Sreenidi Deccan Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

, Telangana. Established on 1 January 2015 as a football academy at Hyderabad and launched from

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

, Andhra Pradesh in 2021, the club currently competes in 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 5 June 2020, All India Football Federation (AIFF) issued an invitation to accept bids for new clubs to join the I-League and on 12 August, Sreenidi Deccan FC was granted playing rights directly in 2021–22 I-League.

History

Formation and journey

Sreenidi football academy was founded in January 2015 in Aziznagar. It received the first accreditation from the AIFF in June 2019 and in its initial years the club played in the football leagues for the age groups of U13, U15 & U18. On 5 June 2020, the AIFF issued an invitation to accept bids for new clubs to join the league, and on 12 August Sreenidi Deccan were granted playing rights directly in 2021–22 I-League. ''Sreenidi Deccan Football Club'' was formally launched on 7 July 2021 in Visakhapatnam by state sports minister

Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, popularly known as ''Avanthi Srinivas'', is an Indian educationalist turned politician. He was the Member of the Legislative Assembly from Bheemili, Andhra Pradesh. He operates ''Avanthi Education Institutes'' in An ...

. In 2021, they participated in the

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield to ...

and reached the final, losing to

Real Kashmir FC Real Kashmir FC is an Indian professional football club based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, Club competes in both the I-League, and J&K Premier Football League. Nicknamed ''Snow Leopards'', it is the first ever club from Jammu and Kashmir th ...

by 2–1 and finished as runners-up. The club began its league campaign on 27 December against NEROCA with a 3–2 defeat. In the next game, they defeated TRAU by 3–1 with a brace from Colombian striker

David Castañeda David Castañeda (born October 24, 1989) is an American actor. In 2019, Castañeda began portraying Diego Hargreeves in the Netflix series ''The Umbrella Academy''. Early life Castañeda was born October 24, 1989, in Los Angeles and was raised ...

, and later lost 3–1 to Mohammedan Sporting. After finishing fourth in group stage with six wins in twelve matches, they moved to the championship stage. At the end, the club finished their maiden league campaign in third place with 32 points in 18 matches, and won the last match 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 14 May. Later in November, the club participated in Baji Rout Cup in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

and reached semi-finals. In August 2022, Portuguese manager Carlos Vaz Pinto was appointed head coach. The club retained their key players including Colombian striker David Castañeda Muñoz. In

2022–23 I-League The 2022–23 I-League (also known as Hero I-League for sponsorship reasons) is the 16th season of I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. It is played from 12th November 2022 to March 2023. Changes from last season Di ...

season, Sreenidi Deccan achieved second position.

Stadium

Sreenidi Deccan use Deccan Arena as their home ground, which is located in Sreenidi Football Villa, Aziznagar,

, and was inaugurated in November 2022. The club when entered into

, proposed to use the DYSSR Stadium un

for home matches, a multi-purpose stadium having capacity of 27,500. 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 ...

, all league games were played in few centralized venues in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

, and the club never used DYSSR Stadium.

Crest, colours & kits

The primary club colours are orange and green. The primary colours, along with the secondary white colour can be seen on the crest as well as the jerseys. Club's kits were launched by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust chairman K Ramamohana Rao.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Players

First-team squad

Personnel

Current technical staff

Management

Records and statistics

Season by season

Managers and statistics

''Only competitive matches are taken into account.

Notable players

The following Sreenidi Deccan players have been capped at '' full international level''. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club. *

Mohamed Awal Mohamed Awal (born 1 May 1988) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a defender for I-League club Sreenidi Deccan. Club career Awal began his career with the Feyenoord Academy. On 10 July 2010, he joined ASEC Mimosas on loan. Af ...

(2021–) *

Faysal Shayesteh Faysal Shayesteh (; born 10 June 1991) is an Afghan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for I-League club Sreenidi Deccan and the Afghanistan national team. Youth career Born in Kabul, Shayesteh moved to the Netherla ...

(2022–) * Dua Stanislas Ankira (2023–)

Honours

League *

**Runners-up (1): 2022–23 **Third place (1): 2021–22 Cup *

Fourth oldest football tournament, organized by the

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

( W.B.), and played between the local clubs of

and other invited ones. **Runners-up (1):

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Other department

Sreenidi Deccan youth

Sreenidi Deccan have their youth men's football section that participates in various nationwide tournaments. Club's leading football academy is based in Hyderabad. Their U17 team took part in the inaugural 2022–23 U-17 Youth Cup in January 2023. Reserve team of the club also took part in prestigious Stafford Challenge Cup in Bangalore. Club's U21 team participated in the "south zone" qualifiers of

2023 Reliance Foundation Development League The 2023 Reliance Foundation Development League is the second season of the Reliance Foundation Development League, the first developmental football league organised by Reliance Foundation in technical support with AIFF. The season features 59 ...

. Honours * TFA C-Division Championship **Champions (1): 2022 *Apollo Tyres Hotfut Youth League (U-14) **Champions (1): 2022