# 2018–19 Minerva Punjab FC season

The 2018–19 Minerva Punjab FC Season was the club's third season in the I-League.

## Sponsors

As of 16 October 2018
| Sponsors Type | Sponsor's Name |
| Sponsor | Apollo Tyres |
| Kit Sponsor | Apollo Tyres |
| Sports Drink Sponsor | Gatorade |
| Nutrition Partner | Fast&Up |
| Performance Analysis Partner | Catapult Sports |
| Fitness Partner | Anytime Fitness |

## Transfers

Minerva Punjab saw an exodus of top players after their I-League victory in the 2017 season. Perhaps the biggest departure that Minerva Punjab was that of Chencho Gyeltshen. The Bhutanese attacker was the stand-out performer for Minerva in 2017 and was subsequently sold to Bengaluru FC. His departure left a huge gap in the Minerva squad.
Following Chencho out of the door were Kiran Chemjong, Sukhdev Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Bali Gagandeep, Kassim Aidara, Girik Khosla, Rakshit Dagar, and Abhishek Ambekar.
Kamalpreet Singh, Gagandeep, Aidara, and Rakshit Dagar all signed for Minerva's title rivals East Bengal F.C. Sukhdev Singh and Ambekar moved on to Mohun Bagan. Ahead of the 2018-19 I-League season, Minerva were left with a depleted squad.
On 6 July 2018 Minerva Punjab signed forward Yu Kuboki on a permanent transfer from Australian club Sydney Olympic FC. He had been in scintillating form for Sydney the previous season, scoring 11 goals in 22 matches as an attacking midfielder or a withdrawn striker.
In August 2018 Minerva signed three players including Nigerian forward Philip Njoku.
In September 2018 they signed former Ozone FC striking duo C. S. Sabeeth and Brazilian Robert De Souza. They also extended contracts with defender Akashdeep Singh and striker Akash Sangwan.

### Contract extension

| Position | Player | Date |
| FW | Akash Sangwan | 6 September 2018 |
| DF | Akashdeep Singh | 9 September 2018 |
| MF | Amandeep Singh | 10 September 2018 |
| MF | Souvik Das | 14 September 2018 |
| DF | Deepak Devrani | 19 September 2018 |
| MF | William Opoku | 21 September 2018 |
| GK | Arshdeep Singh | 22 September 2018 |
| DF | Arshpreet Singh | 23 September 2018 |
| GK | Bhaskar Roy | 26 September 2018 |
| MF | Randeep Singh | 1 October 2018 |
| FW | Rajan Negi | 9 October 2018 |

### In

| No. | Position | Player | Previous club | Transfer fee | Date |
| 10 | FW | Yu Kuboki | Sydney Olympic FC | Free agent | 6 July 2018 |
| | FW | Sandeep Rajput | MPFC winter Camp | Free agent | 30 July 2018 |
| 4 | FW | Philip Njoku | FC Inter Turku | Free agent | 7 August 2018 |
| | MF | Liandala Fanai | Aizawl | Free agent | 12 August 2018 |
| 7 | FW | Hitova Ayemi | Fateh Hyderabad | Free agent | 25 August 2018 |
| 9 | FW | C. S. Sabeeth | Ozone F.C. | Free agent | 2 September 2018 |
| 14 | FW | Dilli Ram Sanyasi | Hindustan FC | Free agent | 5 September 2018 |
| | FW | Robert De Souza | Ozone FC | Free agent | 7 September 2018 |
| | DF | Mohamed Irshad | Gokulam Kerala | Free agent | 8 September 2018 |
| 28 | MF | Prabhjot Singh | unattached | Free agent | 11 September 2018 |
| 50 | DF | Aimable Nsabimana | APR FC | Free agent | 13 September 2018 |
| 12 | DF | Nikhil Pal | Chennai City | Free agent | 16 September 2018 |
| | MF | Akhil PM | FC Kerala | Free agent | 26 September 2018 |
| | FW | Atinder Mani | Real Kashmir | Free agent | 19 October 2018 |
| 11 | FW | Manandeep Singh | Mohun Bagan | Free agent | 19 October 2018 |
| | MF | Jagpreet Singh | unattached | Free agent | 27 October 2018 |
| 22 | GK | Nidhin Lal | Shillong Lajong | Free agent | 27 October 2018 |
| 5 | DF | Lancine Touré | Mohammedan | Free agent | 27 October 2018 |
| 47 | MF | Alex Kouame | unattached | Free agent | 31 October 2018 |
| 6 | MF | Bala Al Hassan Dahir | F.C. Kerala | Free agent | 5 November 2018 |
| 18 | FW | Donatus Edafe | ND Gorica | Free agent | 8 November 2018 |
| | FW | Moinuddin Khan | Mohun Bagan | Free agent | 9 November 2018 |
| | DF | Caicedo Rodriguez | Thinadhoo Sports | Free agent | 27 November 2018 |
| | MF | Juan Quero | Fuenlabrada | Free agent | 27 January 2019 |
| | FW | Cornelius Stewart | Maziya | Free agent | 31 January 2019 |

### Out

| No. | Position | Player | Outgoing club |
| 27 | DF | Abhishek Ambekar | Mohun Bagan |
| 7 | FW | Chencho Gyeltshen | Bengaluru |
| 16 | MF | Kassim Aidara | East Bengal |
| 9 | FW | Bali Gagandeep | East Bengal |
| 40 | GK | Rakshit Dagar | East Bengal |
| 22 | DF | Kamalpreet Singh | East Bengal |
| 31 | GK | Kiran Chemjong | T.C. Sports Club |
| 3 | DF | Sukhdev Singh | Mohun Bagan |
| 10 | FW | Moinuddin Khan | Mohun Bagan |
| 11 | MF | Girik Khosla | NorthEast United FC |
| 13 | MF | Bazie Armand | Mohammedan |
| 24 | DF | Guy Eric Dano | Rainbow AC |
| 48 | FW | Robert Dzouza | unattached |
| 50 | DF | Aimable Nsabimana | unattached |
| 10 | FW | Yu Kuboki | unattached |
| 4 | FW | Philip Njoku | unattached |
| 6 | MF | Bala Dahir | unattached |
| 18 | FW | Donatus Edafe | unattached |

## Squad
### First-team squad

    As of 28 February 2019
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | IND | Bhaskar Roy |
| 2 | DF | IND | Saurabh Bhanwala |
| 3 | DF | IND | Prateek Joshi |
| 5 | DF | CIV | Lancine Touré |
| 6 | DF | SYR | Mahmoud Amnah |
| 7 | MF | IND | Hitova Ayemi |
| 8 | MF | GHA | Khalif Alhassan |
| 9 | FW | IND | C.S. Sabeeth |
| 10 | FW | ESP | Juan Quero Barraso |
| 11 | FW | IND | Manandeep Singh |
| 12 | DF | IND | Nikhil Pal |
| 13 | DF | IND | Akashdeep Singh |
| 14 | FW | IND | Dilli Ram Sanyasi |
| 15 | MF | IND | Souvik Das |
| 17 | MF | UKR | Roland Rassel Bilala |
| 19 | MF | IND | Makan Chote |
| 21 | FW | IND | Akash Sangwan |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 22 | GK | IND | Nidhin Lal |
| 23 | MF | IND | Jagpreet Singh |
| 24 | DF | IND | Thoiba Singh Moirangthem |
| 25 | DF | IND | Arshpreet Singh |
| 26 | DF | IND | Deepak Devrani |
| 28 | FW | IND | Prabhjot Singh |
| 30 | GK | IND | Arshdeep Singh |
| 32 | FW | IND | Luntinmang Haokip |
| 33 | MF | IND | Akhil Verma |
| 38 | FW | IND | Atinder Mani |
| 40 | DF | COL | Caicedo Rodriguez |
| 42 | MF | GHA | William Opoku |
| 44 | MF | CIV | Alexander Kouame |
| 49 | MF | IND | Amandeep Singh |
| 50 | FW | IND | Moinuddin Khan |

## Team management

    As of 9 August 2018.
| Position | Name |
| Technical director | Paul Munster |
| Head coach | Sachin Badadhe |
| Assistant coach | Vacant |
| Team manager | vacant |
| Physiotherapist | Karuna Kant Gupta |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Minerva Punjab kicked off their pre-season preparations by participating in the 2018 Punjab State Super Football League from 26 August 2018. With 4 wins and 3 draws Minerva finished second in the league table. They beat league leader FC Punjab Police in the finals to win the 32nd Punjab State Super Football League title.

### Punjab State Super League

Win  Draw  Loss

#### Notes

* ^ Match abandoned at 81 minute due to bad weather conditions.The remaining 9 minutes were played on 17 September 2018.

### J&K Invitational Cup

Minerva Punjab participated in the J&K Invitational Cup organized by Real Kashmir FC. It was a knock out tournament.

#### Notes

* ^ The prevailing situation following the death of many civilians in Kulgam blast forced the organisers of Jammu and Kashmir Invitational Cup-2018 to cancel the final and declare the finalists - Real Kashmir FC and Minerva Punjab FC as joint winners.

### Friendlies
## Competitions
### I-League
#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss  Void  Postponed

#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 7 | Aizawl | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 27 | 28 | −1 | 24 | |
| 8 | Indian Arrows | 20 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 19 | 28 | −9 | 21 | |
| 9 | Minerva Punjab | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 19 | −9 | 18 | |
| 10 | Gokulam Kerala | 20 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 25 | 33 | −8 | 17 | |
| 11 | Shillong Lajong (R) | 20 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 23 | 56 | −33 | 11 | Relegation to I-League 2nd Division (withdrew) |
* ↑ The game between Minerva Punjab and Real Kashmir was rescheduled, but eventually it was not played and both teams were awarded a point.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: I-League

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Ground | H | H | A | A | A | H | A |
| Result | D | L | W | L | D | W | W |
| Position | 7 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 |

### 2019 AFC Champions League

The AFC Champions League is the premier continental football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). As the champions of the I-League the previous season, Minerva Punjab FC earned a chance to qualify for the tournament. India did not have a direct-entry spot in the AFC Champions League and thus the champion team from India had to qualify for the tournament through the preliminary rounds. Minerva Punjab were put up against Saipa FC of Iran.

### 2019 AFC Cup

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ABD | CFC | MIN | MMC |
| 1 | Abahani Limited Dhaka | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 13 | Inter-zone play-off semi-finals | — | 3–2 | 2–2 | 5–0 |
| 2 | Chennaiyin | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 11 | | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Minerva Punjab | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 5 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–2 |
| 4 | Manang Marshyangdi Club | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 2 | | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | — |

## Statistics
### Goal Scorers

| Rank | No. | Pos. | Name | I-League | AFC | Indian Super Cup | Total |
| 1 | 22 | DF | Lancine Touré | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1 | 9 | MF | Philip Njoku | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1 | 17 | FW | William Opoku | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| | | | Own Goals | - | - | - | |
| | | | Total | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | Against | Result | Date | Competition |