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#3 Kerala Blasters
History
The club was established in May 2014 and began their first professional season a few months later in October 2014. The team name comes from one of their owners, former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who was known as the "Master Blaster" during his playing days.
The Blasters play their matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi. The stadium was also a venue used in the Indian Premier League for the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, and was also a venue during the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The team has lead the league in attendance every season, regularly averaging over 55,000 fans a game. The club had twice made it to the final of the Indian Super League in 2014 and 2016 respectively. On both occasions, they lost to ATK, formerly known as Atletico de Kolkata. With new signings like Dimitar Berbatov, former Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur star, and the return of Iain Hume from ATK, the Blasters would definitely be hoping to break the jinx and crown themselves with the ISL 2017 trophy.
Pre-season
Kerala Blasters trained at the Marbella Football Centre in Spain, adhead of their clash against ATK. The Yellow Army played four pre-season games, of which they won two. The Blasters defeated Athletic Coin by 1-0 in their first match, but were held back by Juventud Torremolinos as both the sides managed to find the net once. In their third game against Real Balompedica Linense, the Blasters managed to score twice and ended up winning the match. Though their last match against Marbella FC didn't go as expected, as the Yellow Army stumbled by a margin of 3-0.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Paul Rachubka, Sandip Nandy, Subhasish Roy Chowdhury.
Defenders: Lalruatthara, Lalthakima, Nemanja Lakic-Pesic, Rino Anto, Samuel Shadap, Sandesh Jhingan, Soraisam Pritam Kumar Singh, Wes Brown.
Midfielders: Ajith Sivan, Arata Izumi, CK Vineeth, Courage Pekuson, Jackichand Singh, Loken Moirangthem Meitei, Milan Singh Ongnam, Siam Hanghal.
Forwards: Iain Edward Hume, Helder Postiga, Nadong Bhutia, Baljit Sahni, Sushil Kumar Singh, Dimitar Berbatov.
