ChennaiCity Football Club is an Indian football club based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The club has compete as a member of the I-League, under license from All India Football Federation. The club was established in 1946 as Netaji Sports Club by five friends. The club has spend the grand majority of its history competing in the local state and city tournaments but entered the national stage in 2016. On 11 December 2016, the team were awarded a direct-entry spot into the I-League for the 2016–17 season, and became I-League champions the 2018-19 season.
History
The club was founded in 1946 as Netaji Sports Club by five friends, SV Kanagasabai, E Vadivelu, TR Govindarajan, PV Chellappa and K Ekambaram. On 11 December 2016, the club was accepted as a direct entry club for 2016–17 I-League and became the second club from Tamil Nadu to play in the top division after Indian Bank team in National Football League. On 6 February 2019 Chennai City FC had agreed for a partnership with FC Basel who now owns 26 percent of the club and would develop football in the state by building football schools for young talents FC Basel will 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 also scored a brace in this match, and was the joint top scorer of the league, scoring 21 league goals. This was Chennai City FC's first ever I-League title, and they will now represent India in the AFC Champions League. Chennai City FC also played 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.
Stadium
The club plays its home games at 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. The club decided to play their continental matches from Ahmedabad.
Akbar Nawas
Ashok Kumar