The Federation Cup (also known as

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

Federation Cup for sponsorship reasons) was an annual

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competition in Indian football which started in 1977. From its inception, until

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was started in 1997 (then called NFL), it was the most prestigious national level club football tournament in India. Until 2017, it was the most important club tournament after the I-League, to which it became a ''de facto'' League Cup. Winner of the Federation Cup was given direct entry in the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

. The holders of the 2017 Federation Cup were

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who beat

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2–0 in the 2017 final held in

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All India Football Federation The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry o ...

announced that Federation Cup will be put on hold to avoid scheduling conflict with

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and

, but after

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mandated that a club must play at least 18 matches in the season, AIFF decided to revive the tournament under new format.

Venues

Matches during the Federation Cup were usually held at neutral venues around India. The final was also held in a neutral venue. From 2015–16 season matches were played as two legged (home and away) knockout format.

Results

Past winners and runners-up

*''a.e.t.'': after extra time *''pen.'': score in penalty shootout

Teams reaching final

*''*'' : shared *''#'' :There were two federation cups in 1996

Overall top goalscorers

(''Note. * Includes 7 goals scored in Eastern Zone Qualifiers at Sibsagar – 1990 Federation Cup'')

References