Football in India have gone through major ups and downs throughout the course of the history. Indian football witnessed the major uprising of several football clubs and also their instantaneous downfall at the same time. Many football clubs in India showed immense promise but later evaporated from the ocean of Indian soccer. Here in this article, we take a close look at the five popular Indian football clubs who disappeared from Indian football Scenario.
1. Mumbai FC
Mumbaikars were the common name among the football loving masses of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra for over a decade. Mumbai FC , who were popularly called as Mumbaikars was a former football club of India who played in I-league and I-league second division throughout the club’s short history. The club was officially founded at a grand launch in Mumbai on 27 June 2007. The club participated in I league 2nd Division for the first time in 2008 thereby setting their first feet a national competition. The former I league second division winner then played in the the top tier football league tournament of India since 2009. Khalid Jamil was the longest serving coach of the side since 2009. In 2015-16 season of Hero I league, the club achieved its highest ever finish in the competition when they finished fifth. Khalid Jamil was sacked on the following season and former Salgaocar FC coach Santosh Kashyap was named as the new head coach. But the later too failed to uplift the club’s performances. After going through a series of disappointing results, the club suffered from financial issues and the club was made defunct by 2019.
2. FC Pune City
Another highly promising club from Maharashtra, FC Pune City also got shutdown after having played 5 season of competitive football in Indian Super League. The club was founded with an aim to provide stimulus to the growth and development of football in the state of Maharashtra. The club was backed by Seria A’s CF Florentina and Bollywood star Hrittik Roshan. After their fifth season in the Hero Indian Super League, the club faced various financial crisis. Various allegations were raised towards the club for their non payment to their top players. Fc Pune City has long been plagued by the reports of financial woe. They have also been unable to effectively build a fanbase over five seasons of the ISL with them featuring in the bottom two in the official attendance table in all but one season. Thus, after struggling to cope-up with the various rising financial demands, the club was officially shutdown in 2019.