FC Pune City

एफ सी पुणे सिटी
FC Pune City
Full name Football Club of Pune City
Nickname(s) Stallions
Founded 2014 (2014)
Ground Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex
Ground Capacity 11,000[1]
Owner Hrithik Roshan
Wadhawan Group
ACF Fiorentina
Rama Varma
CEO Gaurav Modwel
Manager Antonio López Habas
League Indian Super League
2015 7th
Website Club home page

FC Pune City (Marathi: एफ सी पुणे सिटी) is an Indian Super League football franchise based in Pune, Maharashtra that began play in October 2014 during the inaugural season of the Indian Super League.[2] The team is owned and operated by Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, Wadhawan Group and Italian football club ACF Fiorentina.[3][4][5]

History

In early 2014, it was announced that the All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India, and IMG-Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight of nine selected cities for the upcoming Indian Super League, an eight-team franchise league modeled along the lines of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.[6] On 13 April 2014, it was announced that Salman Khan and the Wadhawan Group had won the bidding for the Pune franchise.[2] Later due to issues of sponsorships and endorsements, Salman Khan opted to move out from FC Pune City and Hrithik Roshan came in as the co-owner of the club.

On 30 July 2014, the CEO of the club Gaurav Modwel announced the signing of David Trezeguet as their marquee player.[7] Kostas Katsouranis signed for FC Pune City on 29 September 2014 and Kostas became the first player to have played in the FIFA World Cup 2014 and to participate in the ISL.[8] On 25 October 2014, after failing to secure the transfer of ex-Chelsea winger Adrian Mutu, FC Pune City signed the talent from the school of Ajax, John Goossens.

The team played their first ever Indian Super League match on 14 October 2014, away to Delhi Dynamos FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi in a 0-0 draw. On 18 October 2014 at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai with an attendance of 28,000, FC Pune City suffered their first loss of the ISL with a score of 5-0.

On 26 October 2014 at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex with an attendance of 7,517, FC Pune City got their first win with a final score of 2-0 against FC Goa. The Hero of the Match award was given to Kostas Katsouranis as he scored the first ever official goal for FC Pune City, while the second goal was scored by the club's marquee player and captain David Trezeguet.

On 30 October 2014 at the home stadium with an attendance of 8,227, the club suffered a defeat with a scoreline of 1-2 against Kerala Blasters despite David Trezeguet scoring the first goal for FC Pune City in 15th minute. On 3 November 2014 again playing at the home stadium with an attendance of 7,647, the club showed great spirit against NorthEast United FC and John Goossens gave the win with a goal in the 88th minute with a wonderful attempt by Dudu Omagbemi which bound from the bar and Goossens headed it in for a goal. The final score was 1-0 and FC Pune City jumped to the 4th Position in the league.[9] On 7 November 2014, at Salt Lake Stadium with an attendance of 21,550, the club took on the league topper Atlético de Kolkata. FC Pune City were the underdogs in the game and emerged as the winners with the final score of 1-3 in favour of Pune. The club broke the unbeaten stint of Atlético de Kolkata by defeating them at their home ground. Dudu Omagbemi scored the first goal, Kostas Katsouranis scored the second goal and picked up the Hero of the Match award and Davide Colomba scored the third goal with a deflected free kick.[10] Kostas Katsouranis and John Goossens were the stars of the match but John Goossens suffered very serious lower rib cage and paraspinal muscle injuries after a collision with his own team´s goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya in the 78th minute. This injury cost Pune Goossens for the rest of the season.[11]

The club began its second season in 2015. The captain for the second season was Didier Zokora and the marquee player was Adrian Mutu. They played their first home game on 5 October 2015, against Mumbai City FC. The club won the game 3–1 with goals from Tuncay Sanli (2) and Israil Gurung.

They played their second game of the season at home against North East United FC. An own goal from North East player Ralte secured the team the win.

The third game they played was against Delhi Dynamos FC on 14 October. The club lost the game, 1-2 with Kalu Uche scoring the only goal for FC Pune City in the last minute of the game. This game saw the debuts of star players Jackichand Singh and Eugeneson Lyngdoh, but they couldn't give the team the 3 points.

Ownership

Italian club ACF Fiorentina owns a 15% stake in the franchise.[3] Indian superstar actor Hrithik Roshan co-owns the team with the Wadhawan group.

Home Ground

FC Pune City plays their home matches at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune. This complex was the venue for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. The stadium also hosts the I-League matches for Pune F.C.. It has also hosted matches for the India national football team.[12] India played against Vietnam in a friendly match over here. India played their first match in the 2012 London Olympic Qualifiers (first round) against Myanmar. India won it by a score 2-1. India drew with Qatar in the 2012 London Olympic Qualifier (Second round) at the stadium by a score 1-1. Then during the 2011 Indian Federation Cup the Balewadi Sports Complex co-hosted with the Salt Lake Stadium the Federation Cup group-stages. The Federation Cup is the second most important football competition in India.

Players and staff

Current squad

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

No. Position Player
2 India DF Govin Singh
3 Argentina DF Diego Colotto
4 Ivory Coast MF Didier Zokora (captain)
6 India MF Manish Maithani
13 India DF Dharmaraj Ravanan
14 India MF Israil Gurung
17 Turkey FW Tuncay Sanli
19 India DF Gouramangi Singh
No. Position Player
20 India MF Sushanth Mathew
24 India MF Lenny Rodrigues
25 England GK Steve Simonsen
26 Netherlands FW Wesley Verhoek
27 India GK Arindam Bhattacharya
29 India GK Lalit Thapa

Coaching staff

Role Name
Head coach Spain Antonio López Habas
Goalkeeping coach Italy Massimo Battara
Assistant coach India Renedy Singh
Team Physiotherapist England Matt Radcliffe
Team sports scientist England Niall Clark
Team doctor India Ajit Mapari
Team masseur Republic of Ireland Liam McMahon
India Kashif Iqbal
India Ramkishan Singh
Video analyst Italy Devan Daniel Kalathil Palankandi

Head Coach Record

Name Nat. From To P W D L GS GA %W Honours Notes
Franco Colomba  Italy 2014 2014 14 4 4 6 12 17 28.57
David Platt  England 27 May 2015[13] -- 14 4 3 7 17 23 28.57

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
2014-15 Dida DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance
2015- Adidas Fair and Handsome

References

  1. ↑ Cinderella Man @ShauryaVineet (2014-02-25). "FIFA officials inspect stadiums in India for the 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup". Sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  2. 1 2 Basu, Saumyajit. "Stars embrace soccer through Indian Super League". Times of India. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  3. 1 2 "ISL: FC Pune City tie up with Italian giants FC Fiorentina". Mid-Day. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Deshpande, Nikhil (9 October 2014). "Hrithik Roshan to be Pune City FC Co-owner". Sportzwiki (India). Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Share on Twitter. "Salman Khan denies owning ISL team - Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  6. ↑ "Indian Super League sees interest from 30 franchise bidders". Business Standard. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "IFC Pune City Names David Trezeguet as Marquee Player". Zee News. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "IGreeces 2014 World Cupper Kostas Katsouranis Joins FC Pune City". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Goossens hits winner for FC Pune City against NorthEast". Times of India. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "ISL: FC Pune City End Atletico de Kolkata's Unbeaten Run". NDTV. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "ISL: FC Pune City forward John Goossens ruled out of next match". IBN Live. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  12. ↑ TheHardTackle on 7 October 2010 5:38 pm (2010-10-07). "India v Vietnam: Preview And Pre-Match Press Conference". Thehardtackle.com. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  13. ↑ Suchindran, Aravind (27 May 2015). "Platt in the City". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 27 May 2015.

External links

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