Chennai City FC

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Chennai City FC
File:Official Chennai City FC Logo.png
Full nameChennai City Football Club
Nickname(s)The Lions[1]
Founded1946; 73 years ago (as Nethaji Sports Club)
GroundNehru Stadium, Coimbatore
Nehru Stadium, Chennai (most games)
Capacity30,000
40,000
LeagueI-League
2019–20I-League, 7th of 11
WebsiteClub website

Chennai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the I-League, one of the top flights of football in India.[2][3] The club was established in 1946 as Nethaji Sports Club by five friends. The club spend its grand majority of history by 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 of the 2018–19 season.[4]

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.[5] Nethaji Sports Club, affiliated with Tamil Nadu Football Association, has appeared in several state competitions including Vittal trophy, TFA Shield and Chennai District Football League.[6][7][8] The club always used to have a young squad with players usually aged 21–22 and the club did come close to national relevance a couple of times, making appearances in the Durand Cup and Federation Cup.

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 Recreational Club team in National Football League.[9][10] Chennai City FC made it to the Federation Cup (India) by finishing eighth in the I-League table and did it with a game remaining in the league.

Chennai City did decent in their first season at the highest level of domestic league.[11] Their potential was highlighted when they managed to hold off Mohun Bagan AC for a very long time and even got wins against Aizawl FC and East Bengal FC.[12]

In the 2016–17 Indian Federation Cup, they were pitted in Group A against Aizawl FC, East Bengal FC and Churchill Brothers SC. Chennai City lost their first games and were out of contention before playing the last fixture. The team did salvage pride as they won the game against Churchill Brothers emphatically in a 3–1 victory.[13][14][15]

File:Edwin Sydney Vanspaul.png
Edwin Sydney Vanspaul with new club kit in 2019

On 6 February 2019 Chennai City FC had agreed for a partnership with Swiss Super League giants FC Basel,[16] which owned 26 percent of the club and would develop football in the state by building football schools for young talents.[17]

FC Basel will also have a player exchange program, including first team players, with CCFC and help the club with technical know how.[18][19]

On 9 March 2019, Chennai City FC beat former champions Minerva Punjab FC 3–1 to be crowned the 2018–19 I-League champions.[20] This marked the finish of a very successful season for the club, defying all expectations to win the league. Spanish-Uruguayan forward Pedro Manzi Cruz also scored a brace in this match, and was the joint top scorer of the league, scoring 21 league goals with record four hat-tricks.[21][22][23][24] This was Chennai City FC's maiden I-League title, and later they represented India at the 2020 AFC Champions League playoffs[25] and 2020 AFC Cup respectively.[26][27]

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.[28] However, they did manage to win 2–1 against ISL champions Bengaluru FC in the quarter finals.[29]

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
2016—2017 Classic Polo Baako
2017—2018 Counter Sports[30] —
2018—19 Penalty Uhlsport[31]
2019—present Nivia[32] TVS Group

Stadium

Main article: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on a matchday in 2018

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.[33][34] Prior to 2017–2018 season, the club played their home matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai.

In 2019, the club decided to play their continental matches (AFC Champions League playoffs and AFC Cup) at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad.[35][36]

Players

First-team squad

As of 24 January 2021[37][38]

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 India IND Shaji Antony
3 DF India IND Tarif Akhand
8 MF India IND Ahmed Sahib
9 MF India IND Vijay Thomas
11 MF India IND Uma Sankar
12 MF India IND Charles Anandraj (captain)
13 GK India IND Kabir Thaufiq
15 MF India IND Vijay Nagappan
17 MF India IND Pravitto Raju
18 DF India IND Harikrishna AU
20 MF India IND Jockson Dhas
22 MF India IND Sriram Boopathi
No. Pos. Nation Player
24 MF India IND Ranjeet Pandre
26 FW India IND Syed Suhail Pasha
27 FW India IND Ameerudeen Mohaideen
28 DF India IND Pradison Mariyadasan
31 GK India IND Prateek Kumar Singh
32 DF India IND Lijo Francis
33 DF India IND Shankar Sampingiraj
35 DF India IND Jishnu Balakrishnan
36 MF India IND Varun Mathur
41 GK India IND Aryan Niraj Lamba

Current technical staff

Position Name
Head coach Singapore Satyasagara[39]
Assistant Coach
Team Manager India Ashok Kumar
Goalkeeping Coach India V P Sathiesh Kumar
Sports Physiotherapist India Ragunath Manogaran
Video Analyst India Aravind Chandrasekaran

Affiliated club(s)

The following club was affiliated with Chennai City FC:

Honours

Further information: List of Chennai City FC seasons

Continental record

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2020 AFC Champions League Preliminary round 1 Bahrain Al-Riffa 0–1
2020 AFC Cup Group E Maldives Maziya S&RC 2–2 – Cancelled
Maldives TC Sports – –
Bangladesh 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 DNP DNP
2019–20 I-League 11 7 7,825 DNP Group Stage Preliminary round 1 Group Stage
2020–21 I-League 11 9 DNP DNP DNP DNP
Key
  • Tms. = Number of teams
  • Pos. = Position in league
  • Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Overall

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
2019–20 15 5 5 5 20 21 20 7 2 0 1 1 2 3 Yusa 5

Head coach

As of 26 October 2020
Name Nationality From To P W D L GF GA Win%
Robin Charles Raja  India 13 December 2016[45] 8 February 2017 7 1 1 5 3 11 014.29
V. Soundararajan  India 9 January 2017[46] 14 March 2018 13 3 4 6 15 19 023.08
Akbar Nawas  Singapore 15 March 2018[47] 26 October 2020 38 20 9 9 68 49 052.63
Satyasagara  Singapore 10 December 2020[48] present 0 0 0 0 0 0 !—

Team

References

  1. ↑ Chennai City FC, The lions Facebook.com. Retrieved 11 May 2021
  2. ↑ "I-League: Chennai City FC end five-match losing streak, thrash Indian Arrows 5-0". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "Gokulam Kerala FC vs Chennai City FC | Match Details". I-League Official Website. Retrieved 17 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ↑ Vasudevan, Shyam (30 November 2019). "I-League: Despite changes, teams gear up for new season". Sportstar. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "From Senior Division to I-League: The Chennai City FC story". 11 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Venkatesan, S. Prasanna (May 2018). "The lost glory of Chennai's football league". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ K., Keerthivasan (April 2016). "Champions Trophy to be back in Chennai". The Hindu.
  8. ↑ Keeda, Sports. "Football in Chennai – On a slippery surface".
  9. ↑ "I-League Update: Chennai City FC and Minerva Punjab FC to play in the coming season". 11 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "We are not expecting freebies from Minerva, says Chennai City owner Rohit Ramesh". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "Indian Arrows 3-0 Chennai City". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  12. ↑ "Young talent shone for Chennai City FC but fell short of a few quality players in key areas". thefangarage.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Aizawl FC start Federation Cup campaign with dramatic win over Chennai City". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "Chennai City ends Fed Cup campaign with win over Churchill". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  15. ↑ "Chennai City bow out of Federation Cup despite win". business-standard.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Indian Football: ISL and I-League clubs and their tie-ups with foreign clubs". goal.com. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  17. ↑ "CHENNAI CITY FC ROPE IN FC BASEL HOLDING AG AS STAKEHOLDERS". aiff.com. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  18. ↑ "Federer's home club Basel to invest 20m euros in CCFC – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  19. ↑ "Der FCB und sein Bollywood-Farmteam – Basel steigt bei Chennai City ein". watson.ch (in Deutsch). Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  20. ↑ "Chennai City FC win I-League 2018–19 title, East Bengal finish second". indiatoday.in. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  21. ↑ "Manzi Hat trick 26 October 2018". Soccerway.
  22. ↑ "Manzi Hat trick 29 December 2018". Soccerway.
  23. ↑ "Manzi Hat trick 4 January 2019". Soccerway.
  24. ↑ "Manzi Hat trick 12 February 2019". Soccerway.
  25. ↑ "Chennai City FC set to play continental games from Ahmedabad next season". Goal.com. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  26. ↑ AFC Cup 2020 group stage: Chennai City 2-2 Maziya S&RC the-afc.com. Retrieved 7 May 2021
  27. ↑ Adolfo Fito's late equaliser sees Chennai City FC hold Maziya S&RC to 2-2 draw First Post. Retrieved 11 May 2021
  28. ↑ "FC Goa enter Super Cup final with 3–0 win over Chennai City". www.newindianexpress.com. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  29. ↑ "Chennai City knock out champions Bengaluru FC from Super Cup". indianexpress.com. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  30. ↑ FC, Chennai City (30 October 2017). "Official First Team Home Kit #CCFC designed by @counter_sports for the upcoming @ILeagueOfficial Season! #PrideOfTamilNadu". @ChennaiCityFC. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  31. ↑ "Chennai City announce strategic partnership with Uhlsports". AIFF. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  32. ↑ "Nivia Sports Official Website". Nivia Sports. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  33. ↑ "Chennai City to stay at Kovai for next 5 years". The Times of India. 22 December 2017.
  34. ↑ "I-League: Pedro Manzi's hat-trick helps Chennai City FC beat Indian Arrows 4-1 in season opener". scroll.in. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  35. ↑ "Chennai City FC set to play continental games from Ahmedabad next season". Goal.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  36. ↑ "Chennai City FC to play remaining AFC Cup fixtures in Maldives". Sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  37. ↑ "India – Chennai City FC – Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news – Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  38. ↑ "Chennai City FC – Soccer – Team Profile – Results, fixtures, squad, statistics – Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  39. ↑ Dec 10, PTI /; 2020; Ist, 17:12. "Chennai City FC name Satyasagara as new head coach | Football News – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 December 2020. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  40. ↑ "FC Basel signs strategic partnership with Chennai City FC". Sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  41. ↑ "Tapping into FC Basel's expertise, Chennai City FC are building an exciting grassroots programme!". Goal.com. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  42. ↑ "Chennai City close to securing massive European funding". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  43. ↑ "Chennai City Triumph in Photo-Finish to Lift Maiden I-League Title". thequint.com. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  44. ↑ "Nethaji Football Club has a new owner". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  45. ↑ "I-League 2016/17: Chennai City FC announce their manager for their debut season". SportsKeeda. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  46. ↑ "I-League 2017: Chennai City appoint V Soundararajan as head coach". Goal.com. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  47. ↑ "Chennai City FC appoint Nawas as coach, Barcelona's Villa named assistant". timesofindia.com. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  48. ↑ "Chennai City FC name Satyasagara as new head coach". Hindustan Times. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  49. ↑ In a landmark deal with Japanese J2 league club Albirex Niigata, Chennai City FC, the defending I-League champions, have released striker Pedro Manzi for a rumoured fee of Rs. 1.2 crore, which would be the highest so far in Indian football.
  50. ↑ "I-League Over ISL Again: Chennai City FC Rakes in Record Transfer Fee for Pedro Manzi". News Click India. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  51. ↑ "3 Highest transfer fees in Indian football history". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 19 March 2021.

External links

Template:Chennai City F.C.

Template:I-League Champions

Template:Tamil Nadu Sports

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