A team called Northeast United (not to be confused with Indian Super League side NorthEast United) won the inaugural Indian Blind Football Premier League men’s title in Ahmedabad on June 19.
The competition, including a women’s category, was organised by the Indian Blind Football Federation and began on June 17. It featured four men’s teams and an equal number of women’s teams – Northeast United (men’s only), Three Two One Heroes Kerala (men’s and women’s), Glorious Gujarat (women’s only), Maratha Legions (women’s only), Shaan E Punjab (men’s only) and Madhya Pradesh Tiger (men’s and women’s).
The men’s final was contested between Northeast United and Three Two One Heroes Kerala. Regulation time ended 0-0 with the goalkeepers putting on a masterclass to keep the scores level throughout. However, in the tense penalty shootout, Jebilbang M Sangma stepped up and delivered the decisive goal, guiding Northeast United to a historic 1-0 win.
In the group stage, Three Two One Heroes had beaten Northeast Utd 3-2 despite a Klingson D Marak brace for the latter. Klingson also scored in the two earlier games for a total of four goals in the tournament.
Jebilbang was named Player of the Final and Emerging Player of the tournament.
Most of the other players from the Northeast team are from Meghalaya – Crusen Ch Marak, Prakash D Shira, Visindo M Sangma (goalkeeper), as well as coach Chikku R Marak. The other team members were Boji Marbom from Arunachal Pradesh, Odimong and Rongsen Yanger (goalkeeper), both from Nagaland.
The same Meghalaya players had been part of the state team that won the IBFF 6th Men’s Northeast Zonal Blind Football Championship 2025 in Guwahati early this month. They were led by Chikku as coach there as well.
In addition, one of the referees in Ahmedabad was Meghalaya’s Sankidaroi Sajem.
Meanwhile, the women’s title was won by Glorious Gujarat over Maratha Legions, again 1-0 in a penalty shootout.
In blind football, all players except the goalkeeper are blindfolded and are assisted by a coach and a goal guide. The players are guided by the sound of the ball, which contains bells. The goalkeeper, goal guide (who stays behind the opposite goal) and the coach (who runs along the side of the pitch) are the three sighted assistants who call out and direct the players to move with the ball.
