RoundGlass Punjab FC

RoundGlass Punjab FC is an Indian professional football club based in Mohali, Punjab that competes in the I-League.[2] Founded as Minerva Academy FC,[3] in 2005, the club name was rebranded to Minerva Punjab after being accepted into I-League, and in 2019 the club was again rebranded as Punjab FC. In April 2020, owner of Minerva Academy Ranjit Bajaj sold the football club to RoundGlass Sports Pvt Ltd, and hereafter it is recherished as RoundGlass Punjab. The club has won I-League title once, in 2017–18, their second season in the league.

RoundGlass Punjab
Full nameRoundGlass Punjab Football Club
Nickname(s)The Warriors[1]
Short nameRG Punjab
Founded2015 (2015) (as Minerva Punjab)
GroundGuru Nanak Stadium
Capacity30,000
OwnerRoundGlass Sports Pvt Ltd
Head coachEd Engelkes
LeaguePunjab State Super Football League
I-League
2020–21I-League, 4th of 11
WebsiteClub website

History

The team was established in 2005 as Minerva Academy,[4][5] and has both the football and cricket sections.[6] Initially, the team took part in its first major tournament at the national level i.e. I-League 2nd Division,[7] and were the runners up for the season.[8] They lost to five-time I-League champions Dempo SC in the Final.[9] They were promoted to I-League after an impressive stint at the 2nd Division.[10] They finished their first-ever 2016–17 I-League season at the second last position. They also participated in the 2016 Durand Cup.[11] They came last in the group stage and hence couldn't qualify for the semi-finals.

Kareem Omolaja and Sehijpal Singh in training with Minerva Punjab in 2016.

Next season, surprising everyone, they won the I-League title, which was their first league win ever in top division. They became first ones from North India to win the league since 1996. This title made the team qualify for their first-ever Asian stint. The club qualified for Group stage of the 2019 AFC Cup, along with Indian Super League side Chennaiyin, starting from Preliminary Round 2. However, they lost to Iranian side Saipa in the preliminary round of 2019 AFC Champions League and therefore couldn't make it to the play-offs.[12] But, in their AFC Cup stint, they impressed with unbeaten run of five games until the last group fixture, which they lost against Abahani Limited Dhaka.[13] Minerva were also placed in the round of 16 bracket of 2018 Indian Super Cup in which they lost to Jamshedpur 4–5 on penalties.

In 2018–19 I-League, the club managed to win four of their twenty fixtures and finished ninth in the league table. They were placed in 2019 Indian Super Cup qualifying round, but refused to play protesting against uncertainty of I-League clubs' future in Indian football. Thereafter, they were also not invited to play 2019 Durand Cup, which was disappointing for the Punjabi side.

On 30 October 2019, announcement was made that after a partnership agreement with RoundGlass Sports Private Ltd. the club has been renamed as Punjab Football Club.[14][15]

Ahead of the 2020–21 I-League season, RoundGlass Sports completed acquisition of Punjab FC and rebranded the club to RoundGlass Punjab Football Club. On 15 June 2020, they appointed Curtis Fleming as their head coach.[16][17][18] On 15 July, they appointed Nikolaos Topoliatis as new technical director.[19] As the season progressed, Punjab made it to the championship stage and finished their season with a 2–3 loss to Churchill Brothers.[20] They achieved 2nd position with 22 points in 15 league matches.[21]

Stadium
Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana

RoundGlass Punjab currently plays their home matches at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana,[22] Punjab. Stadium has a capacity of 30,000 spectators.[23] The club previously used Tau Devi Lal Stadium for their home matches, but only for one season.[24]

When Minerva entered AFC Cup, they used various stadiums which could fit the competitions standards. During the group stage, club played two matches at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati,[25] and another at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

Supporters

A recognised fan club named "The Warriors", has been in support since 2018. The Guru Nanak Stadium has seen an average attendance of 12,000.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
2015—2017 T10 Sports -
2017—2019 Astro Apollo Tyres[26]
2019—2020 Spartan[27]
2020—2021 T10 Sports[28] RoundGlass
2021—present Six5six[29][30]

Players

First-team squad
As of 1 February 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  IND Jaspreet Singh
3 DF  IND Saurabh Bhanwala
4 DF  ENG Josef Yarney
5 DF  IND Gurtej Singh (Captain)
7 FW  AUS Travis Major
8 MF  IND Kean Lewis
9 FW  IND Robin Singh
10 MF  ESP Joseba Beitia
11 FW  IND Denzil Kharshandi
12 MF  IND Rupert Nongrum
13 DF  IND Bikash Yumnam
16 MF  IND Shankar Sampingiraj
17 MF  IND Telem Suranjit Singh
18 DF  IND Lalchhuanmawia
19 FW  IND Sumeet Passi
21 MF  IND Maheson Singh
No. Pos. Nation Player
25 GK  IND Abujam Penand Singh
27 DF  IND Aakash Sangwan
28 FW  ENG Kurtis Guthrie
29 FW  IND Ashangbam Aphaoba Singh
30 FW  IND CK Vineeth
31 GK  IND Jaskaranvir Singh
32 DF  IND Abhishek Verma
33 DF  IND Rino Anto
39 FW  IND Ashish Jha
41 MF  IND Freddy Lallawmawma
46 GK  IND Lalthuammawia Ralte
66 DF  IND Lironthung Lotha
— MF  IND Ashish Pradhan

Team records

Season-by-season
Season Division Teams Position Attendance Super Cup Durand Cup AFC Champions League AFC Cup
As Minerva Punjab
2015–16 I-League 2nd Division 6 2 (promoted, Dempo pulled out) — DNP Group stage DNP DNP
2016–17 I-League 10 9 — DNP DNP DNP DNP
2017–18 10 1 — Round of 16 DNP DNP DNP
2018–19 11 9 — Qualifying round DNP Preliminary round 2 Group stage
As RoundGlass Punjab
2019–20 11 3 — DNP DNP DNP DNP
2020–21 11 2 — DNP DNP DNP DNP
2021–22 13 — DNP DNP DNP DNP
Key
  • Attendance = Average league attendance

Overall records
As of 4 March 2022
Season Division Continental Top scorer
Division P W D L GF GA P W D L GF GA Player Goals
As Minerva Punjab
2015–16 I-League 2nd Division 18 11 4 3 30 14 Not qualified Kareem Nurain 4
2016–17 I-League 18 2 7 9 17 33 Not qualified Kareem Nurain

Loveday Enyinnaya

 3
2017–18 18 11 2 5 24 16 Not qualified Chencho Gyeltshen 7
2018–19 20 4 6 10 10 19 7 0 5 2 6 11 Philip Njoku

William Opoku Lancine Touré

 2
As RoundGlass Punjab
2019–20 16 5 8 3 23 11 Not qualified Aser Pierrick Dipanda 12
2020–21 10 5 3 2 12 7 Not qualified Chencho Gyeltshen 7
2021–22 2 1 1 0 4 2 Not qualified Kurtis Guthrie 3

Continental statistics
As of 27 June 2019
Competition Pld W D L GF GA GD
AFC Champions League 1 0 0 1 0 4 −4
AFC Cup 6 0 5 1 6 7 −1
Total 7 0 5 2 6 11 –5

Managerial record
As of 17 April 2022
NameNationalityFromToPWDLGFGAWin%
Surinder Singh  India 1 July 2015 31 May 2017 28 7 10 11 31 44 025.00
Khogen Singh  India 1 September 2017 31 May 2018[31] 18 11 2 5 24 16 061.11
Paul Munster  Northern Ireland 8 August 2018[32][33] 12 February 2019 16 3 5 8 8 15 018.75
Sachin Badadhe  India 12 February 2019[34] 30 June 2019 3 1 0 2 2 4 033.33
Yan Law  India 1 July 2019[35] 31 May 2020 16 5 8 3 23 21 031.25
Curtis Fleming  Ireland 1 August 2020[36] 23 April 2021[37][38] 15 6 4 5 18 15 040.00
Ashley Westwood  England 21 July 2021[39] present 11 7 2 2 24 14 063.64

Honours

League

Cup

See also

References
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