhpur by beating Goa 1-0 in the finals. In the year 2001, the General Body of Punjab FA decided to change the format of Punjab State Super Football League to home and away basis. ^[3]-->

Punjab football structure[edit]

The Punjab football structure is based on two state level leagues, followed by the district leagues.

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1 _{(Level 4 on Indian Football Pyramid)}	Punjab State Super Football League 6 clubs
2 _{(Level 5 on Indian Football Pyramid)}	Punjab Second Division 6 clubs
3 _{(Level 6 on Indian Football Pyramid)}	Punjab Third Division

Women's competitions[edit]

Punjab Women's League

District associations[edit]

Zone	President
Amritsar	Amritpal Sandhu
Bathinda	Balraj Raja
Barnala	Harjit Singh Grewal
Ferozepur	Jasminder Jakhar
Faridkot	Kushaldeep Dhillon
Fatehgarh Sahib	Didar Bhatti
Gurdaspur	Gurbinder Jolly
Hoshiarpur	H.S. Bains
Jalandhar	Inderjit Singh
Kapurthala	S.S. Jasser
Ludhiana	Shivtar Bajwa
Mansa	Narotam Chalal
Mohali	A.K. Kaushal
Muktsar	Shamsher Singh
Nawanshahr	Jarnail Singh
Pataila	Shamsher Bopari
Ropar	Sukhinder Singh
Sangrur	Raj Goyle
Tarntaran	Kuljit Singh

References[edit]

^ Kausik Bandyopadhyay (29 November 2020). Scoring Off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911–80. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000084054.
^ Siraj Chatterjee (10 December 2020). "Punjabi Football on a Roar!". footballindia.co.in. Football India. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
^ "History". PunjabFootball.com. ^{[dead link]}

External links[edit]

PFA Website

[1] Kausik Bandyopadhyay (29 November 2020). Scoring Off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911–80. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000084054.

[2] Siraj Chatterjee (10 December 2020). "Punjabi Football on a Roar!". footballindia.co.in. Football India. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.

[3] "History". PunjabFootball.com. ^{[dead link]}

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