Mahindra United | Mahindra United Football Team

History

The history of football in Mahindra & Mahindra goes back four and a half decades, i.e. from 1962. The Mahindra & Mahindra & Allied Company Sports Club, which started as a simple set up way back in 1950, has certainly come
a long way – from a club with just a few games and a few amenities to an establishment, running a professional team and offering high quality facilities, incentives and allowances.

The originators behind this concept were a few sports oriented members of the company, and they received vital support initially from the founders, Late Shri K C Mahindra & Late Shri J C Mahindra and later on from Shri

Keshub Mahindra, Late Harish Mahindra and Late Suresh Mahindra, who were sports-men in their own right.

In 1956, inspired by the activities, a group of youngsters enrolled themselves as the “M&M official team” in the Bombay football League and made every effort to reach the top of Bombay football. To further improve the standards, the Company provided a full size football field which has been used for practice and training.

At that point in time, with the football teams representing the company at tournaments in Bombay, the need arose to structure the activities as a sports club and give it a positive direction, thus a “Sports club” was formed in 1962 as “Mahindra & Mahindra & Allied Company Sports Club”.

Since then, the team has gone from strength to strength, getting into Bombay’s senior division Harwood League in 1964. Understandably, they earned the sobriquet “The Giant Killers”. As football developed in Maharashtra, so it did in Mahindras. In 1969, Mr. Harish Mahindra was elected Vice President of the Western India Football Association (WIFA).

Mahindra & Mahindra Allied Sports Club, then known as the “Orange Brigade” was one of the most popular teams in Maharashtra after strong teams like TATA’s, Mafatlal’s, Caltex etc. Teams like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting went all out to recruit the talented Mahindra Players. Mahindra’s were a potential threat to all the top teams in the Country. International Players like P M Shivdas, C Mustafa, Jerry Bassi, Henry Menezes, Santosh Kashyap, Godfrey Pereira, turned up to represent the Mahindra Football Team.

In the year 2000, the Mahindra Football Team underwent a total revamp wherein the orange brigade turned Red. Football became the main sport in Mahindras. The team was rechristened “MAHINDRA UNITED” under the leadership of Mr. Alan Durante – the then Executive Director & President of Automotive Sector with backing of our Chairman Shri Keshub Mahindra and Vice Chairman & Managing Director Shri Anand Mahindra. This set the ball rolling!

On November 3, 2008, “MAHINDRA UNITED” became a commercial entity and was re-christened “Mahindra United Football Club (Pvt.) Ltd.”

Coaches like Raghavan, International Derek Desouza, Harish Rao, World Cupper Karel Stromsik, English man David Booth, Dhornacharya Awardee Syed Nayeemuddin, have coached the team and brought laurels. The management designed an activity center, modern gymnasium, dressing rooms etc. Players were put up at Players Quarters with a mess facility, maintained by the company close to the training ground. Swimming pool facilities was also provided to the players.

In the year 2003, Mahindra United recruited David Booth from the UK, as Coach who had a 5 years stint with Ghana, 3 and a half years with Brunei National Team and 3 years with Myanmar National Team. After he took over as Coach of Mahindra United, the team won the Mumbai League, Super Cup, Federation Cup.

The victory in the “Federation Cup” of 2003 gave us an entry in the AFC Cup 2004 when “Mahindra United” was listed in the World Cup rankings. The team was placed 3rd in the National Football League and Mahindra United created hstory by winning their first international tournament, “The President's Cup of Maldives (POMIS CUP)”.

Brazilian Jose Marcio Barreto Ramires & Ghanian Yusuf Yakubu are the best foreign recruits to date who played for Mahindra United.

The year 2005 saw a young 43 year old Indian International, Professional License Coach Mr. Derrick Pereira signing for Mahindra United and alongwith AFC ‘C’ Licence Coach Santosh Kashyap, straight away took the team to become the Federation Cup Champions. Mahindra United qualified for the AFC Cup 2006 and were in Group A with Bahrain, Lebanon and Bangladesh. Mahindra United were crowned INDIA’S CHAMPION TEAM after winning the National Football League 2005-06.

Consequent to winning the National Football league in 2005-2006, Mahindra United were given entry to play in the AFC Cup 2007 and was placed in Group E. Mahindra United moved to the quarter finals (knock out stage), by virtue of the best runners-up team in their group and were denied entry to semi finals by one goal away match difference at Lebanon.

Mahindra United of Mumbai is the only team in Maharashtra to win the Durand Cup & that too thrice, which is the second oldest trophy in the world. In fact Mahindra United is only team from Maharashtra to have won the Durand Cup so far. Mahindra United is also the first team in Maharashtra to win the Harwood League and the Nadkarni cup three times in a row. Mahindra United has won the Harwood League Title five times in a row, and have inscribed its name on almost all the tournaments in the country.

The year 2006 saw Mahindra United engraving its name on the IFA Shield for the first time in 112 years. In 2007, “Mahindra United” rebuilt the team mainly on youth focus and have produced some of the best young players who can rub shoulders with seniors on & off the ground.

During the year 2007-08, Mahindra United went on to win the IFA Shield for the second time and also defended their Mahindra Mumbai League successfully.

During the year 2008-09, the team did creditably in the second phase of the I-League to finally be among the top half of the league standing apart from having won the Durand Cup for the third time. It also retained the Mahindra Mumbai Shield.

The season 2009-10 saw David Booth returning to Mahindra United as Chief Coach along with Arshad Hussain as the Asst. Coach and Henry Menezes as Deputy General Manager with the prime objective of taking the Club to greater heights.

The team was rebuilt with youngsters in mind and has done creditably well so far in the league. In the process of rebuilding the team, we had released nine Players including two foreigners and one PIO had added Svetozar Mijin from Serbia as our attacking mid-fielder and Muritala Ali of Nigeria as Striker.

Making the semi-finals of the Durand Cup, earlier in the season, Mahindra United have performed exceptionally well so far in the I-League, where they enjoyed a ten-match unbeaten run and find themselves currently leading the league standing with 20 points.

Honours

2009 : Mumbai Football League
2008 : Durand Cup
2007 : IFA Shield
2007 : AFC Cup Quarter-final Stage
2007 : Mumbai Football League
2006 : IFA Shield
2006 : AFC Cup Group Stage
2005 : Federation Cup
2005 : National Football League
2005 : Mumbai Football League
2004 : Mumbai Football League
2004 : AFC Cup Group Stage
2003 : Federation Cup
2003 : President’s Cup International Tournament – Maldives
2003 : Super Cup
2003 : Mumbai Football League
2002 : Nadkarni Cup
2002 : Mumbai Football League
2001 : Durand Cup
2001 : Nadkarni Cup
2000 : Nadkarni Cup

Mahindra United Under - 19 years

In an attempt to nurture young talent and promote football in Mumbai, Mahindra United fielded an Under-19 years team from 2003. The team performed extremely well in the NFL league for U-19 years and reached the semi-finals, beating teams like Churchill Bros and Salgaocars. This promotion of the U-19 years team has helped the players to develop and display their talent at the top level and has got them instant recognition and offers from some leading clubs in Mumbai.

Mahindra United Under - 15 years

Spurred by the success of its U-19 years team, Mahindra United fielded an Under-15 years team from 2006. The team played the Manchester United Premier Cup Asian Qualifiers held at Kolkata where top NFL Clubs participated.

The Mahindra United Structure

Chairman:	:	Mr. Alan Durante

Director:	:	Mr. Rajeev Dubey Mr. Ruzbeh Irani Mr. Anupam Thareja Mr. Parag Shah

Director/Hon. Gen. Secretary:	:	Mr. J.M. Mapgaonkar

Secretary:	:	Mr. R. Natarajan

Dy. Gen. Manager:	:	Mr. Henry Menezes

Chief Coach:	:	Mr. David Booth

Coaches:	:	Mr. Arshad Hussain Mr. Santosh Kashyap Mr. Diago Fernandes Mr. Faruk Ahmad

Physio:	:	Dr. Sandeep Kurale

Doctor:	:	Dr. N.N. Shingornikar

Hometown	:	Mumbai; MAHARASHTRA

Founded as	:	Mahindra & Mahindra and Allied Company's SC (1962)

Renamed to	:	Mahindra United (summer, 2000)

Sponsor	:	Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd

Ground	:	The Cooperage Ground, Mumbai

Capacity	:	12,000 people

Practice Ground	:	Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Automotive Sector, Kandivali

The Men in Red

Mahindra United Squad 2009-2010

No.	Name	Position	Nationality
1	Subhasish Roy Chowdhury	Goal Keeper	Indian
2	Subhodeep Mukherjee	Goal Keeper	Indian
3	Monotosh Ghosh	Goal Keeper	Indian
4	Debabrata Roy	Defender	Indian
5	Dharmaraj Ravanan	Defender	Indian
6	Denzil Franco	Defender	IND
7	Kalialaudeen Nishtar	Defender	Indian
8	Justine Stephen	Defender	Indian
9	Lamine Tamba	Defender	Senegal
10	Collin Abranches	Defender	Indian
11	Loukik Jadhav	Defender/	Indian
12	K Ajayan	Mid-field	Indian
13	N P Pradeep	Mid-field	Indian
14	Steven Dias	Mid-field	Indian
15	Paresh Shivalkar	Mid-field	Indian
16	K Aseem	Mid-field	Indian
17	Bhola Prasad	Mid-field	Indian
18	Sevtozar Mijin	Mid-field	Serbia
19	Noel Fernandes	Mid-field	Indian
20	Guru Ashokan	Mid-field	Indian
21	Sukhwinder Singh	Mid-field	Indian
22	Sushanth Mathew	Mid-field	Indian
23	Surajit Bose	Forward	Indian
24	Sushilkumar Singh	Forward	Indian
25	Thoi Singh	Forward	Indian
26	Mohd. Rafi	Forward	Indian
27	Muritala Ali	Forward	Nigeria