Kenkre Football Club is an Indian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in the city of

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Founded in 2000, the club currently competes in the MFA Elite Division of Mumbai Football League. Nicknamed "Mumbaikars", they previously participated in the

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

, then highest division of the Indian football league system, as well as the I-League 2, and the I-League 3. Kenkre was relegated to the I-League 2 at the end of the 2022–23 I-League season.

History

Formation and journey

The club was founded on 13 January 2000 as Kenkre Academy FC, under the patronage of former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and coach Adib Kenkre, and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Joshua Lewis. Kenkre was based at

Shivaji Park Shivaji Park, officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, is a public park situated in Dadar, Mumbai. It is the largest park in the island city. Similar but bigger in size to Azad Maidan and Gowalia Tank, August Kranti Maidan (formerly Gowal ...

during its incorporation. Kenkre FC were crowned champions of the Maharashtra Football League in 2010 for the first time in the club's history, after defeating Bengal Mumbai 3–0, thanks to goals from Nigerian striker Mathew Odje, Francisco Salin and Charanjeet Singh. After achieving that result, Kenkre was granted admission into the I-League 2nd Division, then second-tier of Indian football. In March 2013, ahead of the I-League Second Division kick-off, Kenkre roped in Portuguese Jose Luis Lopes Da Costa as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

and brought three of their first foreigners, Portuguese Rodilson Felisberto Fernandes Dias, Domingo De Jesus Gomes, Bruno Daniel Alciaes, and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Daniel Atkins.

2020–present

In December 2021, the

AIFF AIFF may refer to: * Audio Interchange File Format * All India Football Federation, the national governing body of Association football in India Film festivals * Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * Alexandria Internation ...

club licensing committee has unanimously decided to not grant the exemption sought by former I-League champion Chennai City FC, 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. 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. After struggling since beginning of the 2022–23 league season, Kenkre along with Sudeva Delhi, relegated from I-League. The 2023–24 I-League 2 season became disastrous to Kenkre as the club ended their campaign with bottom place finish with 9 points in 14 matches, and relegated to I-League 3. In 2024–25 season, the club along with its fellow Mumbai-based team Maharashtra Oranje, took part in I-League 3.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Stadium

Cooperage Ground in Nariman Point, Mumbai, serves as the home ground of Kenkre. It has

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

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

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, but due to

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

, 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 on 24 November 2022. In later years, the club used Neville D'Souza Turf in Bandra for Mumbai Premier League matches. Ahead of the 2023–24 I-League 2, the club announced AIFF Centre of Excellence ground in Kharghar as their home venue.

Personnel

Current technical staff

Management

As of December 2022

Statistics and records

Honours

League

* I-League 2nd Division **Runners-up (1):

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

Cup

* Nadkarni Cup **Runners-up (1): 2009

Women

* WIFA Women's Football League **Champions (1): 2019–20 *Mumbai Women's Football League **Champions (1): 2023–24

Notable players

Past and present internationals

*The players 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) * Boubacar Keita (2011–2013) * Tenzin Samdup (2021–2023) * Anjan Bista (2023)

Managerial history

* Jose Luis Lopes Da Costa (2014–2016) * Akhil Kothari (2021–2023) * Abdul Siddique (2023–2024) * Sushant Shripath Pawar (2024–present)

Other departments

Women's section

Kenkre has its women's team which played in the

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League (abbreviated as the IWL) is the women's top tier professional football league in India, founded in 2016. Currently, a total of 8 teams from across the country participate in the league. The competition was planned ...

, the top flight of Women's football league system organised by the All India Football Federation. They also participate in WIFA Women's Football League. The club clinched WIFA Women's Football League title in 2019–20. Kenkre is also a one time champion in the MFA Women's Football League, title being clinched in the 2023–24 season.

Youth and academy

Since the inception of Kenkre, the club kept focus on nurturing youth talents and running academies. The club runs eight academies with more than a thousand kids enrolled before the

. Club's U17 team, which was managed by both Floyd Pinto and Akhil Kothari, previously participated in the MSSA (Mumbai Schools Sports Association) tournaments. The club also took an initiative of grassroots development, organizing 'Go Green Cup' (with six categories including U-17, U-14, U-12, U-10, U-8 and open-age group of girls) in 2015, at the Don Bosco Grounds in Matunga. They also organized 'Kenkre Champions League', another academy-based tournament, in Mumbai. Club's U-19 team participated in Maharashtra zone of 2014 I-League U19. The U17 team later took part in group stages of 2022–23 U-17 Youth Cup. The U19 team also participates in MDFA Super Division League. Club's U17 team has also competed in MFA Third Division league.