# Chennai City FC

Chennai City Football Club was an Indian professional football club based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The club predominantly competed in the I-League, which was then highest division of Indian football league system. They have also appeared in the Chennai Football League. Established in 1946 as Nethaji Sports Club, Chennai City spent its grand majority of history by competing in state leagues and knock-out tournaments until entering the national stage in 2016.
Chennai City FC was known by its nickname "The Lions". On 11 December 2016, the club was awarded a direct-entry spot into the I-League for 2016–17 season, and became champion in the 2018–19 season.

## History
### Formation and early years (1946–2016)

Chennai City FC was founded in 1946, as "Nethaji Sports Club" during the British rule in India. The club was named after "Netaji" Subhas Chandra Bose. It was incorporated by S. V. Kanagasabai, E. Vadivelu, T. R. Govindarajan, P. V. Chellappa, and K. Ekambaram. Nethaji Sports Club was primarily affiliated with Tamil Nadu Football Association (TNFA), has appeared in several state competitions including Vittal Trophy, TFA Shield and Chennai District Football League. With the support from TNFA, Nethaji simultaneously organized a Champions Trophy named 'Universal Cup' after the end of regular league season. The club since its inception, 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.
Since the 1990s, Nethaji Sports Club participated in Madras Football League, conducted by the Chennai Football Association (CFA). In state tournament, Tamil Nadu State League, they finished as runners-up thrice in 2004, 2005–06 and 2007. Nethaji clinched their first CFA Premier/Senior Division League title in 2009, led by then coach D. Sekaran, in which club's Ivorian striker Dombia Mamadou became top scorer. The club was renamed to "Chennai City FC" on 11 June 2014.

### I-League years (2016–2021)

On 11 December 2016, Chennai City was accepted as a direct entry club for the 2016–17 I-League season after the withdrawal of Dempo. Thus it became the second club from Tamil Nadu to play in the top division after Indian Bank Recreational Club team in National Football League. Chennai City made it to the Federation Cup 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 the domestic league. Their potential was highlighted when they managed to hold off Mohun Bagan for a very long time and even got wins against Aizawl and East Bengal. In the 2016–17 Indian Federation Cup, they were pitted in Group A against Aizawl, East Bengal, and Churchill Brothers. Chennai City lost their first games and was 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.
On 6 February 2019, Chennai City FC officially announced that the club agreed a partnership deal with Swiss Super League giants FC Basel. The club owned 26 percent of Chennai City and would develop football in the state by building football schools for young talents. FC Basel would also have a player exchange program, including first team players, with CCFC and help the club with technical know how.
   "Our long-term philosophy is to cultivate our style of football — the Chennai City FC style — throughout the ranks. We want our junior teams to play the same way as the senior team is now playing. That would improve the ecosystem immensely. We want to build the Chennai City model of football in Tamil Nadu."
On 9 March 2019, Chennai City FC beat former champions Minerva Punjab 3–1 to be crowned the 2018–19 I-League champions. 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. This was Chennai City FC's maiden I-League title, and later they represented India at the 2020 AFC Champions League playoffs and 2020 AFC Cup respectively. They played a single game in Group E of the AFC Cup at their home ground before the competition being abandoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in which Chennai City drew 2–2 with Maldivian club Maziya S&RC on 11 March 2020. The club then participated in 2019 Durand Cup with all-Indian squad. They later went on to participate in 2019 edition of Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup in Bangladesh, but failed to advance to the knock-out stages.
Chennai City also participated in the Hero Super Cup during March–April 2019, and lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions FC Goa. However, they did manage to win 2–1 against ISL champions Bengaluru FC in the quarter-finals. In December 2020, Satyasagara appointed as head coach, and the club ended their 2020–21 I-League campaign in ninth place.

### Expulsion and changes in sporting licence

In December 2021, the AIFF club licensing committee unanimously decided not to grant the exemption sought by the club after having failed to receive the ICLS license. As a result, Chennai City was barred from participating in the 2021–22 I-League and was replaced by debutant Kenkre. The club also failed to take part in 2021–22 Chennai Senior Division league.
On 3 March 2023, the club owner Rohit Ramesh officially announced that the sporting license of Chennai City FC has been transferred. The owners are "out of footballing activities," while retaining the name, rights and logo of the club. Upon transfer of the license to the new licensee, the club announced that they will restart footballing activities from the lower divisions of the state league. Since 2016 until 2023, the club was owned by SkaSports Investments Private Limited, the holding company later in August 2023 – bought majority stakes in Cambodian Premier League side Angkor Tiger.

## Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| 2016—2017 | Classic Polo | Baako |
| 2017—2018 | Counter Sports | — |
| 2018—2019 | Penalty | Uhlsport |
| 2019—2021 | Nivia | TVS Group |

## Stadium

The club played most of its home games at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore. Constructed in 1971, it is currently used mostly for football matches and has a capacity of 30,000. 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.

## Affiliated clubs

The following clubs were affiliated with Chennai City FC:
* JS Hercules (2017–2019)
* FC Basel (2019–2020)

## Honours
### Domestic leagues

* I-League
** Champions (1): 2018–19
* CFA Premier Division League
** Champions (2): 2008–09, 2016–17
** Third place (1): 2015–16
* Tamil Nadu State League
** Runners-up (3): 2004, 2005–06, 2007
* CFA Second Division League
** Champions (1): 2013–14

## Notable players

For all former notable Chennai City FC players with a Wikipedia article, see: Chennai City FC players.

### Past internationals

* The foreign players below, had senior/youth international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed represented their countries before or after playing for Chennai City FC.
| Echezona Anyichie (2016–2017) Zohib Islam Amiri (2017) Ildar Amirov (2017–2018) Murilo de Almeida (2017–2018) Veniamin Shumeyko (2017–2018) Uroš Poljanec (2017–2018) | Duach Jock (2018) Aman Talantbekov (2018) Jerrad Tyson (2018) Feiz Shamsin (2018–2019) Tenzin Samdup (2018–2019) Iqbal Hussain (2020–2021) |

## Continental record

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | Scorers |
| 2020 | AFC Champions League | Preliminary round 1 | Al-Riffa | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | Adolfo "Fito" Miranda (2 goals in AFC Cup) |
| 2020 | AFC Cup | Group E | Maziya S&RC | 2–2 | – | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Adolfo "Fito" Miranda (2 goals in AFC Cup) |
| 2020 | AFC Cup | Group E | TC Sports | – | – | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Adolfo "Fito" Miranda (2 goals in AFC Cup) |
| 2020 | AFC Cup | Group E | Bashundhara Kings | – | – | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Adolfo "Fito" Miranda (2 goals in AFC Cup) |

## Records and statistics
### League history

| Season | Div. | Tms. | Pos. | Attendance | Federation Cup/Super Cup | Durand Cup | AFC Champions League | AFC Cup |
| 2016–17 | I-League | 10 | 8 | 2,949 | Group stage | DNP | DNQ | DNQ |
| 2017–18 | I-League | 10 | 8 | 8,194 | Qualification round | DNP | DNQ | DNQ |
| 2018–19 | I-League | 11 | 1 | 6,138 | Semi-finals | Group stage | DNQ | DNQ |
| 2019–20 | I-League | 11 | 7 | 7,825 | DNP | Group Stage | Preliminary round 1 | Group Stage |
| 2020–21 | I-League | 11 | 9 | Played in closed stadiums due to COVID-19 pandemic in India | Tournament Suspended due to COVID-19 | DNP | DNQ | DNQ |
| 2021–22 | I-League | 13 | Barred by AIFF | Played in closed stadiums due to COVID-19 pandemic in India | TBD | DNP | DNQ | DNQ |

#### Key

* Tms. = Number of teams
* Pos. = Position in league
* Attendance/G = Average league attendance
* DNP = Did not participate
* DNQ = Did not qualify

### Overall

    As of 14 January 2017
| Season | I-League | I-League | I-League | I-League | I-League | I-League | I-League | I-League | Asia | Asia | Asia | Asia | Asia | Asia | Top Scorer | Top Scorer |
| Season | 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 coaches

    As of 26 October 2020
| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win% |
| Robin Charles Raja | India | 13 December 2016 | 8 February 2017 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 014.29 |
| V. Soundararajan | India | 9 January 2017 | 14 March 2018 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 19 | 023.08 |
| Akbar Nawas | Singapore | 26 October 2020 | 15 March 2018 | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 68 | 49 | 052.63 |
| Satyasagara | Singapore | 10 December 2020 | 2021 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 035.71 |

### Team

* Biggest margin win in I-League: 6–1 vs. Shillong Lajong in Coimbatore (29 December 2018).
* Cub's highest goal scorer in a single season of I-League: 21 goals, by Pedro Javier Manzi Cruz (2018–19 I-League).
* Highest transfer fee received: €125,000 plus sell-on clause from Japanese J2 League side Albirex Niigata — Pedro Javier Manzi Cruz (2020).

## Derivation

Named after Nethaji Sports Club, an outfit named "Nethaji FC" was incorporated in Chennai and is currently competing in the CFA Premier Division League (the highest division of the Chennai Football League system).