Federation Cup 2009: Chandni FC | Team Profile
November 28th, 2009 Section: Chandni FC
The third team we bring to you in our analysis of Kerala teams in the Federation Cup qualifying stages is Kozhikode’s Chandni FC…..
Team Name: FC Chandni
Introduction
FC Chandni was founded in 2001 under the more familiar name FC Calicut. The erstwhile FC Calicut was rescued from the verge of collapse in 2000 by a football-ardent Mumbai businessman, Suresh Chand. He renamed the club as Chandni FC and was turned into a true-professional club. The club is part-owned by another Malayalee businessman Balagopalan Kurup. The club has its base in Kozhikode with the Corporation Floodlit Stadium as their training base. The club has been running a football academy since 2001 and most of its players are from the academy.
Past Achievements
The club has clinched the Kozhikode District League for the last three consecutive seasons. In January, the club reached the semifinals of the Kerala State Club Championship held in Perinthalmana, Kozhikode. The club had surprised everyone in the football fraternity by qualifying for the I-League Second Division last season. They performed commendably by finishing third in their group and missing qualification only by a whisker.
Form Guide
The Men in Yellow have not had much of match practice coming into the qualifiers. Their only exposure was the 4-2 loss against KSEB in the INS Dronacharya Trophy.
Transfers
IN: Farhad K., Hasim Malik (both Young Challengers, Kozhikode), Salaudheen C.K. (KTC Football Team), Jafar C. (Devagiri College)
OUT: Rejith Kumar V.T., Shaukath P. (both Akbar Travels, Mumbai), Somtochukwu Richard Agwu (Kenkre Football Academy, Mumbai), Jafar Illikal, Firoz C.P., Prajeesh N.P., Safaru Rahi, Abdul Ganiyy, Salman T.A., Salim P.K., Rafeeq K.P., Lijo K.A.
The club is now on a buying spree and is expecting six new players in the next month. Also, the club is trying to sign some foreign players for the coming B division matches. However, the new players cannot show up for the Federation Cup Qualifiers because the transfer will materialise only in the next month.
Coach
Former Indian International and former Kerala State Team coach KP Sethumadhavan is coaching the team with the help of assistant coach and former Indian player Premnath Philip. Together, they are trying to groom the players and prepare them for the Federation Cup qualifiers, Kerala State Club Championships and the I-League Second Division.
Strengths
The club’s strength is their experienced coach and Kerala State team star striker KP Zubair. They also have in their ranks players like Ugandan Valatin, former SBT skipper Lanel Thomas and midfielder Mohammad Helmy (formerly Viva Kerala). The club is likely to be strengthened further with the signing of new players, who are expected in December.
Weaknesses
As other B division teams, lack of exposure and other friendly matches have been sighted as one of the major weakness of the team. The assistant coach has agreed that the team has not set completely until now for the Federation Cup matches but is sure about producing their best on the field. Three of their key players are also injured but have to field them against Titanium, says the assistant coach.
Squadlist
Yahiya NV, Prajeesh, Joseph Perera, Rajesh Kumar MA, Saleem PK, Zubair KP, Rajesh Thomas, Lanel Thomas, Valatin, Sakeer Hussain, Rajith Kumar C, Hashim, Shameer P, Salman, Firoz CP, Prasoon, Mohammad Helmy, Abdul Geni, Lijo, Sujithran MK.
Key Players
KP Zubair, Mohammad Helmy, Lanel Thomas, Abdul Geni, Joseph Perera and Valatin.
Compiled by Kevin K for footballkerala.com
January 11th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
please mail me me any further news about chnadni fc to my mail id..
January 11th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
gkp, you can keep in track with Chandni FC news with this RSS feed :
http://footballkerala.com/category/kerala-football-clubs/chandni-fc-kozhikode/feed/
so everytime there is a news you will get in in your Google reader or other RSS program.
If you are using Firefox you just need to drag and drop this link to your bookmarks folder so it will show up news there automatically when we file new ones
We will be considering you request to maintain a email subscription. Thanks for the feedback
May 9th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
what about kozhikode A division football league 2011? Any news?
May 9th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Universal Soccer School were crowned the champions of Kozhikode A Division League….. This was Universal’s maiden district league title..