Chennai City F.C.

Chennai City Football Club is an Indian football club based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The club has compete as a member of the I-League, under license from All India Football Federation (AIFF). The club was established in 1946 as Netaji Sports Club by five friends. The club has spend the grand majority of its history competing in the local state and city tournaments but entered the national stage in 2016. On 11 December 2016, the team were awarded a direct-entry spot into the I-League for the 2016–17 season, and became I-League champions the 2018-19 season.

Chennai City FC

Full name	Chennai City Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Lions
Founded	1946; 73 years ago (as Nethaji Sports Club)
Ground	Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore Nehru Stadium, Chennai (most games)
Capacity	30,000 40,000
Owners	Rohit Ramesh and Family 69% and R Krishnakumar (5%) FC Basel (26%)
League	I-League
2018–19	I-League,1st of 11 (champions)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

The club was founded in 1946 as Netaji Sports Club by five friends, SV Kanagasabai, E Vadivelu, TR Govindarajan, PV Chellappa and K Ekambaram.[1] On 11 December 2016, the club was accepted as a direct entry club for 2016–17 I-League and became the second club from Tamil Nadu to play in the top division after Indian Bank team in National Football League.[2] On 6 February 2019 Chennai City FC had agreed for a partnership with FC Basel who now owns 26 percent of the club and would develop football in the state by building football schools for young talents

FC Basel will also have a player exchange program, including first team players, with CCFC and help the club with technical know how.[3][4]

On 9 March 2019, Chennai City FC beat former champions Minerva Punjab 3–1 to be crowned the 2018–19 I-League champions. This marked the finish of a very successful season for the club, defying all expectations to win the league. Spanish-Uruguayan forward Pedro Manzi also scored a brace in this match, and was the joint top scorer of the league, scoring 21 league goals. This was Chennai City FC's first ever I-League title, and they will now represent India in the AFC Champions League.

Chennai City FC also played in the Hero Super Cup during March–April 2019, and lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions FC Goa. However, they did manage to win 2–1 against ISL champions Bengaluru FC in the quarter finals.

Stadium

The club plays its home games at Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore. Constructed in 1971, it is currently used mostly for football matches and has a capacity of 30,000. Prior to 2017–2018 season, the club played their home matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai. The club decided to play their continental matches from Ahmedabad.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
2016—2017	Classic Polo	Baako
2017—2018	Counter Sports	—
2018—19	Penalty
2019—present	Uhlsport	Nippon Paint

Players

First-team squad

As of 3 March 2020.[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  IND Bijay Chhetri 3 DF  IND Tarif Akhand (on loan from Hyderabad) 6 FW  IND Mashoor Shereef 8 MF  IND Ahmed Sahib Hasan Abdul Cader 9 MF  IND Vijay T 12 MF  IND Charles Anandraj 13 GK  IND Kabir Thaufiq 15 MF  IND Vijay Nagappan 16 MF  IND Vineeth Kumar Murugan 17 MF  IND Pravitto Raju 18 DF  IND Ajith Kumar

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  IND Jockson Dhas 21 MF  IND Lenin Mithran Mithralayam Shanmugan 22 DF  IND Sriram Boopathi 23 MF  IND Shem Marton 24 DF  IND Ranjeet Pandre 26 MF  IND Syed Suhail Pasha 28 DF  IND Pradison Mariyadasan 32 MF  IND Lijo Francis 35 DF  IND Jishnu Balakrishnan 36 DF  IND Varun Mathur 49 MF  IND Rohit Mirza 50 GK  IND Shahinlal Meloly

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

No. Pos. Nation Player

Current technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Akbar Nawas[6]
Assistant Coach	Satyasagara
Team Manager	Ashok Kumar
Goalkeeping Coach	V P Sathiesh Kumar
Sports Physiotherapist	Dr.Ragunath Manogaran
Video Analyst	Aravind Chandrasekaran

Honours

I-League

• Champions: 2018–19

Contiental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2020	AFC Champions League	Preliminary round 1	Al-Riffa	0–1
2020	AFC Cup	Group E	Maziya S&RC	2–2
			TC Sports
			Bashundhara Kings

Team records

I-League

Season	Div.	Tms.	Pos.	Attendance/G	Federation Cup/Super Cup	Durand Cup	AFC Champions League	AFC Cup
2016–17	I-League	10	8	2,949	Group stage	DNP	DNP	DNP
2017–18	I-League	10	8	8,194	Qualification round	DNP	DNP	DNP
2018–19	I-League	11	1	6,138	Semi-finals	Group stage	TBD	TBD
2019–20	I-League	11	TBD		TBD	Group Stage	TBD	TBD

Key

• Tms. = Number of teams
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Overall records

As of 14 January 2017

Season	I-League								Asia						Top Scorer
	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Position	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Player	Goals
2016–17	18	4	5	9	15	29	17	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	Charles	4
2017–18	18	4	7	7	15	24	19	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	Joachim	5
2018–19	18	13	4	3	48	28	43	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	Manzi	21

Head Coach's Record

As of 8 February 2017

Name	Nationality	From	To	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win%
Robin Charles Raja	India	13 December 2016	8 February 2017	7	1	1	5	3	11	014.29
V. Soundararajan	India	9 January 2017	14 March 2018	13	3	4	6	15	19	023.08
Akbar Nawas	Singapore	15 March 2018	Present	23	15	4	4	48	28	065.22

Team Record

• Highest transfer fee received – €125,000 plus sell-on clause from Albirex Niigata for Pedro Manzi, 2020

References

1. "From Senior Division to I-League: The Chennai City FC story". 11 December 2016.
2. "I-League Update: Chennai City FC and Minerva Punjab FC to play in the coming season". 11 December 2016.
3. "Federer's home club Basel to invest 20m euros in CCFC – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
4. "Der FCB und sein Bollywood-Farmteam – Basel steigt bei Chennai City ein". watson.ch (in German). Retrieved 6 February 2019.
5. "CHENNAI CITY FC: Squad". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
6. "Chennai City FC appoint Nawas as coach, Barcelona's Villa named assistant". timesofindia.com. Retrieved 27 October 2018.

External links

• Official website