Mumbai City FC

bout: Mumbai City FC is an Indian Professional Football Team which participates in the Indian Super League. The franchise is based in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Islanders play their home matches in the Mumbai Football Arena which is located in the Andheri region of Mumbai. The Arena is a multi-sport stadium but it is primarily used for Football matches and tournaments. It can hold around 18000 people at once.

The club came into being on the 30th of August, 2014 with the inception of the Indian Super League and has been present ever since. In November 2019, City Football Group announced that they had bought a 65% stake in the team’s ownership. The team's Head Coach is Sergio Lobera, who is appointed for the 2020-21 season.

Background

The franchise is owned by City Football Group (who also own Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC and New York City FC among other clubs), Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh. Mumbai City FC is Kapoor’s first investment in sports sector and he has been carefully following sports since then.

The team's logo contains navy blue colour which represents the sea, a figure the city is deeply connected to, both symbolically and economically.

The management has been working tirelessly ever since the League went underway in 2014 to improve the level of the game through the grassroots level itself.

City Football Group’s ownership of the club opens up a plethora of opportunities in the future, with seamless transfer of knowledge, and access to opportunities for players and club officials alike.

The trajectory in the ISL

In the inaugural season of the League, the team underperformed badly, finishing just above the last spot at seventh. The second season saw a little improvement than last year, winning 4 of the 14 matches and losing 6 in the meanwhile.

In the following season, their performance improved a great deal. They ended the playoffs with 6 wins and 5 draws in the fourteen round of matches and stood first in the table before going down 2-3 against ATK on aggregate. In the 2017 edition too, they finished at an utterly disappointing 7th. For the next two seasons, former Champions League winner and Portugal international Jorge Costa was manager of Mumbai City FC. In his first season in-charge, the team finished third in the table and qualified for the play-offs, but lost to FC Goa 5-2 on aggregate, unable to make the final. In the 2019-20 season, the club missed out on a play-off spot by three points, losing to Chennaiyin FC in the decisive league stage match.

Low Points

In the first few years of the club’s existence, they never failed to the attraction of people by adding major marquee names to their ranks. Be it Nicholas Anelka, Diego Forlan or Sunil Chhetri; their transfer activity made the headlines, but not their game.

However, under Jorge Costa, the team reached the playoffs in the 2018-19 season, but lost to FC Goa 5-2 on aggregate which was a particular low point for the club. The following season, they narrowly missed out on play-off qualification, but played good football regardless. Under the majority ownership of the City Football Group, Mumbai City FC finally hope to bring the success that their fans have always craved.

Major Players for the ISL 2020

With Amrinder Singh in their ranks, they have got one of the best goalkeepers in the League. The foreign signings that Mumbai City FC have made ahead of the season, with the likes of former FC Goa midfielder Hugo Boumous and one-time Reading player, the lethal Adam Le Fondre are sure to give the opposition something to think about.

Mourtada Fall of Senegal will look to add steel to the defense, and Indian names such as Rowlin Borges and Mandar Rao Desai who are experiences ISL campaigners lend Mumbai City FC a complete look ahead of the ISL season.

Year 2018 – Season 5 | Matches played – 18 | Wins – 9 | Lost – 6 | Tie – 3 | Win % - 50% | Final Result – Semi-finalist

Year 2019 – Season 5 | Matches played – 18 | Wins – 7 | Lost – 6 | Tie – 5 | Win % 38.8% | Final result – 5th