The domination of Jharkhand Crows continued for yet another ARFAI National Championship in India for the junior boys and men’s divisions. However West Bengal Tigers took the women’s division trophy away for the first ever formal women’s National Championship in India, organised at the famous Birsa Munda Football stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand from 30 January to 1 February 2026.
Jharkhand won the senior division Grand Final defeating archrivals West Bengal Tigers once again, but this time dominating the game 8-5-53 to 2-4-16. In the junior division Grand Final, the Crows won a one-sided game defeating first time finalists Rajasthan Eagles 7-6-48 to 1-2-8, winning their eighth national title in junior division and continuing their domination.
The Bengal Tigers Women’s team defeated the Jharkhand Crows women’s team in a closely fought tight game 1-0-6 to 0-0-0, holding the previous years’ East-Zone Women’s champions without a score.
With support from the Government of Jharkhand, Sports Authority of India and Sports Authority of Jharkhand, the tournament was hosted in the home state of the multi-time national champions for the very first time. With experienced past players, coaches and state sports officials constituting the local organising committee at Jharkhand Footy Association (JFA) and great support from Sports Authority of Jharkhand (SAJHA), The tournament ended up being one of the best national championships for the sport in India so far.
Growing on from the 10th nationals in Odisha last year, the 11th nationals saw the tournament being played in the best football stadium in the state of Jharkhand with a wonderful turf to play on, some great facilities available for the players, and a first ever giant LED screen showing the matches live inside the stadium as well mad ethe tournament a memorable experience for everyone.
The added significance for the event was the attendance of the senior AFL executive delegation led by the AFL CEO Andrew Dillon himself. Mr. Dillon was attending the first ever international Footy competition outside Australia, and we are grateful that he chose India for the experience. He was joined by Walter Lee, Executive GM for Strategy, Investments and Data, Simon Highfield – International Development Manager and Meg De Jong – Social Media Lead from the AFL. The tournament also saw AFL umpire Jamie Broadbent travel over to India alongside Darren Maxwell from Bendigo Umpires Association (BUA) returning to India two years in a row to help officiate the games along with the Indian umpires. The tournament also saw Bharat Sundaresan, Indian cricket journalist now based in Australia fly in to help share the amazing work done for the Australian sport in India.
The organisers were honored to host several diplomatic guests including the Australian Deputy High Commissioner for India Mr. Nick McCaffrey and Ms. Emily Megow, First Secretary, Australian High Commission, New Delhi, among other notable guests. ARFAI also hosted several state dignitaries across the three days, including Mr. Supriyo Bhattacharya, General Secretary and Spokesperson of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party. Additionally, ARFAI also hosted students from University of Western Australia (UWA) from Perth, Western Australia, Somaiya Vidyavihar University from Mumbai and Sri Ramachandra Centre for Sports Science from Chennai, who helped as volunteer officials across the tournament and learning through various roles and responsibilities involved in organising a sports tournament.
The Boys Junior Division saw Telangana Saints and Rajasthan Eagles as two new teams making it to the semi finals for the first time with Rajasthan defeating Maharashtra Giants and Jharkhand defeating Telangana Saints before defeating Rajasthan to win the Grand Final for the junior division.
The Men’s Senior Division saw Maharashtra Giants and Kerala Bombers fight it out against the two predominantly stronger teams of Jharkhand Crows and West Bengal Tigers, with Kerala Bombers putting in a strong fight in their match against West Bengal Tigers in Semi Final 2. Jharkhand Crows, playing on their home turf for the first time.
The Women’s division saw a significant progression from last year with the first ever inter-state tournament for the women’s division hosted last year through the East Zone Championship 2025 to the first ever Women’s National Championship 2026 hosted in Ranchi with the host Jharkhand Crows playing against West Bengal Tigers and Bihar Bulldogs. In a surprising turn of events, West Bengal Tigers who fielded a fresh women’s team at the tournament were able to hold the East Zone champions from 2025 without a score and win the historic tournament.
The ARFAI would like to thank all the sponsors and supporters who made the tournament a grand success including the AFL, Richmond Football Club, Western Bulldogs Football Club, University of Western Australia (UWA), PNZ Express and Rumbul ARFAI is also grateful to all the officials and volunteers across ARFAI’s national organising committee headed by Ms. Kanchan P. Khurana, local organising committee volunteers headed by Jharkhand Footy Association (JFA) leaders Mahesh Tirkey and Manish Hemrom.
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