2019–20 Chennaiyin FC season

The 2019–20 Chennaiyin FC season was the club's sixth season since its establishment in 2014 and their sixth season in the Indian Super League.

Chennaiyin

2019–2020 season
Head Coach	John Gregory(First half)Owen Coyle
Stadium	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai
Indian Super League	4th
ISL finals	Runners up
Top goalscorer	League: Nerijus Valskis (15) All: Nerijus Valskis (15)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

Players

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Vishal Kaith 8 DF  IND Edwin Sydney Vanspaul 13 DF  BRA Eli Sabiá 18 DF  IND Jerry Lalrinzuala 23 DF  IND Aimol Reamsochung 7 MF  IND Lallianzuala Chhangte 11 MF  IND Thoi Singh 15 MF  IND Anirudh Thapa 16 MF  IND Sinivasan Pandiyan

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  IND Dhanpal Ganesh 19 MF  IND Abhijit Sarkar 22 MF  IND Deepak Tangri 28 MF  IND Germanpreet Singh 50 MF  BRA Rafael Crivellaro 24 FW  IND Rahim Ali

Technical staff

As of 3 August 2019

Position	Name
Head coach	Owen Coyle[1]
Assistant coach	Sandy Stewart[2]
Assistant coach and Head of Medicine and Performance	Konstantinos Rostantis[3]
Assistant coach	Syed Sabir Pasha[4]
Goalkeeping coach	Karanjit Singh[5]
Chief Technical Officer	Amoy Ghoshal[6]

Transfers

Transfers in

Entry date	Position	No.	Player	From club	Transfer type	Ref.
9 June 2019	MF	8	Edwin Sydney Vanspaul	Chennai City	Free	[7]
6 July 2019	FW	9	Nerijus Valskis	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Free	[8]
13 August 2019	DF	6	Lucian Goian	Mumbai City	Free	[9]
19 August 2019	DF	5	Masih Saighani	Abahani Dhaka	Free	[10]
24 August 2019	MF	10	Dragoș Firțulescu	Dunav Ruse	Free	[11]
27 August 2019	FW	27	André Schembri	Apollon Limassol	Free	[12][13]
30 August 2019	MF	7	Lallianzuala Chhangte	Odisha	Free	[14]
31 August 2019	GK	31	Vishal Kaith	Pune City	Free	[15]
3 September 2019	MF	50	Rafael Crivellaro	Feirense	Free	[16]

Transfers out

Exit date	Position	No.	Player	To club	Transfer type	Ref.
31 March 2019	FW	8	Carlos Salom	Bangkok United	Loan return
1 June 2019	FW	7	Gregory Nelson	N/A	Free agent	[17]
5 July 2019	MF	24	Isaac Vanmalsawma	Jamshedpur	Free	[18]
5 July 2019	GK	39	Nikhil Bernard	N/A	Free agent
5 July 2019	DF	29	Chris Herd	N/A	Free agent	[19]
19 July 2019	MF	N/A	Abhijit Sarkar	East Bengal	Loan	[20]
13 August 2019	DF	27	Maílson Alves	Dhaka Abahani	Free agent	[21]
24 August 2019	MF	19	Raphael Augusto	Bengaluru	Free	[22]
26 August 2019	MF	21	C. K. Vineeth	Jamshedpur	Free	[23]
31 August 2019	MF	30	Francis Fernandes	N/A	Free agent	[24]

Competitions

  Win   Draw   Loss   Cancelled

Chennaiyin travelled to the TransStadia in Ahmedabad and JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur for their pre-season tour ahead of the new season.^[25]

There, the club was set to play friendlies with Ahmedabad's ARA club on September 15 whereas they will start Ahmedabad campaign on September 1.^[26]

On September 20, Chennaiyin will travel to Jamshedpur. Its opponents and dates for preseason friendlies in Jamshedpur will be confirmed later.^[27]

Chennaiyin FC, Gokulam Kerala FC play out draw in pre-season friendly on October 8.^[28]

ARA v Chennaiyin

15 September 2019 Friendly	ARA	1–3	Chennaiyin	Ahmedabad, India
	?	Report	André Schembri Rahim Ali Nerijus Valskis pen.'	Stadium: TransStadia

Chennaiyin v Gokulam Kerala

8 October 2019 Friendly	Chennaiyin	1-1	Gokulam Kerala	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
	Crivellaro pen.'	Report	Andre Ettienne	Stadium: Chennai, India

Indian Super League

Main article: 2019–20 Indian Super League season

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
2	ATK (C)	18	10	4	4	33	16	+17	34	Advance to ISL playoffs[Note 1]
3	Bengaluru	18	8	6	4	22	13	+9	30	Qualification for 2021 AFC Cup play-off round and ISL playoffs[Note 1]
4	Chennaiyin	18	8	5	5	32	26	+6	29	Advance to ISL playoffs
5	Mumbai City	18	7	5	6	25	29	−4	26
6	Odisha	18	7	4	7	28	31	−3	25

Source: Indian Super League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) fair play ranking; 6) drawing of lots
(C) Champions

1. ^
   Note 1: Originally, Mohun Bagan, the 2019–20 I-League champions (they were already assured of the title before the league was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India), would qualify as India 2 (2021 AFC Cup group stage), and ATK, the 2019–20 Indian Super League playoffs winners, would qualify as India 3 (2021 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs).^[29] However, ATK owners KGSPL ceased their football operation and bought majority stakes in Mohun Bagan FC (India) Private Limited and rebranded Mohun Bagan football team as ATK Mohun Bagan FC from the 2020–21 Indian Super League season which qualified as India 2 in 2021 AFC club competition. The All India Football Federation decided that Bengaluru FC, the 2019–20 Indian Super League regular season 3rd place (behind FC Goa, which qualified for the 2021 AFC Champions League, and ATK), will qualify as India 3.^[30]

League results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Ground	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	H	H	A	A	A
Result	L	D	L	L	W	D	D	W	L	L	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	D
Position	9	8	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	9	7	6	6	5	5	5	4	4

Updated to match(es) played on 26 December 2019. Source: Matchday
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matchday

Goa v Chennaiyin

23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) 1	Goa	3–0	Chennaiyin	Margao, Goa
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Rodrigues  15' Doungel 30' Coro 62' Peña 81'	Report	Goian  80'	Stadium: Fatorda Stadium Attendance: 13,017 Referee: Banerjee Man of the Match: Fernandes (Goa)

Chennaiyin v Mumbai City

27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) 2	Chennaiyin	0–0	Mumbai City	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)		Report	Fernandes  29' Borges  33' Chakrabarti  48'  90+4' Larbi  56'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Referee: Gupta Man of the Match: Golui (Mumbai)

Chennaiyin v ATK

30 October 2019 (2019-10-30) 3	Chennaiyin	0–1	ATK	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Valskis  90+3'	Report	Williams 48'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Referee: Saha Man of the Match: Williams (ATK)

Bengaluru v Chennaiyin

10 November 2019 (2019-11-10) 4	Bengaluru	3–0	Chennaiyin	Bengaluru
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Paartalu 14' Chhetri 25'  75' Semboi 84'	Report	Valskis  45' Dhanpal  61' Kaith  90+1'	Stadium: Sree Kanteerava Stadium Attendance: 16,219 Referee: Metei

Chennaiyin v Hyderabad

25 November 2019 (2019-11-25) 5	Chennaiyin	2–1	Hyderabad	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Thapa  48' Firțulescu  84' Schembri 90+2'  90+2' Valskis 90+6'  90+7'	Report	Bobô  61' Singh  84' Kilgallon 90+5'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Referee: Metei Man of the Match: Thapa (Chennaiyin)

Chennaiyin v Odisha

28 November 2019 (2019-11-28) 6	Chennaiyin	2–2	Odisha	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Singh  49' Valskis 51', 71'	Report	Rai  22' Hernández 54' Delgado  66' Santana 82'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 8,693 Referee: Bora Man of the Match: Valskis (Chennaiyin)

Jamshedpur v Chennaiyin

9 December 2019 (2019-12-09) 7	Jamshedpur	1–1	Chennaiyin	Jamshedpur
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Vanmalsawma 89'	Report	Valskis 26' Saighani  34' Crivellaro  49' Goian  90+2'	Stadium: JRD Tata Sports Complex Attendance: 20,304 Referee: John Man of the Match: Choudhary (Jamshedpur)

Chennaiyin v Kerala Blasters

20 December 2019 (2019-12-20) 8	Chennaiyin	3–1	Kerala Blasters	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Schembri 4' Chhangte 30' Valskis 40' Singh  44' Sabiá  52'  90+3' Kaith  83'	Report	Ogbeche 15'  37'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 11,597 Referee: Thakur Man of the Match: Chhangte (Chennaiyin)

Chennaiyin v Goa

26 December 2019 (2019-12-26) 9	Chennaiyin	3–4	Goa	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Schembri 57' Crivellaro 59', 90'  84' Goian  65' Vanspaul  85'  90+2' Thapa  90+3' Singh  90+4'	Report	Rodrigues  26' Jahouh 26' Fernandes 41' Fall  44' Boumous 45+1' Coro 63' Nawaz  79' Peña  82'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 9,531 Referee: Bora Man of the Match: Jahouh (Goa)

Odisha v Chennaiyin

6 January 2020 (2020-01-06) 10	Odisha	2-0	Chennaiyin	Bhubaneshwar
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Jerry 37' Vinit 41'	Report		Stadium: Kalinga Stadium

Hyderabad v Chennaiyin

10 January 2020 (2020-01-10) 11	Hyderabad	1-3	Chennaiyin	Hyderabad
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)		Report	Crivellaro 40', Valskis 43' 63'	Stadium: G. M. C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium

Chennaiyin v NorthEast United

16 January 2020 (2020-01-16) 12	Chennaiyin	2-0	NorthEast United	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Crivellaro 57' Valskis 59'	Report		Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

Chennaiyin v Jamshedpur

23 January 2020 (2020-01-23) 13	Chennaiyin	4-1	Jamshedpur	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Valskis 13' 74' Schembri 42' Chhangte 87'	Report		Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

Kerala Blasters v Chennaiyin

1 February 2020 (2020-02-01) 14	Kerala Blasters	3-6	Chennaiyin	Kochi
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Ogbeche 48' 65' 76'	Report	Crivellaro 39' 45+1' Valskis 45' 90+2' Chhangte 59' 80'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 9084 Referee: Umesh Bora

Chennaiyin v Bengaluru

7 February 2020 (2020-02-07) 15	Chennaiyin	0-0	Bengaluru	Chennai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)		Report		Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 10953 Referee: Crystal John

ATK v Chennaiyin

16 February 2020 (2020-02-16) 16	ATK	1-3	Chennaiyin	Kolkata
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Krishna 40'	Report	Crivellaro 7' Schembri 39' Valskis 90+4'	Stadium: Salt Lake Stadium Attendance: 37406 Referee: Muhammad Taqi

Mumbai City v Chennaiyin

16 February 2020 (2020-02-16) 17	Mumbai City	0-1	Chennaiyin	Mumbai
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)		Report	Goian 83'	Stadium: Mumbai Football Arena Attendance: 5817 Referee: Gupta

NorthEast United v Chennaiyin

25 February 2020 (2020-02-25) 18	NorthEast United	2-2	Chennaiyin	Guwahati
19:30 IST (UTC+05:30)	Cháves 43' (pen.) 71'	Report	Saighani 17' Chhangte 90+3'	Stadium: Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium Referee: Banerjee

^[31]

Squad appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		ISL		Super Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	IND	Karanjit Singh	1	0	1	0	0	0
31	GK	IND	Vishal Kaith	17	0	17	0	0	0
33	GK	IND	Sanjiban Ghosh	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
3	DF	IND	Tondonba Singh	8	0	8	0	0	0
5	DF	AFG	Masih Saighani	12	1	12	1	0	0
6	DF	ROU	Lucian Goian	20	2	20	2	0	0
8	DF	IND	Edwin Sydney Vanspaul	16	0	16	0	0	0
13	DF	BRA	Eli Sabiá	19	1	19	1	0	0
18	DF	IND	Jerry Lalrinzuala	10	0	10	0	0	0
25	DF	IND	Zohmingliana Ralte	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	DF	IND	Laldinliana Renthlei	7	0	7	0	0	0
35	DF	IND	Hendry Antonay	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	DF	IND	Reamsochung Aimol	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF	IND	Lallianzuala Chhangte	21	7	21	7	0	0
10	MF	ROU	Dragoș Firțulescu	15	0	15	0	0	0
11	MF	IND	Thoi Singh	12	0	12	0	0	0
15	MF	IND	Anirudh Thapa	20	1	20	1	0	0
16	MF	IND	Sinivasan Pandiyan	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	MF	IND	Dhanpal Ganesh	4	0	4	0	0	0
22	MF	IND	Deepak Tangri	3	0	3	0	0	0
28	MF	IND	Germanpreet Singh	9	0	9	0	0	0
50	MF	BRA	Rafael Crivellaro	20	7	20	7	0	0
Forwards
9	FW	LTU	Nerijus Valskis	20	15	20	15	0	0
12	FW	IND	Jeje Lalpekhlua	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	FW	IND	Rahim Ali	5	0	5	0	0	0
27	FW	MLT	André Schembri	18	5	18	5	0	0
45	FW	IND	Bawlte Rohmingthanga	0	0	0	0	0	0

^[32]

Squad statistics

	ISL	Super Cup	Total
Games played	17	0	17
Games won	8	0	8
Games drawn	4	0	4
Games lost	5	0	5
Goals scored	30	0	30
Goals conceded	26	0	26
Goal difference	6	0	6
Clean sheets	4	0	4
Goal by Substitute	0	0	3
Yellow cards	29	0	29
Red cards	3	0	3

Goalscorers

No.	Pos.	Nation	Name	ISL	Super Cup	Total
9	MF		Nerijus Valskis	15	0	15
50	MF		Rafael Crivellaro	7	0	7
7	MF		Lallianzuala Chhangte	7	0	7
27	FW		André Schembri	5	0	5
6	DF		Lucian Goian	2	0	2
5	DF		Masih Saighani	1	0	1
13	DF		Eli Sabia	1	0	1
15	MF		Anirudh Thapa	1	0	1
TOTAL				36	0	36

Source: Player Stats

Clean sheets

No.	Nation	Name	ISL	Super Cup	Total Clean Sheets	Games Played
13		Vishal Kaith	15	0	3	15
TOTAL			3	0	3	15

Disciplinary record

No.	Pos.	Nation	Name	ISL			Super Cup			Total
1	GK		Karanjit Singh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	GK		Vishal Kaith	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
33	GK		Sanjiban Ghosh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
42	GK		Samik Mitra	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	DF		Tondonba Singh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	DF		Masih Saighani	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
6	DF		Lucian Goian	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
8	DF		Edwin Sydney Vanspaul	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	0
13	DF		Eli Sabiá	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	0
18	DF		Jerry Lalrinzuala	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	DF		Zohmingliana Ralte	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	MF		Laldinliana Renthlei	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
28	DF		Germanpreet Singh	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
35	DF		Hendry Antonay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	DF		Reamsochung Aimol	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF		Lallianzuala Chhangte	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF		Dragoș Firțulescu	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
11	MF		Thoi Singh	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	0
15	MF		Anirudh Thapa	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
16	MF		Sinivasan Pandiyan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	MF		Deepak Tangri	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	MF		Dhanpal Ganesh	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
50	MF		Rafael Crivellaro	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
9	FW		Nerijus Valskis	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
12	FW		Jeje Lalpekhlua	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	FW		André Schembri	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
45	FW		Bawlte Rohmingthanga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	FW		Rahim Ali	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL				29	3	0	0	0	0	23	2	0

^[33]