Rangdajied United FC (formerly known as Ar-Hima) is an Indian professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in Mawngap-Mawphlang, approximately 20 km south-west of

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

East Khasi hills East Khasi Hills is an administrative district in the state of Meghalaya in India. The district headquarters are located at Shillong. The district occupies an area of 2752 km² and has a population of 825,922 (as of 2011). , it is the most ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...

. Founded in 1987, the club participated in

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 ...

and won the 2012–13 season. Rangdajied was later featured in the then top tier league in the country,

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 ...

, during 2013–14 season. They also compete in the Shillong Premier League, the top tier state football league in

Name

The club was formerly known as Ar-Hima, that literally means ''"The Two Kingdoms"''. During the 2012–13 season, the club has changed its name to Rangdajied United FC. ''"Rangdajied"'' in the

Khasi language Khasi () is an Austroasiatic language with just over a million speakers in north-east India, primarily the Khasi people in the state of Meghalaya. It has associate official status in some districts of this state. The closest relatives of Khas ...

is an expression which signifies a brave, courageous, patriotic man at the prime of his youth.

History

Rangdajied United was founded in 1987 as ''Ar-Hima''. The club has participated in various editions of the Shillong Premier League and enjoyed massive rivalries with their fellow Shillong based clubs

Shillong Lajong FC Shillong Lajong FC (founded as Lajong SC) is an Indian professional football club based in Shillong, Meghalaya, that competes in the Shillong Premier League. The club was established in 1983 with the prime objective of improving the declining ...

and

Royal Wahingdoh FC Royal Wahingdoh FC (also known as Wahingdoh Sports Club) was an Indian professional football club based in Shillong, Meghalaya. Nicknamed "Royals", the club participated in I-League, then top flight of Indian football league system. Royal Wahi ...

. The club has participated in the

2013 I-League 2nd Division The 2013 I-League 2nd Division is the sixth season of the league under its current title. The season will begin on 9 March 2013. The original 21 clubs who would participate in the 2nd Division were officially announced on 25 January 2013, howev ...

and qualified for the main round. Having won the 2013 I-League 2nd Division Final Round held at Bangalore, Rangdajied qualified for 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 ...

. On 20 November 2013, Rangdajied agreed the signings of Indian national team stars Gouramangi Singh, Subrata Pal,

Sandesh Jhingan Sandesh Jhingan (born 21 July 1993) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the Indian national team. He won the AIFF emerging player of the year award in 2014 and made ...

, Manandeep Singh, and Tomba Singh, and competed in the 2013–14 season. They finished as 11th in the league table with 25 points in 24 matches. In the following season Rangdajied was evicted from I-League for not fulfilling the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...

's club licensing criteria. After clinching the 2013 Shillong Premier League, Rangdajied finished as runners-up in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

season, and in 2019 Shillong Premier League, they again finished achieved runners-up position with 22 points in 12 matches.

Sponsorship

Rangdajied United was sponsored by Italian athletic footwear and apparel manufacturer

Diadora Diadora is an Italian sportswear and footwear manufacturing company based in Caerano di San Marco (Veneto), subsidiary of Geox, founded in 1948. Diadora produces football boots and athletic shoes, as well as a range of apparel that includes ...

. It was the first Indian soccer club to be sponsored by Diadora. They also had Football Solutions, a

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

based Football Consultancy Firm as a sponsor.

Rivalries

Shillong Derby

In I-League, there were consecutive promotions and relegations of Meghalayan teams Rangdajied United ( 2013–14 I-League), Royal Wahingdoh (

2014–15 I-League The 2014–15 I-League (known as the ''Hero I-League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the I-League, the Indian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2007. The season began on 17 Januar ...

) and Shillong Lajong (

2018–19 I-League The 2018–19 I-League was the 12th season of the I-League, the top Indian professional football league, since its establishment in 2007. The season started on 26 October 2018 and is scheduled to conclude in March 2019. Unlike the Indian Super ...

). During the both domestic and regional leagues, Rangdajied played against both Shillong Lajong and Royal Wahingdoh respectively in the ''"Shillong Derby"''. The first match of the derby in

to be played was on 22 November 2013 between Shillong Lajong and Rangdajied United that ended in a 1–1 draw. Both the rivalries continued thereafter in Shillong Premier League for a brief period until the teams were dissolved.

Home stadium

Rangdajied United plays all their home games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in

, which has a capacity of approximately 30,000 spectators. It has artificial turf.

Notable former players

''For all current and former notable players of Rangdajied United with a Wikipedia article, see: Rangdajied United FC players''.

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 ''Rangdajied United FC''. * Kim Song-yong (2013–2014)

Honours

Domestic tournaments

**Champions (1):

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Shillong Premier League **Champions (1): 2013 **Runners-up (1):

, 2019 * Meghalaya State League **Runners-up (1): 2019

References

External links

* *
Rangdajied United FC
at Global Sports Archive
Goal.com pageRangdajied United FC
at the-aiff.com
Team profile
at WorldFootball.net {{Football in India Rangdajied United FC Football clubs in Meghalaya I-League clubs I-League 2nd Division clubs 2012 establishments in Meghalaya Association football clubs established in 2012