The draw of the preliminary groups of the inaugural 2008 I-League 2nd Division was carried out at Football House, Dwarka on 25 February 2008. The 12 participating teams have been drawn into two groups of six teams each to be played in Balewadi Sports ComplexPune and Rajarshi Shahu Stadium Kolhapur. The final round was played in Guwahati, Assam.[citation needed]
The top four teams in the I-League 2nd Division qualified for the I-League (2008–09), while the rest will be remain to I League Division 2 in the next season. Mumbai were the champions of the inaugural I-League 2nd Division.[1]
The AIFF had selected Pune and Kolhapur as preliminary round venues to take the game to different cities.