Mumbai City FC

Not to be confused with I-League club Mumbai F.C..
मुंबई सिटी एफ सी
Mumbai City FC
Full name Mumbai City Football Club
Nickname(s)
  • Blue devils
  • Blue citizens
  • Islanders
Founded 30 August 2014 ; (1 Year ago)
Ground DY Patil Stadium
Ground Capacity 55,000[1]
Owner
Manager Alexandre Guimarães
League Indian Super League
2015 Indian Super League, 6th
Website Club home page

Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian Super League football franchise in Mumbai, Maharashtra, launched in August 2014 during the ISL's inaugural season.[2][3] The team is co-owned by Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor, who handles the team, marketing & media, Kayque G. Saldanha and Bimal Parekh, a Chartered Accountant, who will be in charge of the finances.[4]

Former England international Peter Reid managed the club and Freddie Ljungberg was the marquee player for the first season. For the second season it was announced that Nicolas Anelka will don the position of marquee player as well as manager of the club.

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, the country's professional cricket league.[2][5]

" Football has always been a fierce passion and owning a club has been a lifelong dream. For now I have got my hands full with Mumbai City FC and my ambition for the club over the next five years is to make it the most professionally run club in Asia. Having said that, I am willing to step in and contribute towards the growth of football in any which way needed because the growth of the football ecosystem goes hand in hand with the growth of Mumbai City FC."

Co-owner Ranbir Kapoor’s interview with TOI,June 2015

First season (2014)

On 15 September 2014, the club signed Nicolas Anelka, a former French international who had been a free agent since his dismissal from West Bromwich Albion earlier on in the year.[6] Three days later, former Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg was signed as the team's first marquee player, returning from two years of retirement.[7]

Mumbai were the visitors in the first ever ISL match on 12 October 2014, at Atlético de Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium. Without Anelka and Ljungberg, the side lost 30.[8] On 18 October 2014,the club register first victory over FC Pune City by beating them as 50 at DY Patil Stadium,Mumbai,In which Andre Moritz register first ever hat-trick of ISL.The team finished the season seventh of eight teams, and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Second season (2015)

In July 2015, Anelka became player-manager, replacing Englishman Peter Reid.[9]Frantz Bertin was appointed captain at the beginning of the season.

Sponsors

Mumbai city announce that the Ace Group as a principle sponsor. Haptik, Renault, Saavn, velvetcase, UltraTech Cement, askmegrocery.com and fanmode are the associate sponsors for the team

Years Manufactrer Shirt Sponsor
2014–15 None Jabong.com
2015– Puma ACE Group India

[10] [11]

Stadium

Main article: DY Patil Stadium

Mumbai City FC play their home games at the DY Patil Stadium. The training of this team took place at the football turf of Fr. Agnel Multipurpose School and Jr. College, Vashi. The training during the ISL takes place at Cooperage Ground, Colaba.[2]

Players

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
1 India GK Subrata Pal
3 India DF Ashutosh Mehta
4 India DF Kingshuk Debnath (on loan from Mohun Bagan)
5 India DF Rowilson Rodrigues
6 Haiti DF Frantz Bertin
7 Spain MF Cristian Bustos
9 Martinique FW Frédéric Piquionne
10 Tunisia MF Selim Benachour
11 India FW Sunil Chetri
12 India FW Subhash Singh
13 India DF Keegan Pereira
14 Spain MF Juan Aguilera
No. Position Player
15 India MF Pratesh Shirodkar (on loan from Sporting Goa)
16 Haiti MF Sony Norde (on loan from Mohun Bagan)
17 India MF Brandon Fernandes
18 Spain DF Aitor
19 India MF Gabriel Fernandes
22 India MF Thangjam Singh (on loan from Salgaocar)
23 India MF Lalchhuan Mawia (on loan from Bengaluru FC)
24 India GK Debjit Majumder (on loan from Mohun Bagan)
27 Czech Republic DF Pavel Čmovš
28 India MF Sampath Kuttymani
32 India GK Albino Gomes (on loan from Salgaocar)
Nicolas Anelka is the manager of the club.

Team management

Position Name
Manager Costa Rica Alexandre Guimaraes[12]
Assistant coach India Alex Ambrose
Goalkeeping coach Spain Martin Ruiz S.[13]
CEO India Indranil Das Blah
Technical Director India Nishant Mehra[14]

Head coach record

NameNationalityFromTo P W D L GF GA PTS Win%
Peter Reid  England 2014 2015 14 4 4 6 12 21 16
Nicolas Anelka  France 2015 2016 14 4 4 6 16 26 16
Alexandre Guimarães  Costa Rica 2016 present 14

References

  1. "Mumbai City FC to play all home games at D Y Patil Stadium". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Basu, Saumyajit. "Stars embrace soccer through Indian Super League". Times of India. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  3. "Crystal Palace team up with Mumbai City FC in search for Indian star". Croydon Advertiser. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  4. Nandini Raghavendra (3 September 2014). "Ranbir Kapoor bets big on ISL Mumbai team, wants to build football". The Economic Times.
  5. "Indian Super League sees interest from 30 franchise bidders". Business Standard. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  6. "Nicolas Anelka joins Mumbai City in Indian Super League". Sports-nova. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  7. "ISL: Mumbai City FC sign Freddie Ljungberg". The Times of India. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  8. "Ex-Liverpool stars Luis Garcia and Josemi start as Atletico de Kolkata win first Indian Super League clash against Mumbai City". Daily Mail. Associated Press. 12 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. "Nicolas Anelka named Mumbai City player-manager". BBC Sport. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  10. Mumbai city FC Current team list 2015. , Mumbai city FC, From auction market 2015.
  11. Mumbai city FC ISL 2015. "Mumbai city FC Team for ISL 2015", Mumbai city FC, Foreigner Recruitment list.
  12. "Official: Anelka announced player-manager for Mumbai City FC".
  13. "Martín Ruiz S.". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  14. "Official: Top-specialists-to-fortify-Mumbai-City-FC-campaign".
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