India?s biggest league (original) (raw)
Dempo Sports Club
Founded in 1968, Dempo has been one of the prominent clubs in Indian football. Owned and sponsored by the Dempo group of companies, the club is ending the 2009-10 season at the top spot of the I ?League with 54 points of 26 games. Popularly known as ?the whites?, the team boasts currently of players like Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda and Mahesh Gawli of the Indian team and Ranty Martins Soleye of Nigeria.
Dempo has emerged as a top club in the last few years. Apart from four national league triumphs in the last decade, the club has also been a consistent performer in the other prestigious championships like Federal club, Durand Cup and Indian Super Cup. The club has won Rovers Cup four times and also holds the record for 11 wins in the Goa League. Dempo is coached by Armando Colaco and Fatorda Stadium in Goa is its home ground.
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PuNE FC
Ashok Piramal Group established Pune FC in August 2007. Currently, they are the youngest club in the I-League. Coached by Derrick Pereira, the club is slated to end the 2009-10 season in the top three positions in the I-League. Quite a feat since it?s Pune?s first year in the top division of Indian football. The club uses the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune as its home ground. Pune FC is nick named as ?Red Lizards? as their logo features a ?Ghorpad? or a monitor lizard.
Churchill Brothers SC
Based in Salcette, Goa, Churchill Brothers is a household name for Indian football fans. Established in 1988 by the Churchill family of Goa, the club is the only family club in the country. The club is coached by Brazilian coach Carlos Roberto Pereira da Silva and Nehru Stadium in Margao, Goa serves as the club?s home ground.
Slated to end the 2009-10 season in the top five teams in the I-League, it has been yet another successful season for Churchill, who were previous season?s I-League champions.
Big names of Indian football like Abhishek Yadav, I M Vijayan and Mahesh Gawli have served the club in the past. The club also bagged the IFA Shield in 2009 and the Durand Cup in 2007 and 2009.
Mahindra United FC
The club is popularly referred as India?s MU after English Premier League powerhouse Manchester United. It boasts of a spectacular record as one of the most consistent clubs in Indian football, though reports suggest that the club will be disbanded after the 2009-10 season. Owned by the Mahindra Group , the club was founded back in 1962 as the Mahindra & Mahindra Allied Sports Club and is currently coached by David Booth of England.
Mahindra United have won the Durand Cup thrice, which is the second oldest trophy in the world. They are also two times winner of IFA shield and the Federation Cup. Other success stories include Rovers Cup, AFC Cup, CM Cup and Super Cup. The similarities with Manchester United don?t just end with the name as Mahindra?s home kit is Red and black, just like Manchester United.
Mohun Bagan AC
Mohun Bagan is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. Established in 1889, it is nicknamed ?The Mariners?. The club, based in the football capital of India, Kolkata, has carried on an intense local rivalry with the East Bengal Club.
The club has hosted and played against international names like Pel?, playing for New York Cosmos in 1977, Roger Milla, playing for Diamond club in 1990 and Oliver Kahn, when Bayern Munich visited the club in 2008 for a friendly match. The match against Bayern Munich was played in front of a record breaking 125,000 people leaving the German team awestruck.
The club operates from two grounds, its own Mohun Bagan Ground and the Salt Lake Stadium. It is the first club of India to have a mascot. The club mascot, ?Baggu? (Tiger), was inaugurated in 2007. Maroon and green are signature Mohun Bagan colours.
JCT FC
Based in Phagwara, Punjab, JCT FC was founded in 1971. The club is a venture of the Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills and has emerged as one of the most successful Indian football clubs in recent years. In January 2007, the JCT management changed the club name from JCT Mills FC to JCT FC. The club has long been synonymous with football in Punjab and northern India. Aptly nicknamed ?The Millmen,? the club uses the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Ludhiana as its home ground.
JCT won the inaugural NFL title in the 1996-1997 season. Other achievements include the Durand Cup, Federation Cup, IFA Shield and Rovers Cup, apart from winning the Punjab Football League eight times. Big names of Indian football have represented the club in the past, including the likes Baichung Bhutia, IM Vijayan and Sunil Chetri. In May 2008, JCT announced a partnership with the English Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Chirag United Club
Originally established in 1927 as the Everready Association, the club was renamed as the United Sports Club in 2006, following financial backing by Chirag Sports, an RP Group Company. With the inflow of sponsorship thereafter, the club clinched promotion to the first division of the I-League in 2008. Chirag United SC also features in the Premier Division of the Kolkata Football League. This Kolkata club uses Bidhan Nagar Sports Complex for training and is currently using Salt Lake Stadium & Barasat Stadium as its home venues.
The senior team is coached by Subrata Bhattacharyya and the club plays in a purple kit at home. After being renamed as Chirag United, the club won the Trades Cup in 2007 and achieved a third place finish in the Kolkata League.
Kingfisher East Bengal
Established in 1920 in Kolkata, this is one of the most celebrated clubs in Indian football. The club goes by various nicknames like Red-and-Gold Brigade, Torch and Hilsa, and its local rivalry with Mohun Bagan is a legend in Indian football.
The club?s name was changed from East Bengal FC to Kingfisher East Bengal FC in 1998 when United Breweries obtained a 50% stake in the club. East Bengal created sensation in Asia in 2003 when they won LG Asean Cup in Jakarta beating BEC Tero Sasana in the finals. The club uses the East Bengal Ground and the Salt Lake Stadium as its home grounds and plays in a yellow and red kit. Phillippe de Ridder of Belgium the headcoach of the club.
Salgaocar SC
Salgaocar Sports Club, based in Vasco, Goa, was established in 1956 and is owned by the V M Salgaocar Group of Companies. It, however, got the Indian recognition only when Goa was liberated from the rule of the Portuguese in 1961. The club is one the old boys of Indian football and eminent players and Arjuna awardees like Bruno Coutinho and Bramhanand Shankhwalkar were associated with Salgaokar for long. The club goes by the nickname Sal. The club is coached by Karim Bencherifa of Morocco.
Salgaocar SC have won 19 Goa League Championships, three Federation Cups, two Super Cups, two Durand Cups and the National Football League in 1998-99 season. Fatorda Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao is their home ground and they play in a green and white kit for their home games.
Viva Kerala FC
Viva Kerala, based in Kochi, Kerala is a fairly new entrant into the Indian football scene. The club was established in 2004 by a group of businessmen with an objective to represent Kerala in higher circles of domestic football in India. Interestingly, the name of the club was arrived upon through a public contest organised by the promoters of the club. The club has had a few hiccups in its journey till now as it was relegated back to the second division after the 2007-08 I-League. However, it regained it?s entry into the top division of Indian football in the 2009-10 season. The current season did not translate that well for the club as they are now featuring among the bottom 5 in the league table, just clear of the relegation zone. Their home ground is Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi and they are using the Muncipal Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode as their home ground for the 2009-10 season.
FC Air India
Aptly nicknamed ?The Pilots,? this football club was established in 1952 in Mumbai and has been a force to reckon with in Maharashtrian football ever since. Sponsored by Air India, the club is best known for nurturing youngsters into big time playersn and is the most successful club in Mumbai.
After being relegated to the second division in 1998, Air India paved their way back into the first division. Seasons 2001-2004 saw Air India going through a rough patch as they returned to the second division. In 2005 the team qualified for the National Football League (Now I-League) first division. Air India use the Cooperage Ground, Mumbai as their home ground and have an all red home kit.
Mumbai FC
Mumbai FC is one of the new corporate clubs of India and is very recent in origin. The club was established in 2007 by the Essel Group and they have roped in big names, such as manager Henry Menezes and Indian international striker Abhishek Yadav. Mumbai were promoted to the I-League first division in 2008. The club uses the Cooperage Stadium in Mumbai as their home ground and play their home fixtures in a yellow and blue kit while their away colours are orange and black. Although the club is struggling at the moment and is amidst a relegation battle among the bottom ranking teams in the I-League, it has seen some success in its short life till now. The club ended its 2007-8 season as the champions of I-League second division, they were the champions of the Abhijit Kadam Memorial Cup in 2007 and were also the runners up in the Mumbai Football League for the 2007-08 season.
Shillong Lajong FC
Shillong Lajong was established in 1983 Lajong Sports Social and Cultural Club with the prime objective of improving the diminishing standard of football in the state. The club plays its home games in a red and black kit and uses the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong as its home ground.
Currently fighting the relegation battle in the I-league first division, the club has huge fan following in the north east. Shillong Lajong were promoted to the I-League First Division for the 2009-10 season, and appointed former Salgaocar Sports Club and East Bengal coach Stanley Rozario for their first season in India?s top flight. The club is managed professionally and has sponsors like Nokia, Addidas and Kingfisher.
Sporting Clube de Goa
They go by the nickname ?Flaming Orange,? and are modeled on the Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal and have adopted a similar club crest. The club Cidade de Goa was taken over by entrepreneurs Peter Vaz and Edgar Afonso and was renamed as Sporting Clube de Goa in 1999. They play their home games in an orange and white kit while they have a green and white kit for the away games.
Sporting shot to prominence by an impressive performance in the 2001-02 Federation Cup. In the 2003-04 season, Sporting made their debut in the National Football League first division and ended the season at the second spot, ahead of traditional big boys East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Salgaocar and Mahindra United.
Currently they are lying at the bottom of the I-League table for the 2009-10 season and are expected to be relegated to the second division for the next season.