ISL 2018-19: Chennaiyin FC's season of lows - 5 League Champions who finished near Bottom the next season

Churchill Brothers (I-League)

Churchill Brothers' players celebrate with fans after winning the 2012-13 I-League

Churchill Brothers were the champions in the 2012-13 edition of the I-League, thanks to remarkable man management by technical Subhash Bhowmick.

With Brazilian Beto as captain, Churchill took the league by storm and wrapped it up with a game to spare. With 55 points in 26 games, they were the overwhelming champions with 16 wins, 7 draws and 3 losses. Second-placed Pune FC had six losses compared to Churchill's 3 and finished on 52 points.

It wasn't an easy feat as Churchill had to deal with the departure of Bilal Najjarine and Akram Moghrabi midway through the season to overcome the odds in the 13-team league.

Churchill signed Sunil Chhetri on loan from Sporting Lisbon B and also brought in Afghani Belal Arezou for the second half of the campaign.

The 2013-14 season was a season of misery for Churchill. The same coaching staff continued but Beto was no longer part of the squad for Churchill. The Goan club had Anthony Wolfe as their main striker but could not repeat the success of 2012-13. They finished their league outings with 25 points in 24 games, managing to win just 6 times.

Karanjit Singh (left) and Jeje Lalpekhlua of Chennaiyin FC

One of those was a famous 1-0 win over East Bengal but Churchill found themselves bottom of the pack. Even though they had the worst goal difference in the league (-12), a better head-to-head record helped them from finishing bottom.

However, Churchill anyway suffered humiliation as the All India Football Federation barred them for the next season for failing AFC's licensing criteria. Churchill took the AIFF to court over the exclusion and regained entry into the I-League in the 2016-17 season.