Pune F.C.

In 2007, Indian football was in the process of a renovation, mainly with the start of the I-League replacing the old National Football League.[11] However, despite this, the All India Football Federation still had trouble attracting investors to create new clubs, specially outside of West Bengal, Goa, and North East India due to the fact that, despite a good number of fans in these areas and good wages to players, the clubs in these regions still had trouble creating any profit.[12]

Ashok Piramal Group, a company based in Maharashtra, however did the opposite.[12] Despite the city of Pune not having much history when it comes to football or much support for the sport, which is overshadowed by cricket, Ashok Piramal Group still created Pune Football Club in 2007.[12] In creating the club they created one of the first clubs in India named after the city they were playing in and representing.[12]

Pune Football Club Players and staff at the practice ground in 2008

In preparation for their first ever season in the I-League 2nd Division, the club signed mainly a bunch of unknown players and also signed on Stewart Hall as the first head coach of the club.[12][13] The club were grouped in Group A during the 2008 I-League 2nd Division along with Vasco, ONGC, HAL, and Chirag United.[12] Midway through their 2nd Division campaign the club changed coaches, going from Stewart Hall to former Northern Ireland national teamer, Bernard McNally.[14] The club finished in third place in Group A and thus failed to advance further that campaign.[12]

The club then participated the next year in the 2009 I-League 2nd Division where there were now four promotion spots up for grabs instead of the usual two as the I-League was going to expand.[12] Before the season began the club re-hired former coach Stewart Hall to coach the club.[15] Also before the season the club managed to make many changes to the squad.[15] At the end of the season Pune managed to finish in fourth place with a 3–0 victory over SESA Football Academy and thus earn promotion to the I-League for the first time in their history.[16]

Pune Football Club's first season in the I-League was the 2009–10 season. Pune selected the Balewadi Sports Complex in Balewadi, a suburb of Pune, as their home stadium.[17] Before the season began the club made headlines when they signed the current India number 1 goalkeeper, Subrata Pal, from East Bengal and by also signing Japanese midfielder Arata Izumi from Mahindra United.[4] At the same time the club also signed Derrick Pereira to be the head coach of the team after Stewart Hall resigned.[4] Before joining Pune, Pereira was head coach at Mahindra United where he had won the National Football League and the Federation Cup. He also took Mahindra United to the quarter-finals of the AFC Cup in 2007.[18]

Pune played their first I-League match against East Bengal, which was also their first home match in the I-League, on 3 October 2009 in which the final score was 0–0.[19] Pune had no wins, six draws, and two losses in the league before winning their first ever I-League match on 9 January 2010 against JCT 2–1.[20][21] At the end of the season Pune finished in third place which was called a success by the club due to their weak start in the league.[21]

The summer of 2011 would be an important time for Pune. On 23 June 2011 it was announced that Pune would start the Pune F.C. Academy team which would make Pune the first team in I-League with an academy team.[22] Then on 25 July 2011 it was announced that Pune's Brazilian striker Edmar Figueira would join the Portuguese top flight Primeira Liga with C.D. Feirense which would be the first-time a player from the I-League would sign for a team in a top 10 European league based on the UEFA coefficient.[23] Then on 26 September 2011 it was announced that Pune would play English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, who are owned by Indian owners Venky's, in a friendly. Thus making Pune the first ever Indian club to play a friendly against an English Premier League team.[24] The match was then played on 7 October 2011 at the Balewadi Sports Complex in which Pune lost 0–3 to Blackburn.[25] Then on 22 October 2011 it was announced that Pune had tied-up a partnership with IT giant Infosys which would see more promotion of the club through media networks.[26] Then on 11 June 2012 Pune became the first Indian football team to participate in a transfer between another I-League club, Prayag United, when Pune sold midfielder Lester Fernandez to Prayag for ₹20 lakh.[27]

The club then finished the 2012–13 season with their best finish yet in the I-League by finishing in 2nd place, just behind Churchill Brothers S.C. for the I-League crown.[5]

After the 2012–13 season finished it was announced that coach Derrick Pereira had resigned as Pune FC coach to return to his former club Salgaocar.[28] Soon enough though Pune were able to sign Pereira's replacement in former Vitesse Arnhem head coach, Dutchman Mike Snoei for the new season.[29] Also, with the new coach, came a new direction for Pune with the director of the club, Nandan Piramal, stating that the club would focus mainly on youth development while also mixing youngsters with a good group of senior players.[30] The club then made new signings in the foreign department by signing Superettan player Calum Angus and former A-League player James Meyer.[31] The club also signed current Equatorial Guinea international, Raúl Fabiani, who also played for his adopted country in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.[31]

The first tournament the club took part in was the 2013 Durand Cup in which the club sent a mix of players from the first-team and the Pune F.C. Academy with the three senior players being Caitano Costa, Shahinlal Meloly, and Prakash Thorat.[32] The club however did not make it out of the group stages.[33] Pune then played their first I-League match under Snoei on 21 September 2013 against Mohammedan at the Salt Lake Stadium in which Pune won the match 3–1 thanks to a double from Fabiani and a goal from Meyer.[34]

Then, on 29 January 2014, Pune played their first ever international club match when they took on Vietnamese side Hanoi T&T in the 2014 AFC Champions League qualifier first round at the Balewadi Sports Complex. The club however suffered a 3–0 defeat in that match, meaning that they would have to play in the 2014 AFC Cup that season.[35]

As of 10 August 2015[41]

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 Amrinder Singh 2 DF Luciano Sabrosa 3 DF Matthew Gonsalves 6 DF Yumnam Raju 7 MF Bineesh Balan 8 MF Arata Izumi (captain) 10 MF Edgar Marcelino 11 MF Ryuji Sueoka 13 DF Zohmingliana Ralte 14 DF Denechandra Meitei 15 DF Anas Edathodika 16 MF Velington Rocha 17 MF Dhanpal Ganesh 18 DF Nawab Zeeshan 19 MF Nikhil Kadam 20 FW Prakash Thorat

No. Position Player 21 MF Anthony D'Souza 22 GK Arup Debnath 25 DF Srikanth Ramu 26 MF Fanai Lalrempuia 27 MF Snehasish Chakraborty 28 FW Thongkhosiem Haokip 29 FW Syed Shoaib Ahmed 30 GK Avilash Paul 31 GK Moniruzzaman Ansari 32 MF Surojit Bose 33 DF Munmun Lugun 34 DF Henry Monsang 35 DF Jessel Carneiro 36 MF Lalram Luaha

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

No. Position Player 24 DF Salam Ranjan Singh (at Bengaluru)[42]

See Pune U19