Chennaiyin FC
| File:Chennaiyin FC Logo.png | |||
| Full name | Chennaiyin Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 | ||
| Ground | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai | ||
| Capacity | 40,000 | ||
| Owner | Abhishek Bachchan Vita Dani M S Dhoni | ||
| Chairman | M S Dhoni | ||
| Manager | Marco Materazzi | ||
| League | Indian Super League | ||
| 2014 | Regular season: 1st Finals: Semi-finalists | ||
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Chennaiyin FC is an Indian Super League football franchise based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu which began to play in October 2014 during the inaugural season of the Indian Super League.
The franchise is owned by Vita Dani, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan and Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.[1] Its player-manager is Italian World Cup-winning defender Marco Materazzi, and its marquee player is former Brazilian international midfielder Elano Blumer. The team's name Chennaiyin FC means Chennai's football club in Tamil where the 'yin' suffix is similar to Apostrophe s in English.[2] The team's logo is the Dhrishti Bommai is a representation of chasing negativity and preserving positivity in the Tamil culture.[3]
History
When the Indian Super League was founded in 2014, the city of Chennai was one of the nine proposed cities up for franchise bidding.[4] However, on 11 April 2014 it was reported that Chennai's main bidder, a consortium led by Sunil Gavaskar would drop out due to commitments with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.[5] Then, in August 2014, with two months before the 2014 ISL season, the Bangalore owners Sun Group dropped out due to disputes with the organizers.[6] Initially reports came out that the ISL organizers were looking for bidders for new owners for the Bangalore franchise before it was revealed that Ronnie Screwvala and actor Abhishek Bachchan would together bid for a Chennai team instead of a Bangalore franchise.[7] Then, on 14 August 2014, it was reported that ISL officials were inspecting the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai for the proposed team.[8]
On 21 August 2014, for the ISL international player draft Prashant Agarwal CEO of Kshatriya Sports and Playon Skills, who is an Indian origin football expert based in London, UK and has a technical tie-up with Italian club Inter Milan represented the Team Chennai.[9][10] Prashant Agarwal and his team picked Bernard Mendy, Cristian Hidalgo, Gennaro Bracigliano, Bojan Djordjic, Eduardo Silva Lerma, Bruno Pelissari and Jairo Suárez as their 7 international players,[11] for INR 2.34 Crore for all 7 players at an average value of INR 33.43 Lakhs per player. On 12 September 2014, Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi was hired as player-manager.[12] The club officially launched their jersey in the presence of co-owners Abhishek Bachchan and Vita Dani at a press conference on 9 October 2014. They also announced that the Ozone Group, a real estate developer would be their principal sponsor for the tournament.[13]
Stadium
The Marina Arena | |
| Address | India |
|---|---|
| Location | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Owner | Government of Tamil Nadu |
| Capacity | 40,000 |
| Tenants | |
| Chennaiyin FC Tamil Nadu football team | |
Chennayin FC play their home matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadiumin Chennai nicknamed the Marina Arena. It is a multipurpose stadium and has a capacity of 40,000.[14] It hosts football, and athletic competitions. The stadium is located at Sydenhams Road, Park Town behind the Chennai Central suburban Railway station and Ripon Building. The stadium is named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister and earlier hosted cricket Test Matches between 1956 and 1965.[15]
Seasons
2014 season
On 15 October 2014, Chennaiyin won their first Indian Super League fixture with a 2–1 victory at FC Goa. The goals were scored by Balwant Singh, who became the first Indian player to score in the competition, and the former Brazil international Elano, who was the first marquee player to score.[16] On 28 November 2014, the club brought Alessandro Nesta, who won the World Cup for Italy alongside Materazzi, out of retirement.[17] The team finished its 14-game regular season in first place in the league.
In the semi finals, the team lost the first leg 3-0 to Kerala Blasters. In the second leg on 16 December 2014 they managed to overturn the deficit by leading 3-0 in regular time. However in extra time a 117th-minute goal by Stephen Pearson sent Kerala through to the finals.
2015 season
For the second season of Indian Super League, they managed to retain six players namely, Balwant Singh, Jayesh Rane, Dhanachandra Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Harmanjot Khabra and Abhishek Das.[18] They also signed Godwin Franco and Mehrajuddin Wadoo. Nike signed as the official kit sponsors for 2015 season
Players
Current squad
- As of 27 September 2015[19]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Technical staff
Current technical staff
- As of 27 June 2015
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head Coach & Manager |  Marco Materazzi
|
| Assistant coach |  Vivek Nagul
|
| Goalkeeping coach | Francesco Franzese
|
Team records
Overall records
- As of 22 January 2015
| Season | Indian Super League | Final Position | Top Scorer | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Position | Player | Goals | |||
| 2014 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 24 | 20 | 23 | 1st | Semi-finals |  Elano
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8 | |
Head Coach Record
- As of 27 June 2015
| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marco Materazzi | Italy
|
15 October 2014 | Present | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 19 | 46.15 |
Kit manufacturers and Shirt sponser
| Period | Kit manufacturers | Shirt sponsers |
|---|---|---|
| 2014-Present | TYKA Sports | Ozonegroup |
References
- ^ "Dhoni becomes ISL team Chennaiyin FC co-owner". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ^ "Chennayin logo revealed". Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^ Sudarshan, N. (5 October 2014). "Chennaiyin Football gets Italian seasoning". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
- ^ "Business giants join forces to launch Indian Super League". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Chennai unlikely to have an ISL team". Times of India. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ Mergulhao, Marcus. "Now, Sun Group opts out of Indian Super League". Times of India. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ Suchindran, Aravind. "Screwvala, Abhishek may bid for Chennai franchise". Times of India. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ Mergulhao, Marcus. "ISL: Draft for overseas players on August 21". Times of India. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ Jitendran, Nikhil. "Chennai confirmed as eighth ISL franchise after Bangalore drop out". Goal.com. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ^ Mergulhao, Marcus. "ISL: Abhishek Bachchan to lead Chennai consortium". Times of India. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Marar, Nandakumar. "ISL: Chennai replaces Bangalore, Kerala Blasters pick Michael Chopra". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Suchindran, Aravind (12 September 2014). "Marco Materazzi to manage Chennai Titans". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ^ "Official Jersey released". Times Of India. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai". Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^ "Nehru Stadium: Test Matches". ESPN Cricinfo. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ Raj, Rohan (15 October 2014). "ISL: Record-breaking Chennaiyin FC romp to 2-1 win over FC Goa". India Today. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ^ Davies, Jack (28 November 2014). "Alessandro Nesta comes out of retirement to join Indian Super League side Chennaiyin". Goal.com. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
- ^ "Retain Players of Chenniyin FC in ISL 2". Footballlens. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ "Your Team". Indian Super League. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
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