 It was announced that the league would feature the eight teams in the league and two other spots would be determined through a pre-qualification round.On 14 October, the AIFF announced that the preliminary rounds for the Women's League would begin on 17 October 2016 in which ten teams are split into two groups of five teams each, with the winner from each group qualifying for the national finals.On 24 January 2017, AIFF launched the first ever women's professional league with six teams.