Mumbai Kenkre FC (also known as Kenkre Football Club) 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

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. Founded in 2000, the club currently competes in MFA Elite Division of

Mumbai Football League The Mumbai Football League, also known as the Harwood League, is organised by Mumbai Football Association (MFA) as a ladder-based competition involving a total of five divisions and over 300 teams. It is the top football league in Mumbai and ...

, and the

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 being relegated in 2021–22 I-League season, their place remained safe upon the discontinuation of

Indian Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) was an Indian developmental football club that competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, with a main goal of nurturing young Indian football tal ...

History

Formation and journey

The club was founded in 2000 as ''Kenkre Academy FC'', under the patronage of former footballer and coach Adib Kenkre, and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Joshua Lewis. Kenkre FC were crowned champions of the ''Maha Football League'' in 2010 for the first time in the club's history, after defeating

Bengal Mumbai FC Bengal Mumbai Football Club, known by its abbreviation BMFC, was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1998, they have competed in the National Football League II, alongside the MDFA Elite League. It i ...

3–0, thanks to goals from Nigerian striker Mathew Odje, Francisco Salin and Charanjeet Singh. After achieving this result, Kenkre FC were granted admission into the I-League 2nd Division, then second-tier of Indian football.

2020–present

In December 2021, the

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club licensing committee has unanimously decided to not grant the exemption sought by former I-League champion

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 ...

, after having failed to receive the ICLS licence. As a result, Kenkre replaced them in the 2021–22 I-League. In June 2021, Akhil Kothari, India's youngest AFC A license holder, as new head coach of Kenkre. The club began their league journey on 4 March 2022 against Real Kashmir with earning a historic point in the 1–1 draw. Kenkre finished bottom after the phrase 1 and was placed in relegation stage. They achieved 12 points and got relegated to the

2022–23 I-League 2nd Division The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. After being relegated at the end of the season, Kenkre was reinstated on sympathetic grounds and allowed to participate in the 2022–23 I-League season. The club later participated in Baji Raut Cup in Odisha, in which they reached semi-finals.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Stadium

Cooperage Ground The Cooperage Football Ground is a football stadium located in Nariman Point, Mumbai, India. It is currently home to multiple Mumbai Football League clubs. The Western India Football Association has operated from the Cooperage Ground since 1969 ...

Nariman Point Nariman Point is a prominent downtown area of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. Located on the southern tip of the Mumbai peninsula, at the end of the Mumbai's Marine Drive, Nariman Point houses some of India's prestigious business headquarters. ...

, is the home ground of Kenkre. It has

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

and has a seating capacity of 5,000. The club qualified for the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, but due to

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

, league format was shortened and matches were played in few centralised venues. As the league came back with home-away format, Kenkre played its first home match at the Cooperage Ground against

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually part ...

on 24 November 2022.

Players

First-team squad

Personnel

Current technical staff

Management

As of December 2022

Head coaching record

Honours

Domestic

I-League 2nd 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 ...

**Runners-up (1):

* MFA Elite Division **Champions (1): 2010 **Runners-up (1): 2019–20 *

Nadkarni Cup The Nadkarni Cup is a football competition in Mumbai, India, which was first held in 1908. From 1908–1913, it was known as Junior Rovers Cup which was contested by school and college teams of Bombay (now Mumbai), with the trophy originally p ...

**Runners-up (1): 2009

Notable players

Past and present internationals

*The player(s) below had senior/youth international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players with listed names represented their countries before or after playing for ''Kenkre FC''. * Orok Essien (2011–2012) * Young Chimodzi Jr. (2014–2015) * Tenzin Samdup (2021–) *

Anjan Bista Anjan Bista ( ne, अञ्जन विष्ट; born 15 May 1998) is a Nepalese Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for I-League club Mumbai Kenkre FC, Mumbai Kenkre and the Nepal national foo ...

(2023–)

Other departments

Women's section

Kenkre has its women's team which plays in the

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League, known as ''Hero Indian Women's League'' for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp is the women's top tier professional football league in Indian football. Founded in 2016, currently a total of 18 teams from across the ...

, the top flight of Women's football league system organised by the All India Football Federation. Honours *

WIFA Women's Football League The WIFA Women's Football League is the top division of women's football in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The league was first held in 2017 and is organised by the Western India Football Association (WIFA), the official football governing bod ...

**Champions (1): 2018–19 **Runners-up (1): 2019–20

Youth (men's)

Since the inception of Kenkre, the club kept focus on nurturing youth talents and running academies. In

, the club built and runs eight academies with more than a thousand kids enrolled before the

Covid-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

. Club's U-19 team participated in Maharashtra zone of 2014 I-League U19.