team was then revived by AIFF and was provided with jaw-dropping number of quality friendlies during the late 2010s in an attempt to empower women's football. The AIFF had also successfully won the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup hosting bid. Men's U-23 team Men's U-20 team Includes U-19 and U-18 team's performance. Men's U-17 team Includes U-16 and U-15 team's performance. Women's U-20 team Includes U-19 and U-18 team's performance. Women's U-17 team Includes U-16 and U-15 team's performance. Club competitions India currently has three national level leagues. Indian Super League is the top tier league, followed by I-League and I-League 2 (from 2022). The I-League 2 currently acts as a virtual final round for the top teams in the state leagues that are nominated by the State football associations. Besides leagues, India also has several cup tournaments, the notable ones include Durand Cup, Super Cup and IFA Shield. Evolution in tier system Leagues Level I National Football League (1996–2007) Founded in 1996, the National Football League was the first football league of India to be organised on a national scale. The aim was to develop the sport in the country and give a platform for Indian footballers to showcase their talent. But due to several problems the league was defunct to make way for a new professional I-League. I-League (2008–2019) After the end of 2006-07 season, AIFF disbanded the NFL after missing the aim of professionalism. Supportive to this decision was also the presence of poor infrastructure and financially weak clubs. To replace NFL, AIFF introduced a fully professional I-League, with ten clubs from the last season of NFL participating in the maiden season of I-League. The league was declared as joint top tier in 2019–20 season when AFC approved AIFF's proposal to demote the AFC Champions League slot of the league to a virtual knockout competition for the AFC Cup slot. Three seasons later, the league was completely demoted to second tier status in Indian football with the league champions now promoted to the Indian Super League. Indian Super League (2019–present) The I-League, which was promised to be a professional league, soon began to suffer from lack of popularity due to poor marketing as the seasons passed by. The deal between Zee Sports and AIFF which was initially signed for a ten-year term in 2006 was terminated in 2010 after disagreement between both the parties. AIFF then signed