Minerva Academy FC CC
# Minerva Academy FC CC

Minerva Academy FC CC (often referred to as Minerva Punjab) is an Indian professional multi-sports club based in Mohali, Punjab, best known for its football and cricket academies, and futsal team. Club's football section predominantly competed in Punjab State Super League. Minerva previously participated in I-League, then highest division of Indian football league system.

After selling Punjab FC to Roundglass Sports, owner Ranjit Bajaj bought stakes in Delhi FC. However, Minerva Academy remained active since its inception. After being promoted into the I-League in 2016, the academy based club was rebranded as Minerva Punjab FC, and in 2019 football section was relabeled as Punjab FC. The club has won I-League title once, in 2017–18. Widely known as "the factory" of Indian football, Minerva is one of the most successful sports academies in the country.

## History and overview

### 2005–2019

The club was established in 2005 as Minerva Academy. It was founded as a purpose of reviving the glory of Minerva Club, an association football team of Minerva Public School in Mohali, that emerged as one of the most formidable football teams in the state of Punjab. Until 2013, the club was being operated as an amateur six-a-side football team (beside running academies) for local players from Chandigarh, alongside appearing in age-grouped tournaments.

Minerva initially fielded players in various regional competitions in Punjab and beyond, while club's first major tournament at the national level, was I-League 2nd Division in 2015–16. In which, they finished as runners-up. They lost to five-time I-League champions Dempo in the final. They were promoted to the I-League after an impressive stint at the 2nd Division. They finished their first-ever 2016–17 I-League season at the second last position. They also participated in the 2016 Durand Cup. They came last in the group stage and hence couldn't qualify for the semi-finals.

Next season, surprising everyone, they won the I-League title, which was their first ever top division title. They became first ones from North India to win the league since 1996; The title made the team qualify for their first-ever continental tournament. The club qualified for Group stage of the 2019 AFC Cup, along with Indian Super League side Chennaiyin, starting from Preliminary round 2. However, they lost to Iranian side Saipa in the preliminary round of 2019 AFC Champions League and therefore couldn't make it to the play-offs. But, in their AFC Cup stint, they impressed with unbeaten run of five games until the last group fixture, which they lost against Abahani Limited Dhaka. Minerva were also placed in the round of 16 bracket of 2018 Indian Super Cup, in which they lost to Jamshedpur 4–5 on penalties.

On 8 August 2018, Northern Irish manager Paul Munster was appointed technical director and head coach of Minerva. The club won Punjab State Super League for the first time after becoming undefeated in 11 games, and later went on to win J&K Invitational Cup in Kashmir. In February 2019, Minerva signed a strategic partnership with Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, aiming football development at grassroots level. On 8 February 2019, Minerva announced Munster's departure. In 2018–19 I-League, the club managed to win four of their twenty fixtures and finished ninth in the league table. They were placed in 2019 Indian Super Cup qualifying round, but refused to play protesting against uncertainty of I-League clubs' future in Indian football. Thereafter, they were also not invited to play 2019 Durand Cup. On 30 October 2019, announcement was made that after a partnership agreement with RoundGlass Sports Private Ltd., the club has been renamed as Punjab Football Club. After loosing I-League spot, Minerva started playing football again in Punjab football league system with its youth age groups. It is the only Indian club to win all age group national titles in the same year, in 2017–18 season wining U13, U15, U18 and senior I-League.

### 2020–present

   I have sold Punjab FC and not Minerva FC. We are now registered with the Punjab Football Association as "Minerva Academy Football Club".

RoundGlass Sports bought 50% of Minerva Academy's share earlier; In 2020, they bought remaining 50% from owners Ranjit and Heena Bajaj to form RoundGlass Punjab FC.

In November 2020, Minerva Academy was accredited as Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The same year, Sports Authority of India (SAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Minerva for a period of four years under the "Khelo India Talent Identification and Development Program".

In 2022, Minerva Academy took part in international tournament Mina Cup in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in U12 category and won the title with a dominant performance.

## Crest and colours

Club crest and emblem of Minerva depicting emblems of the three armed forces, the Sikh khanda symbol and the profile of Minerva – the Roman goddess of wisdom.

Club colours are predominantly blue, white and black.

## Stadiums

The official home ground of Minerva Academy was Tau Devi Lal Stadium of Panchkula, which was also used in the I-League. It has a seating capacity of 12,000 spectators. The club previously used Guru Nanak Stadium, but only for one season.

During I-League Second Division, the club used Minerva Academy Ground in Chandigarh as home venue. When the club entered into continental tourney AFC Cup, they used various stadiums which could fit the competitions standards. During the group stage, club played two matches at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, and remaining at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

The club is currently using Minerva Academy Ground. It is situated in Chandigarh.

## Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| - | - | - |
| 2015–2017 | T10 Sports | — |
| 2017–2019 | Astro | Apollo Tyres |
| 2019–2020 | Spartan | Apollo Tyres |
| 2020–present | Spartan | — |

## Records and statistics

### Overall records

    As of 12 March 2023

| Season | Division | Division | Division | Division | Division | Division | Division | Continental | Continental | Continental | Continental | Continental | Continental | Top scorer | Top scorer |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Season | Division | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Player | Goals |
| As Minerva Punjab ||||||||||||||||
| 2015–16 | I-League 2nd Division | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 14 | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Kareem Nurain | 4 |
| 2016–17 | I-League | 18 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 33 | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Kareem Nurain Loveday Enyinnaya | 3 |
| 2017–18 | I-League | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 24 | 16 | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Chencho Gyeltshen | 7 |
| 2018–19 | I-League | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 11 | Philip Njoku William Opoku Lancine Touré | 2 |
| I-League ||||||||||||||||
| 2019–20 | I-League | 16 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 11 | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Not qualified | Aser Pierrick Dipanda | 12 |

### Continental records

    As of 27 June 2019

| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| AFC Champions League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | −4 |
| AFC Cup | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 |
| Total | 7 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 11 | –5 |

## Performance in AFC competitions

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Position | Top scorer |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2019 | AFC Champions League | Preliminary round 2 | Saipa | 0–4 | Preliminary Round | Sreyas Valiyaveettu Gopalan (2 goals) |
| 2019 | AFC Cup | Group E | Chennaiyin | 0–0 | 1–1 | Sreyas Valiyaveettu Gopalan (2 goals) | 3rd |
| 2019 | AFC Cup | Group E | Dhaka Abahani | 2–2 | 0–1 | Sreyas Valiyaveettu Gopalan (2 goals) | 3rd |
| 2019 | AFC Cup | Group E | Manang Marshyangdi | 2–2 | 1–1 | Sreyas Valiyaveettu Gopalan (2 goals) | 3rd |

## Managerial record

    As of 26 May 2023

| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win% |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Surinder Singh | India | 1 July 2015 | 31 May 2017 | 28 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 31 | 44 | 025.00 |
| Khogen Singh | India | 1 September 2017 | 31 May 2018 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 24 | 16 | 061.11 |
| Sachin Badadhe | India | 31 May 2018 | 7 August 2018 | — | − | − | − | − | − | — |
| Paul Munster | Northern Ireland | 8 August 2018 | 12 February 2019 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 018.75 |
| Sachin Badadhe | India | 12 February 2019 | 30 June 2019 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 033.33 |
| Yan Law | India | 1 July 2019 | 31 May 2020 | 16 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 21 | 031.25 |
| Emerson Ricardo Alcântara | Brazil | 2020 | 2021 | — | − | − | − | − | − | — |
| Tushar Soodan | India | 2022 | till date | — | − | − | − | − | − | — |

## Minerva youth

### Youth and academy

Since the foundation in 2005, Minerva focused on youth development, and has more than hundred residential academies in the country. Club's youth men's section has been participating in various age-group domestic competitions, including U13, U15, and U18 Hero Youth Leagues, in which they clinched multiple titles.

Club's academy is responsible in nurturing talents, bringing up promising youngsters; Many of them graduated from the club's academy and went on to represent India internationally. In June 2020, Minerva Academy was recommended for "Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar" for producing more than 70 players for the various Indian national football sides. In July 2023, they went to Sweden, to take part in the U13 category of Gothia Cup.

**Notable Minerva youth graduates/players**

* Jeakson Singh Thounaojam
* Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem
* Givson Singh
* Amarjit Singh Kiyam
* Vikram Pratap Singh

## Other departments

### Minerva cricket

Minerva has been running academies and teams for cricket since inception, producing international cricketers including Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Mandeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Barinder Sran, Manan Vohra, Siddarth Kaul, and Shubman Gill. The cricket section is accredited to Punjab Cricket Association.

### Minerva futsal

The futsal section was included within Minerva Academy in later years, and the team participated in Futsal Club Championship, organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The club emerged champions in 2022–23 edition and qualified for AFC Futsal Club Championship.

## Honours

### Senior

League

* I-League
   * Champions (1): 2017–18
   * Third place (1): 2019–20
* I-League 2nd Division
   * Runners-up (1): 2015–16
* Punjab Super League
   * Champions (2): 2018, 2019
* Punjab State Second Division League
   * Champions (1): 2020–21
* Punjab State Third Division League
   * Champions (1): 2020–21

Cup

* J&K Invitational Cup
   * Champions (1): 2018
* Harbhajan Singh Memorial All-India Football Tournament
   * Champions (1): 2018
* Bodousa Cup
   * Runners-up (1): 2019

### Youth

* Youth League U18
   * Champions (1): 2018–19
* Punjab State Youth League
   * Champions (1): 2021–22
* All India Balachur Open Cup
   * Champions (1): 2018
* Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Tournament (U17)
   * Champions (1): 2022
* Youth League U15
   * Champions (4): 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
* Youth League U13
   * Champions (1): 2017–18
* Chandigarh U17 Youth Championship
   * Champions (1): 2015
* RFYS National Championship
   * Champions (1): 2018
* Administrator's U17 Challenge Cup
   * Champions (1): 2018
* CISCE Pre-Subroto Cup (U14)
   * Champions (2): 2023 (North-India zone), 2023 (All-India)

### Invitational

* Mina Cup (U12)
   * Champions (1): 2022

### Futsal

* Futsal Club Championship
   * Champions (1): 2022–23

## Notable players

### Past and present internationals

The following Minerva Academy/Minerva Punjab players have been capped at full international level. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.

India

* Manvir Singh (2015–2016)
* Jeakson Singh (2017–2018)
* Anwar Ali (2017–2018)
* Hormipam Ruivah (2018–2020)

Asia (AFC)

* Marcus Lopez (2016)
* Ivan Filatov (2017)
* Chencho Gyeltshen (2017–2018)
* Kiran Chemjong (2018, 2019–2020)
* Mahmoud Amnah (2019)
* Ali Ashfaq (2019)

Africa (CAF)

* Aimable Nsabimana (2018)
* Papa Niang (2018)
* Teah Dennis Jr. (2019–2020)

North America (CONCACAF)

* Cornelius Stewart (2019)
* Robert Primus (2019)

## Affiliated entities

The following clubs/academies are/were affiliated with Minerva Academy FC:

Club

* Techtro Swades United (2020–present)
* Delhi FC (2020–present)
* Techtro Lucknow (2020–present)
* Borussia Mönchengladbach (2019–2020)

Academy

* Kick Football Academy (2019–present)

## Footnotes

* ↑ From 2017–18 season until 2021–22 season, I-League and Indian Super League shared joint top flight status in Indian Football.
* ↑ Title shared with Real Kashmir
* ↑ Youth League U15 was formerly known as "Nike Premier Cup".
