The I–League is a top domestic club football competition in India that started in 2007 as the successor of the National Football League. At the end of every season, the top goal-scorer receives the prestigious I-League Golden Boot award. Let’s take a closer look at the list of all the recipients of this award.
1. Ranti Martins (5 Titles)
Ranti Martins is a retired Nigerian striker, who won the I–League Golden Boot award five times. He first won the award in 2010-11 season with Dempo for scoring 28 goals. He won it again in 2011-12 for scoring 32 goals and in 2012-13 season with Prayag United for scoring 26 goals in 25 matches, winning the award three times in a row.
Martins again won the award consecutively for two seasons (2014-15 and 2015-16), while playing for East Bengal, scoring 17 and 12 goals respectively. Martins is one of the best foreign players to play in the I-League, with a record of 214 goals across all seasons. His 2011-12 season at Dempo, where he scored 32 goals in a single season is still a record.
2. Odafe Onyeka Okolie (3 Titles)
Odafe Onyeka Okolie is a professional footballer from Nigeria, who won the I–League golden boot award consecutively for three seasons. He won it from the inaugural season of 2007-08 till the 2009-10 season, while playing for Churchill Brothers. In 2007-08, Odafe scored 22 goals in 18 games, in 2008-09 he scored 24 goals in 22 matches, and in 2009-10, he scored 21 goals in 24 appearances.
In 2011, he was the highest-paid footballer in I-league earning INR 1.4 crore per year. Odafe is also the second-highest goal-scorer of all-time in the I-League and NFL history with 179 goals. He also holds the record for scoring 13 hat-tricks in the I-League.
3. Aser Pierrick Dipanda (2 Titles)
Aser Pierrick Dipanda won the I-League Golden Boot for two consecutive seasons. The Cameroonian won the award for the first time in the 2016-17 season while playing for Shillong Lajong, scoring 11 goals in 17 matches. He won the award again the next season (2017-18) with Mohun Bagan, scoring 13 goals in 18 games.
Dipanda made his debut in the I-League in 2016 for DSK Shivajians on 17 January against Sporting Goa. Currently, he is playing as a forward for Minerva Punjab FC.
4. Cornell Glen, Sunil Chhetri and Darryl Duffy (1 Title)
All the three of them became joint top-scorers in the 2013-14 season, scoring 14 goals throughout the season. Glen, a Trinidadian forward reached this 14-goal mark in 19 matches while playing for Shillong Lajong.
Indian Captain Chhetri was able to reach this mark in 23 matches with Bengaluru FC. Ever since the beginning of the I-League, Sunil Chhetri is the only Indian player to win the I-League Golden Boot award with his prolific performance.
Scottish striker Duffy signed for Salgaocar in 2013. Duffy scored the winner on his debut for Salgaocar in their 1–0 win over Churchill Brothers. He scored 14 goals in 24 games for Salgaocar and won the Golden Boot.
5. Pedro Manzi (1 Title)
The most recent recipient of this award is this Uruguayan-Spanish player Pedro Manzi. He had an exceptional season with Chennai City FC, scoring 18 goals in 21 matches. He joined Chennai City FC in May 2018 and made his debut against Indian Arrows in October 2018. He scored four hat-tricks in the 2018-19 season, eventually winning the I-League Golden Boot award.
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Manzi started playing for the Espanyol youth team and began his senior professional career in 2009 with Universidad de Las Palmas. He recently signed to play as a forward for the Japanese club Albirex Niigata.
Blogging Geek 