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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. The club also played some 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.
The following clubs were affiliated with Chennai City FC:
For all former notable Chennai City FC players with a Wikipedia article, see: Chennai City FC players.
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).
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