Under pressure from Fifa and the Asian Football Confederation, the All India Football Federation may merge the I-League and the Indian Super League next season. If that happens, then by a quirk of fate the winners of the first ever National football league in 1997 and the winners of the last ever I-League in 2018 will be teams from Punjab.

JCT were the inaugural champions and Minerva Punjab FC won the recently concluded 11th Hero I-League.

There are some similarities but more differences between these two victories. Both won the titles with decisive victories on the last day of the respective leagues. JCT trounced Dempo 4-1 on March 16, 1997, Baichung Bhutia scoring a hat-trick, and challengers Churchill Brothers drew 1-1 with Indian Bank.

On March 8, 2018, Minerva overcame Churchill Brothers 2-0, while their nearest challengers East Bengal and Neroca FC of Manipur out played a 1-1 draw in Kolkata.

Both JCT and Minerva FC won because their nearest challengers slumped at the end. In the eight- team inaugural NFL, in 1997 Churchill Brothers at one stage had 27 points from 11 games, four ahead of JCT.

They then lost their home match to JCT 0-1, drew 1-1 with both Dempo and unfancied Indian Bank to finish with 29 points.

In 2018, if East Bengal had won their last two matches they would have been champions on a superior head to head record against Minerva FC. But East Bengal drew 2-2 with Shillong Lajong and 1-1 at home with Neroca and so squandered their opportunity to win their first title since 2004.

The similarities end here. JCT had a star-studded team in 1997 with the two best players of their generation, I.M. Vijayan and Bhutia in the ranks along with internationals defender Jo Paul Ancheri and midfielders Carlton Chapman and Tejinder Kumar. They also had outstanding foreign talent including former Nigerian youth international Stephen Abarowei and defenders Christopher and Bernard Operanozie.

In contrast Minerva Punjab FC had no internationals or renowned players in their squad. They assembled a low budget team, costing barely `1.5 crore. They had the youngest ever squad to win the I-League. Ranjit Bajaj and coach Khogen Singh’s winning formula was military style fitness, a well organised defence and extraordinary commitment.

A new look squad consisting mostly of players from Punjab and some from Maharashtra (based on tips from former Air India coach Bimal Ghosh) surpassed expectations with some gutsy displays.

Surprisingly, despite impressive performances, none of their players were selected for the national squad by Stephen Constantine even though midfielder Gagandeep Bali and defender Sukhdev Singh consistently excelled.

Creditably, Bajaj, an involved owner, did not rely on agents for foreign recruits and made some bold selections. The dashing Bhutanese international Chencho Gyeltshen was the find of the season with his speed and cool finish. A sprint champion in Bhutan he finished as their top scorer with seven goals.

Kiran Limbu from Nepal was an acrobatic goalkeeper and William Asiedu Opoku (Ghana) the main playmaker.

So Minerva FC’s I-League victory is even more remarkable than that of Aizawl FC in 2017 as the  Mizoram club had international midfielders Mahmoud Al Amna (Syria) and Alfred Jaryan (Liberia) in their ranks.