Indian Bank Recreational Club, also known as FC Indian Bank, is an Indian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. The club formerly participated in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, and the

I-League Second Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind Indian ...

, alongside the Chennai Football League under license from

Tamil Nadu Football Association The Tamil Nadu Football Association (also known as Tamilnadu; abbreviated TNFA), formerly the Madras Football Association, is one of the 37 Indian state football associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation. The TNFA a ...

(TNFA). The club was managed by former

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

international, Syed Sabir Pasha, who also captained the team since their inception. Indian Bank also participated in the National Football League II, and National Football League III.

History

Formation and early years

Founded in 1907 as an

n state-owned

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

company,

Indian Bank Indian Bank is an Indian public sector bank, established in 1907 and headquartered in Chennai. It serves over 100 million customers with 39,734 employees, 5,721 branches with 5,428 ATMs and Cash deposit machines. Total business of the bank has ...

established as a premier bank in the state of

, and considering the popularity and passion towards the game of

at the region,

decided to launch a team of its own and register it with

(TNFA). Thus the club was founded on the name ''Indian Bank Sporta and Recreational Club'' in 1990. In 1996, Indian Bank participated in the

Scissors Cup The Scissors Cup was an Indian football tournament held in Kerala in South India, organized by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). It was instituted in 1992 and was abolished in 1997. History The Scissors Cup was started in 1992 in Ke ...

, held in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

and reached the final. They finished as runners-up as

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Mr. Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941 along with his younger brother Mr. Vaikuntrao Dempo. Mr. Vasantrao S. Demp ...

clinched title defeating them 1–0. Since then, Indian bank began participating in TNFA and CFA conducted tournaments like Vittal Trophy, Chennai Universal Cup, and TFA Shield.

NFL journey

The club began their journey in the

National Football League (India) The National Football League (NFL) was a league competition featuring football clubs from India. Founded in 1996 through the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the NFL was the first football league in India to be organized on a national scal ...

in 1996, which was the inaugural season. Jayantilal Jain, the president of Indian Bank Recreational Club, made a compact team for 1996–97 NFL season. The team registered a 4–1 win against

Mahindra United FC Mahindra United Football Club (formerly known as Mahindra & Mahindra) was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1962, the club competed in the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system, be ...

, which becomes the biggest away win in that season. The club later relegated from the NFL in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

after finishing at the bottom of the Group-B. The club also competed in the

for a long time and in 2001–02, they declared as the joint-champions. In the 2003–04 NFL season, the club again relegated.

Later years

Winning trophies

In 1998, Indian Bank clinched their first knock-out title ''Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup'', defeating Delhi Blues XI 2–1. In February 2000, they again emerged victorious in ''Tirur All-India Football Tournament'' in Kerala, beating Goan side

Vasco SC Vasco may refer to: * Basque language, called ''vasco'' in Spanish * ''Vasco'' (album), a two-part EP by Ricardo Villalobos * Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer * Vasco da Gama, Goa, a city in India, often called simply Vasco * Club de Regatas ...

5–4. In January 2008, Indian Bank beat

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

1–0 to win the ''Fr.Gerard Rolling Football Trophy''. It was held at DBYC grounds, Basin Bridge, Chennai.

Regional leagues

TNFA and CFA titles

Indian Bank began participating in regional league tournaments in

since its inception. In the Chennai Super League, they clinched title twice in 1997 and 1998. In 2005 season, they achieved third place. In Tamil Nadu State League knock-out tournaments, Indian Bank won titles thrice in 2004, 2005–06 and 2007 season. In 2016,

Chennai City FC Chennai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, that last competed in the I-League, then one of the top flights of Indian football league system, and Chennai Football League. Established in ...

became the second club from

to play in the top division

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

after Indian Bank Recreational Club's entry in the

. In 2018, the club emerged as the champions of the CFA Senior Division league. After a long hiatus between TNFA and CFA, the 2021–22 Chennai Senior Division kicked off on 9 May 2022 with 10 teams competing for the title, and Indian Bank achieved fifth place.

Rivalries

In CFA Senior Division, the club has a rivalry with

. The club has also a rivalry with local sides like

Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is a manufacturer of ICF coach, rail coaches located in Perambur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established in 1955 and is owned and operated by the Indian Railways. It is located in Perambur, in the suburbs of ...

(ICF FC), Chennai Customs SC and Hindustan Eagles.

Stadium

Indian Bank used Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (also known as Marina Arena) in

as their home ground since 1996, which has a capacity of 40,000 spectators. They also played some state-league matches at the Nehru Stadium of

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

Ownership

Past internationals

*The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed, represented their countries before or after playing for ''Indian Bank RC''. *

Kasun Jayasuriya Kasun Nadika Jayasuriya (born 25 March 1980) is a retired Sri Lankan football player who last played for Saunders Sports Club and the Sri Lanka national football team. He is also the all-time top goalscorer for the Sri Lankan national team wi ...

(2001–2002) * Kamaldeen Fuard (2000–2001) * Anton Silva (1998–1999) * Stanley Festus (2000–2002)

Honours

National

**Champions (1): 2001–02 * National Football League II **Runners-up (1): 2001–02 * National Football League III **Champions (1): 2006–07 * Chennai Football League **Champions (6): 1997, 1998,India regional tournaments 1997/98
. ''Rsssf''. Retrieved 16 August 2021. 2000–01, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2017–18 **Runners-up (1): 2004 **Third place (1): 2005 * Tamil Nadu State League **Champions (3): 2004, 2005–06, 2007

Others

* Fr.Gerard Rolling Football Trophy **Winners (1): 2008 * Vittal Trophy **Winners (1): 1990 *

Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup, also known as the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Football Tournament, is an Indian association football tournament held in Delhi and organized by Shastri Football Club. The tournament was first started in 1978 in the memor ...

**Winners (1): 1998 * Tirur All-India Football Tournament **Champions (1): 2000 * Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup **Runners-up (1): 1990 * Scissors Cup **Runners-up (1): 1996