2017–18 Minerva Punjab F.C. season

Minerva Punjab
2017–18 season
Owner	Ranjit Bajaj
Head coach	Khogen Singh
Stadium	Guru Nanak Stadium
I-League	Champions
Super Cup	Round of 16
Top goalscorer	League: Chencho Gyeltshen (7 goals); All: Chencho Gyeltshen (7 goals)
Highest home attendance	8,243 vs East Bengal ; (13 February 2018)[1]
Lowest home attendance	3,845 vs Chennai City ; (11 December 2017)[2]
Average home league attendance	5,736
Home colours	Away colours

The 2017–18 Minerva Punjab F.C. season is the 2nd season of in the I-League which is India's top football league. They finished the season as I-League Champions becoming the first team from North India to win the I-League since its inception.^[3]

Kit

Supplier: Astro^[4] / Sponsor: Apollo Tyres^[5]

Home

Away

Coaching Staff

As of 25 November 2017.

Position	Name
Head Coach	Khogen Singh
Team Manager	Sachin Badadhe
Physiotherapist	Neeraj Churi
Technical Consultant	Joel Williams
Source:

Squad Information

First-team squad

As of 11 March 2018^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Arshdeep Singh
2	DF	Rahul Baishnab Jaydebdas
3	MF	Sukhdev Singh (Captain)
5	FW	Nadong Bhutia
7	FW	Chencho Gyeltshen
8	MF	Randeep Singh
9	MF	Bali Gagandeep
10	FW	Moinuddin Khan
11	MF	Girik Khosla
13	MF	Bazie Armand
14	MF	Altamash Sayed
15	MF	Souvik Das
16	MF	Kassim Aidara
17	FW	Rajan Negi
18	MF	Akashdeep Singh
19	FW	Mohamman Ajaruddin
20	FW	Makan Chote
21	DF	Akash Sangwan

No.	Position	Player
22	DF	Kamalpreet Singh
24	DF	Guy Eric Dano
25	DF	Arashpreet Singh
26	DF	Deepak Devrani
27	DF	Abhishek Ambedkar
28	MF	Mohammad Shahjahan
31	GK	Kiran Chemjong
39	FW	Lago Dagbo Bei
40	GK	Rakshit Dagar
41	MF	Bhaskar Roy
42	MF	William Opoku
49	MF	Amandeep Singh
	DF	Ramandeep Singh
	DF	Harpreet Singh

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
I-League	25 November 2017	8 March 2018	Matchday 1	Winners	7001180000000000000♠18	7001110000000000000♠11	7000200000000000000♠2	7000500000000000000♠5	7001240000000000000♠24	7001160000000000000♠16	+8	07001611100000000000♠61.11
Super Cup	2 April 2018	2 April 2018	Round of 16	Round of 16	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠0	7000100000000000000♠1	7000400000000000000♠4	7000500000000000000♠5	−1	005000000000000000000♠0.00
Total					7001190000000000000♠19	7001110000000000000♠11	7000200000000000000♠2	7000600000000000000♠6	7001280000000000000♠28	7001210000000000000♠21	+7	07001578900000000000♠57.89

Last updated: 12 March 2018 (2018-03-12).
Source: Competitions

I-League

League Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Minerva Punjab (C)	18	11	2	5	24	16	+8	35	Qualification to 2019 AFC Champions League qualifier
2	NEROCA	18	9	5	4	20	13	+7	32
3	Mohun Bagan	18	8	7	3	28	14	+14	31
4	East Bengal	18	8	7	3	32	19	+13	31
5	Aizawl	18	6	6	6	21	18	+3	24

Source: i-league.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots
(C) Champion.

Result summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
18	11	2	5	24	16	+8	35	6	1	2	12	7	+5	5	1	3	12	9	+3

Last updated: 9 March 2018.
Source: i-league.org

Results by match

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Ground	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	H	H	H	H	A	H
Result	D	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	D	L	W	L	L	W	L	W

Source: i-league.org
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Win Draw Loss

25 November 2017 1	Minerva Punjab	1–1	Mohun Bagan	Ludhiana
17:30 IST	Moinuddin 89'	Report	Sony Norde 43' Gurjinder Kumar 55'	Stadium: Guru Nanak Stadium Attendance: 5,995 Referee: Umesh Bora Man of the Match: Sony Norde (Mohun Bagan AC)

1 December 2017 2	Minerva Punjab	2–1	NEROCA	Ludhiana
17:30 IST	Chencho Gyeltshen 24' Lago Dagbo Bei 45+2'	Report	Felix Chidi Odili 18' Moirangmayum Ashok Singh 49' Aryn Williams 90+6'	Stadium: Guru Nanak Stadium Attendance: 5,734 Referee: Senthil Nathan Man of the Match: Chencho Gyeltshen (Minerva Punjab FC)

5 December 2017 3	Indian Arrows	0–2	Minerva Punjab	Bambolim
20:00 IST		Report	William Opoku 7', 84' Kamalpreet Singh 86'	Stadium: GMC Bambolim Attendance: 776 Referee: Akash Jackson Routh Man of the Match: William Opoku (Minerva Punjab)

11 December 2017 4	Minerva Punjab	2–1	Chennai City	Ludhiana
20:00 IST	William Opoku 48' Kassim Aidara 59' Bali Gagandeep 70'	Report	Jean-Michel Joachim 5' Murilo de Almeida 19' Pradeep Mohannraj 89'	Stadium: Guru Nanak Stadium Attendance: 3,845 Referee: Om Prakash Thakur Man of the Match: Kassim Aidara (Minerva Punjab)

18 December 2017 5	Minerva Punjab	1–0	Indian Arrows	Ludhiana
20:00 IST	Chencho Gyeltshen 80'	Report		Stadium: Guru Nanak Stadium Attendance: 5,342 Referee: Rahul Kumar Gupta Man of the Match: Dheeraj Singh (Indian Arrows)

27 December 2017 6	Aizawl	2–1	Minerva Punjab	Aizawl
14:00 IST	Kareem Omolaja 72' Masih Saighani 75' Andrei Ionescu 86'	Report	Chencho Gyeltshen 61' Amandeep Singh 78' Girik Khosla 90+4'	Stadium: Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Aizawl) Attendance: 4,200 Referee: Raktim Saha Man of the Match: Léonce Dodoz Zikahi (Aizawl FC)

6 January 2018 7	Gokulam Kerala	0–1	Minerva Punjab	Kozhikode
17:30 IST	Kivi Zhimomi 51' Emmanuel Chigozie 76' Daniel Ashley Addo 84'	Report	Bali Gagandeep 19'	Stadium: EMS Corporation Stadium Attendance: 4,534 Referee: Senthil Nathan Man of the Match: Bali Gagandeep (Minerva Punjab FC)

10 January 2018 8	Mohun Bagan	1–2	Minerva Punjab	Kolkata
17:30 IST	Kingshuk Debnath 45+1' Cameron Watson 75' Kingsley Obumneme 90+4'	Report	Chencho Gyeltshen 23', 30' Kassim Aidara 26' William Opoku 45+1' Rakshit Dagar 90+5'	Stadium: Salt Lake Stadium Attendance: 5,384 Referee: Umesh Bora Man of the Match: Chencho Gyeltshen (Minerva Punjab FC)

14 January 2018 9	Shillong Lajong	0–1	Minerva Punjab	Shillong
14:00 IST	Daniel Odafin 32'	Report	William Opoku 57' Kassim Aidara 61' Rakshit Dagar 86'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 5,800 Referee: Ranjit Bakshi Man of the Match: Rakshit Dagar (Minerva Punjab FC)

27 January 2018 10	NEROCA	0–1	Minerva Punjab	Imphal
14:00 IST	Govin Singh 41'	Report	Chencho Gyeltshen 3' Kassim Aidara 17' Guy Eric Dano 21' Altamash Sayed 42'	Stadium: Khuman Lampak Main Stadium Attendance: 17,014 Referee: Palmson Moses Raj Man of the Match: Chencho Gyeltshen (Minerva Punjab FC)

30 January 2018 11	East Bengal	2–2	Minerva Punjab	Barasat Stadium
13:55 IST	Katsumi Yusa47' Joby Justin 59' Eduardo Ferreira 72' Brandon Vanlalremdika 88'	Report	Sukhdev Singh 20' Chencho Gyeltshen 33' Souvik Das 68' Guy Eric Dano 90+2'	Attendance: 11200 Referee: Tejas Nagvenkar Man of the Match: Kiran Chemjong (Minerva Punjab FC)

2 February 2018 12	Churchill Brothers	2–1	Minerva Punjab	Vasco da Gama
17:30 IST	Mechac Koffi 17' (pen.) Bektur Talgat Uulu 39' Wayne Vaz 45' Hussein Eldor 84'	Report	Sukhdev Singh 16' Girik Khosla 51' Kassim Aidara 57'	Stadium: Tilak Maidan Stadium Attendance: 2,442 Referee: Akash Jackson Routh Man of the Match: Wayne Vaz (Churchill Brothers SC)

7 February 2018 13	Minerva Punjab	3–2	Shillong Lajong	Panchkula
14:00 IST	Guy Eric Dano 5' Bali Gagandeep 45+1', 80' 53'	Report	Daniel Odafin 60' Lawrence Doe 63' 90+3' Novin Gurung 89'	Stadium: Tau Devi Lal Stadium Attendance: 6,898 Referee: Tejas Nagvenkar Man of the Match: Bali Gagandeep (Minerva Punjab)

13 February 2018 14	Minerva Punjab	0–1	East Bengal	Panchkula
14:00 IST	Amandeep Singh 45+1' Bali Gagandeep 70'	Report	Cavin Lobo 60' Mahmoud Amnah 77' Ubaid C.K. 90+2'	Stadium: Tau Devi Lal Stadium Attendance: 8,243 Referee: Ajit Kumar Meitei Man of the Match: Mahmoud Amnah (East Bengal FC)

20 February 2018 15	Minerva Punjab	0–1	Gokulam Kerala	Panchkula
14:00 IST	Randeep Singh 4'	Report	Mohamed Rashid 16' Mudde Musa 19' Balwinder Singh 42' Henry Kisekka 75'	Stadium: Tau Devi Lal Stadium Attendance: 3,890 Referee: Palmson Moses Raj Man of the Match: Bilal Husain Khan (Gokulam Kerala)

26 February 2018 16	Minerva Punjab	2–0	Aizawl	Panchkula
14:00 IST	Akash Sangwan 50' Akashdeep Singh 59' Armand Bazie 90+5'	Report	David Lalrinmuana 90+5'	Stadium: Tau Devi Lal Stadium Attendance: 4428 Referee: Khamruddin Mohammed Avez Man of the Match: Guy Eric Dano (Minerva Punjab FC)

2 March 2018 17	Chennai City	2–1	Minerva Punjab	Coimbatore
17:30 IST	Michael Soosairaj 5' Dharmaraj Ravanan 21' Aleksandar Rakić 59' Edwin Sydney Vanspaul 81' Asif Kottayil 90+3'	Report	Chencho Gyeltshen 26' Souvik Das 29'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 7,342 Referee: Santhosh Kumar Bhaskaran Man of the Match: Michael Soosairaj (Chennai City FC)

8 March 2018 18	Minerva Punjab	1–0	Churchill Brothers	Panchkula
17:30 IST	William Opoku 16' Guy Eric Dano 36' Amandeep Singh 58'	Report	Francis Oneyama 41'	Stadium: Tau Devi Lal Stadium Attendance: 7,852 Referee: Rahul Kumar Gupta Man of the Match: Ricardo Cardozo (Churchill Brothers SC)

Super Cup

Minerva Punjab FC entered the competition in Round of 16 and were drawn against Jamshedpur.^[7] However, they lost in the first game in penalty shootouts, concluding the season for I-League champions.