2018–19 Minerva Punjab FC season explained

Club:	Minerva Punjab
Season:	2018–19
Owner:	Ranjit Bajaj
Mgrtitle:	Technical Director
Manager:	Paul Munster
Stadium:	Tau Devi Lal Stadium (I-League) The Arena (AFC Cup)
League:	I-League
League Result:	9th
League2:	Punjab State Super Football League
League2 Result:	Winners
Cup1:	Super Cup
Cup1 Result:	DNP
Cup2:	AFC Champions League
Cup2 Result:	Qualifying play-off
Cup3:	AFC Cup
Cup3 Result:	Group stage
League Topscorer:	Lancine Touré Philip Njoku W. Asiedu (2 goals each)
Highest Attendance:	8,591vs Churchill Brothers (28 October 2018)
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Prevseason:	2017–18
Nextseason:	2019–20

The 2018–19 Minerva Punjab FC Season was the club's third season in the I-League.

Sponsors

As of 16 October 2018

Sponsors Type	Sponsor's Name
Sponsor	Apollo Tyres
Kit Sponsor	Apollo Tyres
Sports Drink Sponsor	Gatorade^[1]
Nutrition Partner	Fast&Up<ref>Web site: fast&up official nutrition partner. twitter.com. 19 October 2018.
Performance Analysis Partner	Catapult Sports^[2]
Fitness Partner	Anytime Fitness^[3]

Transfers

Minerva Punjab saw an exodus of top players after their I-League victory in the 2017 season. Perhaps the biggest departure that Minerva Punjab was that of Chencho Gyeltshen. The Bhutanese attacker was the stand-out performer for Minerva in 2017 and was subsequently sold to Bengaluru FC.^[4] His departure left a huge gap in the Minerva squad.

Following Chencho out of the door were Kiran Chemjong, Sukhdev Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Bali Gagandeep, Kassim Aidara, Girik Khosla, Rakshit Dagar, and Abhishek Ambekar.

Kamalpreet Singh, Gagandeep, Aidara, and Rakshit Dagar all signed for Minerva's title rivals East Bengal F.C. Sukhdev Singh and Ambekar moved on to Mohun Bagan.^[5] Ahead of the 2018-19 I-League season, Minerva were left with a depleted squad.

On 6 July 2018 Minerva Punjab signed forward Yu Kuboki on a permanent transfer from Australian club Sydney Olympic FC. He had been in scintillating form for Sydney the previous season, scoring 11 goals in 22 matches as an attacking midfielder or a withdrawn striker.

In August 2018 Minerva signed three players including Nigerian forward Philip Njoku.

In September 2018 they signed former Ozone FC striking duo C. S. Sabeeth and Brazilian Robert De Souza. They also extended contracts with defender Akashdeep Singh and striker Akash Sangwan.

Contract extension

No.	Position	Player	Date	Ref
		Akash Sangwan	6 September 2018	^[6]
		Akashdeep Singh	9 September 2018	^[7]
		Amandeep Singh	10 September 2018	^[8]
		Souvik Das	14 September 2018	^[9]
		Deepak Devrani	19 September 2018	^[10]
		William Opoku	21 September 2018	^[11] ^[12]
		Arshdeep Singh	22 September 2018	^[13]
		Arshpreet Singh	23 September 2018	^[14]
		Bhaskar Roy	26 September 2018	^[15]
		Randeep Singh	1 October 2018	^[16]
		Rajan Negi	9 October 2018	^[17]

In

No.	Position	Player	Previous club	Transfer fee	Date	Ref
10		Yu Kuboki	Sydney Olympic FC	Free agent	6 July 2018	^[18]
		Sandeep Rajput	MPFC winter Camp	Free agent	30 July 2018	^[19]
4		Philip Njoku	FC Inter Turku	Free agent	7 August 2018	^[20]
		Liandala Fanai	Aizawl	Free agent	12 August 2018	^[21]
7		Hitova Ayemi	Fateh Hyderabad	Free agent	25 August 2018	^[22]
9		C. S. Sabeeth	Ozone F.C.	Free agent	2 September 2018	^[23]
14		Dilli Ram Sanyasi	Hindustan FC	Free agent	5 September 2018	^[24]
		Robert De Souza	Ozone FC	Free agent	7 September 2018	^[25]
		Mohamed Irshad	Gokulam Kerala	Free agent	8 September 2018	^[26] ^[27]
28		Prabhjot Singh	unattached	Free agent	11 September 2018	^[28]
50		Aimable Nsabimana	APR FC	Free agent	13 September 2018	^[29] ^[30]
12		Nikhil Pal	Chennai City	Free agent	16 September 2018	^[31]
		Akhil PM	FC Kerala	Free agent	26 September 2018	^[32] ^[33]
		Atinder Mani	Real Kashmir	Free agent	19 October 2018	^[34]
11		Manandeep Singh	Mohun Bagan	Free agent	19 October 2018	^[35]
		Jagpreet Singh	unattached	Free agent	27 October 2018	^[36]
22		Nidhin Lal	Shillong Lajong	Free agent	27 October 2018	^[37]
5		Lancine Touré	Mohammedan	Free agent	27 October 2018	^[38]
47		Alex Kouame	unattached	Free agent	31 October 2018
6		Bala Al Hassan Dahir	F.C. Kerala	Free agent	5 November 2018	^[39]
18		Donatus Edafe	ND Gorica	Free agent	8 November 2018	^[40]
		Moinuddin Khan	Mohun Bagan	Free agent	9 November 2018	^[41]
		Caicedo Rodriguez	Thinadhoo Sports	Free agent	27 November 2018	^[42]
		Juan Quero	Fuenlabrada	Free agent	27 January 2019
		Cornelius Stewart	Maziya	Free agent	31 January 2019

Out

No.	Position	Player	Outgoing club	Ref
27		Abhishek Ambekar	Mohun Bagan
7		Chencho Gyeltshen	Bengaluru	^[43]
16		Kassim Aidara	East Bengal
9		Bali Gagandeep	East Bengal
40		Rakshit Dagar	East Bengal
22		Kamalpreet Singh	East Bengal
31		Kiran Chemjong	T.C. Sports Club
3		Sukhdev Singh	Mohun Bagan
10		Moinuddin Khan	Mohun Bagan
11		Girik Khosla	NorthEast United FC
13		Bazie Armand	Mohammedan	^[44]
24		Guy Eric Dano	Rainbow AC	^[45]
48		Robert Dzouza	unattached
50		Aimable Nsabimana	unattached
10		Yu Kuboki	unattached
4		Philip Njoku	unattached
6		Bala Dahir	unattached
18		Donatus Edafe	unattached

Squad

First-team squad

^[46]

Team management

As of 9 August 2018.

Position	Name
Technical director
Head coach	Sachin Badadhe
Assistant coach	Vacant
Team manager	vacant
Physiotherapist	Karuna Kant Gupta

Pre-season and friendlies

Minerva Punjab kicked off their pre-season preparations by participating in the 2018 Punjab State Super Football League from 26 August 2018.^[47] With 4 wins and 3 draws Minerva finished second in the league table.^[48] They beat league leader FC Punjab Police in the finals to win the 32nd Punjab State Super Football League title.^{[49] [50]}

Punjab State Super League

Notes

J&K Invitational Cup

Minerva Punjab participated in the J&K Invitational Cup organized by Real Kashmir FC. It was a knock out tournament.^[51]

Notes

Friendlies

Competitions

I-League

See main article: 2018–19 I-League.

Results by round

2019 AFC Champions League

See main article: 2019 AFC Champions League.

The AFC Champions League is the premier continental football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). As the champions of the I-League the previous season, Minerva Punjab FC earned a chance to qualify for the tournament. India did not have a direct-entry spot in the AFC Champions League and thus the champion team from India had to qualify for the tournament through the preliminary rounds. Minerva Punjab were put up against Saipa FC of Iran.

2019 AFC Cup

Statistics

Goal Scorers

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	I-League	AFC	Indian Super Cup	Total
1	22	DF			2	0	0	2
	9	MF			2	0	0	2
	17	FW			2	0	0	2
				Own Goals	-	-	-
				Total	6	6	0	6

Hat-tricks

See also

• 2018–19 in Indian football
• 2018–19 I-League

Notes and References

1. Web site: GatoradeIndia continues to quench the thirst as The Warriors strive to reach new heights this season. twitter.com. 16 September 2018.
2. Web site: catapult on board. twitter.com. 19 October 2018.
3. Web site: anytime fitness official fitness partner. twitter.com. 19 October 2018.
4. Web site: Chencho Gyeltshen signs with Bengaluru FC. Bengaluru FC. 25 June 2018.
5. Web site: I-League 2018: Mohun Bagan name Henry Kisekka, Abhishek Ambekar in squad, Akram Moghrabi and Cameron Watson left out. 2 May 2018. sportskeeda.
6. Web site: Local lad Aakash Sangwan extends his stay. twitter.com. 7 September 2018.
7. Web site: We’ve retained Defender, Akashdeep Singh for yet another exciting season. twitter.com. 9 September 2018.
8. Web site: Amandeep Stays! Amandeep Singh extends his stay for the upcoming season!. twitter.com. 10 September 2018.
9. Web site: Midfield genius Souvik Das extends his stay. twitter.com. 14 September 2018.
10. Web site: Our Central Defender Deepak Devrani extends his stay at the Club for yet another season. twitter.com. 19 September 2018.
11. Web site: I-league 2018-19: William Opoku rejoins Minerva Punjab. goal.com. 3 September 2018.
12. Web site: William Opoku Extends His Stay With the Warriors. minervapunjabfc. com. 22 September 2018.
13. Web site: MrSafe Hands arshsainistays to guard the woodwork for yet another season. twitter.com. 22 September 2018.
14. Web site: Defender Arshpreet Singh has been retained for the upcoming season. 23 September 2018.
15. Web site: Goalkeeper Bhaskar Roy extends his stay for the upcoming season. 23 September 2018.
16. Web site: The midfield engine Randeep Singh extends his stay. 1 October 2018.
17. Web site: Local lad Rajan Negi extends his stay. 9 October 2018.
18. Web site: I-League 2018/19: Yu Kuboki joins Minerva Punjab from Sydney Olympic FC. goal. com. 3 September 2018.
19. Web site: tête-a-tête with Sandeep who was scouted from MPFC Winter Camps to join MPFC First Team. twitter.com. 3 September 2018.
20. Web site: Minerva Punjab FC Sign Nigerian Philip Njoku From Finland Premier Division Club FC Inter Turku. minervapunjabfc.com. 3 September 2018.
21. Web site: Sena Fanai Signs For Minerva Punjab FC. minervapunjabfc.com. 3 September 2018. 8 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190608190126/http://minervapunjabfc.com/sena-fanai-signs-minerva-punjab-fc/. dead.
22. Web site: The Warriors Snap Up Young Hitova Ayemi. minervapunjabfc.com. 3 September 2018. 2 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180902223530/http://minervapunjabfc.com/warriors-snap-young-hitova-ayemi/. dead.
23. Web site: CS Sabeeth Signs!. minervapunjabfc.com. 3 September 2018. 2 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180902220537/http://minervapunjabfc.com/cs-sabeeth-signs/. dead.
24. Web site: Welcome Back, Dilli!. minervapunjabfc.com. 5 September 2018. 5 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180905231356/http://minervapunjabfc.com/welcome-back-dilli/. dead.
25. Web site: Minerva Punjab rope in 2nd Division I-League top scorer Robert De Souza. khelnow.com. 7 September 2018.
26. Web site: We’re happy to announce the signing of promising Defender, T.V. Mohamed Irshad. twitter.com. 8 September 2018.
27. Web site: Md. Irshad Signs for the Warriors!. minervapunjabfc.com. 10 September 2018.
28. Web site: Welcome back Prabhjot. minervapunjabfc.com. 11 September 2018.
29. Web site: Nsabimana off to India for Pro move to Minerva Punjab. newtimes.co.rw. 8 September 2018.
30. Web site: Rwanda International Defender Aimable Nsabimana is now a warrior. twitter.com. 13 September 2018.
31. Web site: The Warriors Secure the Signature of Nikhil Pal. minervapunjabfc. com. 17 September 2018.
32. Web site: Ranjit bajaj on twitter. com. 10 September 2018.
33. Web site: Warriors have added Akhil Praveen to the roster!. twitter.com. 26 September 2018.
34. Web site: Local Lad Atinder Mani Signs for the Warriors. minerpunjabfc.com. 19 October 2018. 19 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181019205702/http://minervapunjabfc.com/local-lad-atinder-mani-signs-warriors/. dead.
35. Web site: The Warriors Re-Sign Manandeep Singh. 19 October 2018. 19 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181019214206/http://minervapunjabfc.com/warriors-re-sign-manandeep-singh/. dead.
36. Web site: Midfielder Jagpreet Singh is Back Again to Wear Blue!. minervapunjabfc.com. 27 October 2018. 9 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181109034911/http://minervapunjabfc.com/midfielder-jagpreet-singh-back-wear-blue/. dead.
37. Web site: Goalkeeper Nidhin Lal Is Now a Warrior!. minervapunjabfc.com. 27 October 2018. 9 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181109070721/http://minervapunjabfc.com/goalkeeper-nidhin-lal-now-warrior/. dead.
38. Web site: Minerva Punjab FC Snap Côte D’Ivoire Defender Lancine Touré For The Upcoming Season. minervapunjabfc.com. 27 October 2018.
39. Web site: We’ve bought in Defensive Midfielder Bala Al Hassan Dahir for the upcoming season. twitter.com. 27 October 2018.
40. Web site: Nigerian attacker Donatus Edafe joins the warriors. twitter.com. 27 October 2018.
41. Web site: Our magical winger is back on board for his third season. twitter.com. 27 October 2018.
42. Web site: Reigning I-League champion Minerva Punjab FC has roped in Colombian defender Jorge Ivan Caicedo Rodriguez.. sportstarlive.com. 27 November 2018.
43. Web site: I-League 2018: Champions Minerva Punjab sign Philip N'Joku on board from Finnish club FC Inter. sportskeeda.com. 3 September 2018.
44. Web site: Midfielder Bazie Armand reach Kolkata – Mohammedan Sporting Club's Ivorian midfielder has arrived in Kolkata. dailyhunt.in. 2 August 2018.
45. Web site: Rainbow AC Sign I-League Winning Foreigner. indiafooty.com. 1 August 2018 .
46. Web site: Squad. Soccerway. 11 December 2017.
47. Web site: Punjab League Fixtures. twitter.com. 3 September 2018.
48. Web site: PSSFL 2018 League table. twitter.com. 28 September 2018.
49. Web site: The warriors clinched the 32 and JCT PFL title. twitter.com. 28 September 2018.
50. Web site: Minerva Punjab FC clinch the 32nd JCT Punjab State Super Football League title defeating Punjab Police in the Finals. IndiaFooty.com. 4 October 2018.
51. Web site: J&K Invitational Cup to be held in Srinagar!. arunfoot.com. 17 October 2018.