# 2023–24 Punjab FC season

The 2023–24 season is the nineteenth season in Punjab FC's existence, and club's first ever season in the Indian Super League after it became the first ever club to be promoted to the League by winning the 2022–23 I-League.

## Personnel
### Current technical staff

| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Staikos Vergetis |
| Assistant coach | Dimitrios Kakkos |
| Goalkeeping coach | Vinay Singh |
| Strength & Conditioning coach | Nikolaos Tsagkatakis |
| Team Manager | Kamaldeep Singh |
| Technical Director | Nikolaos Topoliatis |
| Team Doctor | Sidak Dhillon |

## Players
### First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | IND | Ravi Kumar |
| 2 | DF | IND | Tekcham Abhishek Singh |
| 4 | DF | IND | Nikhil Prabhu |
| 5 | DF | GRE | Dimitrios Chatziisaias |
| 6 | MF | IND | Ricky Shabong |
| 7 | FW | IND | Krishananda Singh |
| 8 | MF | FRA | Madih Talal |
| 9 | FW | COL | Wilmar Jordán |
| 10 | MF | IND | Maheson Singh |
| 11 | MF | IND | Samuel Kynshi |
| 12 | DF | IND | Khaiminthang Lhungdim |
| 14 | FW | ESP | Juan Mera |
| 16 | GK | NEP | Kiran Chemjong |
| 17 | MF | IND | Manglenthang Kipgen |
| 18 | FW | IND | Sweden Fernandes (on loan from Chennaiyin) |
| 19 | FW | IND | Daniel Lalhlimpuia |
| 20 | FW | IND | Ranjeet Pandre |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | GK | IND | Jaskaranbir Singh |
| 22 | MF | IND | Sahil Tavora (on loan from Hyderabad) |
| 23 | MF | IND | Ashish Pradhan |
| 24 | MF | IND | Prasanth Mohan |
| 30 | MF | IND | Kingsley Fernandes |
| 31 | MF | IND | Leon Augustine |
| 32 | DF | IND | Pramveer Singh |
| 34 | DF | IND | Melroy Assisi |
| 39 | DF | IND | Mohammed Salah |
| 41 | GK | IND | Abujam Penand Singh |
| 45 | DF | IND | Nitesh Darjee |
| 48 | MF | IND | Isaac Vanmalsawma |
| 74 | DF | IND | Suresh Meitei |
| 77 | FW | IND | Bidyashagar Singh |
| 80 | MF | IND | Amarjit Singh Kiyam |
| 81 | MF | IND | Bryce Miranda (on loan from Kerala Blasters) |
| 99 | FW | SVN | Luka Majcen (captain) |

## Transfers
### In

| Position | Player | Previous club | Transfer fee | Date |
| MF | Samuel Kynshi | Real Kashmir | Free | 8 May 2023 |
| DF | Melroy Assisi | Rajasthan United | Undisclosed | 20 July 2023 |
| MF | Kingsley Fernandes | Churchill Brothers | Free | 20 July 2023 |
| DF | Nitesh Darjee | Sudeva Delhi | Free | 20 July 2023 |
| MF | Ricky Shabong | Mohun Bagan SG | Free | 24 July 2023 |
| FW | Ranjeet Pandre | Mumbai Kenkre | Free | 24 July 2023 |
| DF | Nikhil Prabhu | Goa | Free | 25 July 2023 |
| MF | Prasanth Mohan | Chennaiyin | Free | 29 July 2023 |
| MF | Madih Talal | A.E. Kifisia | Free | 12 August 2023 |
| DF | Tejas Krishna | Kerala Blasters B | Free | 30 August 2023 |
| FW | Wilmar Jordán | NorthEast United | Free | 31 August 2023 |
| GK | Shibinraj Kunniyil | Gokulam Kerala | Free | 10 September 2023 |
| DF | Suresh Meitei | Army Red | Free | 10 September 2023 |
| DF | Mashoor Shereef | NorthEast United | Free | 10 September 2023 |
| DF | Dimitrios Chatziisaias | Atromitos | Free | 20 September 2023 |
| MF | Isaac Vanmalsawma | Odisha | Free | 31 January 2024 |
| FW | Bidyashagar Singh | Kerala Blasters FC | Free | 31 January 2024 |

### Loans In

| Start Date | End Date | Position | Player | From club | Transfer fee |
| 25 September 2023 | 31 May 2024 | MF | Amarjit Singh Kiyam | Chennaiyin | Free |
| 10 September 2023 | 31 May 2024 | MF | Sweden Fernandes | Chennaiyin | Free |
| 31 January 2024 | 31 May 2024 | MF | Bryce Miranda | Kerala Blasters | Free |
| 31 January 2024 | 31 May 2024 | MF | Sahil Tavora | Hyderabad | Free |

### Loans out

| Start Date | End Date | Position | Player | To club | Transfer fee | Ref |
| 30 August 2023 | 31 May 2024 | DF | Deepak Devrani | Inter Kashi | Free | |
| 30 August 2023 | 31 May 2024 | DF | Tejas Krishna | Inter Kashi | Free | |

### Out

| Date. | No. | Position | Player | Outgoing club | Transfer Fee |
| 1 June 2023 | 20 | MF | Juan Nellar | Free Agent | Free |
| 23 June 2023 | 29 | FW | Ashangbam Aphaoba Singh | Odisha | Free |
| 25 July 2023 | 14 | DF | Shankar Sampingiraj | Bengaluru | Free |
| 31 August 2023 | 8 | MF | Freddy Lallawmawma | Kerala Blasters | Undisclosed |
| 2 September 2023 | 27 | MF | Samuel Lalmuanpuia | Mohammedan | Free |
| 16 January 2024 | 55 | MF | Aleksandar Ignjatović | Rudar Prijedor | Free |
| 20 January 2024 | 66 | DF | Mashoor Shereef | Gokulam Kerala | Free |
| 24 January 2024 | 13 | GK | Shibinraj Kunniyil | Free Agent | Free |
| 27 January 2024 | 4 | DF | Tarif Akhand | Kenkre | Free |
| 31 January 2024 | 30 | MF | Brandon Vanlalremdika | Sreenidi Deccan | Free |

## Competition
### Overview

Win  Draw  Loss
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Durand Cup | 7 August 2023 (2023-8-7) | 16 August 2023 (2023-8-16) | Group stage | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 000.00 |
| Super Cup | 11 January 2024 (2024-1-11) | 21 January 2024 (2024-1-21) | Group stage | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 000.00 |
| Super League | 21 September 2023 (2023-9-21) | 10 April 2024 (2024-4-10) | Matchday 1 | 8th | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 027.27 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 28 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 31 | 42 | −11 | 021.43 |
Last updated: 26 February 2024 (2024-2-26). Source: Soccerway

### Indian Super League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 6 | Chennaiyin | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 26 | 36 | −10 | 27 | Qualification for the kockouts |
| 7 | NorthEast United | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 26 | |
| 8 | Punjab | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 24 | |
| 9 | East Bengal | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 24 | Qualification for the Champions League Two preliminary stage |
| 10 | Bengaluru | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 20 | 34 | −14 | 22 | |
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Punjab 4, East Bengal 1.
* ↑ East Bengal qualified for the AFC Champions League Two preliminary stage by winning the 2024 Super Cup.

#### League results by round

| Match | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Ground | A | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H |
| Result | L | L | D | D | L | L | D | D | D | L | W | L | W | W | L | W | L | W | D | L | L | W |
| League Position | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 8 |

#### Matches

Note: FSDL and the Indian Super League announced the fixtures for the first half of the season on 7 September. Meanwhile, the final half of the fixtures were announced on 25 January 2024.

### Durand Cup

Punjab were drawn in the Group A for the 132nd edition of the Durand Cup.

#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | EAB | MBG | BAN | PUN |
| 1 | East Bengal (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | Qualify for the knockout stage | — | — | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Mohun Bagan (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 6 | Qualify for the knockout stage | 0–1 | — | 5–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Bangladesh Army | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 2 | | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Punjab | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 1 | | — | — | 0–0 | — |

#### Matches
### Indian Super Cup
#### Group stage

The group stage draw for the 2024 Indian Super Cup was conducted on 18 December 2023 with Punjab being drawn in Group C.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MCI | CHE | PFC | GOK |
| 1 | Mumbai City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| 2 | Chennaiyin | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | | — | — | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Punjab | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | | — | — | — | 0–0 |
| 4 | Gokulam Kerala | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 | | — | — | — | — |

#### Matches
## Statistics
### Squad appearances and goals

All stats are correct as of 4 May 2024

#### All competitions

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Super League | Super League | Durand Cup | Durand Cup | Super Cup | Super Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | IND | Ravi Kumar | 17 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | GK | NEP | Kiran Chemjong | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | IND | Jaskaranvir Singh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | IND | Tekcham Abhishek Singh | 16 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | IND | Nikhil Prabhu | 26 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | GRE | Dimitrios Chatziisaias | 23 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | IND | Khaiminthang Lhungdim | 21 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | IND | Pramveer Singh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | IND | Melroy Assisi | 14 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | IND | Mohammed Salah | 17 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 45 | DF | IND | Nitesh Darjee | 12 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 74 | DF | IND | Suresh Meitei | 15 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 6 | MF | IND | Ricky Shabong | 16 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | FRA | Madih Talal | 25 | 6 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | IND | Maheson Singh | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | IND | Samuel Kynshi | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Juan Mera | 23 | 2 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | IND | Manglenthang Kipgen | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | IND | Sweden Fernandes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | IND | Sahil Tavora | 20 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | IND | Ashis Pradhan | 21 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | IND | Prasanth Mohan | 12 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | IND | Kingsley Fernandes | 8 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | IND | Leon Augustine | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | MF | IND | Isaac Vanmalsawma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 80 | MF | IND | Amarjit Singh Kiyam | 14 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 81 | MF | IND | Bryce Miranda | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | IND | Krishananda Singh | 14 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | COL | Wilmar Jordán | 18 | 9 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 19 | FW | IND | Daniel Lalhlimpuia | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | IND | Ranjeet Pandre | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | FW | IND | Bidyashagar Singh | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 99 | FW | SVN | Luka Majcen | 28 | 10 | 22 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 |

### Goal scorers

As of match played 10 April 2024
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Name | League | Durand Cup | Super Cup | Total |
| 1 | 99 | FW | Luka Majcen | 8 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 10 | FW | Wilmar Jordán | 8 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | 8 | MF | Madih Talal | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | 14 | MF | Juan Mera | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 | DF | Nikhil Prabhu | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 5 | DF | Dimitrios Chatziisaias | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 7 | MF | Krishananda Singh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 34 | DF | Melroy Assisi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |

### Clean-sheets

As of match played 7 March 2024
| Rank | Name | No. | League | Durand Cup | Super Cup | Total |
| 1 | Ravi Kumar | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Kiran Chemjong | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |