Bharat FC

Bharat Football Club (also known as Kalyani Bharat Football Club)^[1] was an Indian professional football club based in Pune, Maharashtra. Founded in 2014,^[2][3] the club usually competed in I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system.^[4][5] The team was founded on 26 August 2014 by Kalyani Group as a direct-entry team into the I-League, making them the second direct-entry side in league history after Bengaluru FC.^[3]

Bharat

Full name	Kalyani Bharat Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Lions
Founded	26 August 2014; 10 years ago (2014-08-26)
Dissolved	2015; 9 years ago (2015)
Ground	Balewadi Sports Complex
Capacity	12,000
Owner	Kalyani Group
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The name of the team, as well as their home stadium, the Balewadi Sports Complex, were officially announced on 23 November 2014.^[6][7] But after a disappointing season in I-League the club withdrew and was eventually dissolved.^[8][9]

History

In 2013, in a bid to increase the popularity of the I-League – India's top football league – the All India Football Federation approved the addition of teams into the league via bidding for a direct-entry slot.^[10] The first two teams to be allowed into the I-League via direct-entry were Bengaluru FC and Mumbai Tigers but only Bengaluru FC played in the 2013–14 season.^[11] Despite the failure of Mumbai Tigers, Bengaluru FC proved to be an amazing success for the I-League as the Bangalore club managed to bring in full-houses to all their matches as well as even win the league in their very first season.^[12] This thus made the AIFF announce that they would be accepting bids for new direct-entry teams for the 2014–15 season.^[13] On 26 August 2014, after the AIFF reviewed the bidders, they announced that Kalyani Group had won the right to start a direct-entry club for the 2014–15 season.^[3]

After winning the bid for the team, in November 2014, Kalyani Group signed their first ever head coach for the football team in former Wolverhampton Wanderers player Stuart Watkiss.^[14][15] They also appointed Stanley Rozario as assistant coach.^[16][17] Kalyani Group then signed their first ever player on 10 November 2014 when New Zealand international Kris Bright signed for the club,^[18] who also represented New Zealand at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[19] After making their first signings, the Kalyani Group officially announced the name of the club on 23 November 2014 as Bharat FC.^[6]

The club started the season with two friendlies against Bombay Engineer Group, which they won 3–0, and the second one 5–0, courtesy two goals from Steven Dias and a goal each from Subhash Singh, Surojit Bose and Jayashelan Prasad.^[20][21] In the last friendly before the season, Bharat FC played against Air India and managed a 2–2 draw with a goal each from Kris Bright and Gunashekar Vignesh.^[22]

2014–15 I-League

The 2014–15 I-League was their first and only top flight season, they ever competed.^[23][24] For their maiden season, The Lions signed experienced foreigners like Englishman Bobby Hassell, New Zealander Kris Bright. They rope in Beninese Romuald Boco as Marquee player, who earned 50 caps for his country.^[25][26][27] Palestinian Omar Jarun was also signed in March 2015 for an 18-month deal completing the club's Asian player quota.^{[28][29][30][31]}

In their first ever league match, the debutants held Dempo SC to a goalless draw.^[32] Later they defeated giants Mohun Bagan AC by 1–0.^[33] On 27 January 2015, Bright scored the first goal for his club, netting a 14th-minute goal against Royal Wahingdoh but they lost the game by 1–2.^[34] Kris Bright emerged as the top goalscorer for Bharat with 6 goals in the league.

Bharat FC has competed in 20 matches in the league season and managed to win only 3 matches alongside 10 draws and 7 defeats. Thus the club finished at the bottom of the league table with 18 points, behind Dempo.^[35] But they were not relegated as they had relegation immunity for two years.^[36][37]

Colours and kits

During the club's first ever kit launch event on 2 January 2015, it was announced that the club's colours would be based on the team's motto, "Together, Forever and Triumphant", which are blue, red, and white.^[38] The home kit was coloured in dark blue which stands for the "Peoples Football" while the away kit is predominantly red.^[38] The club's third kit was coloured completely white with the colours blue and red running horizontally across the shirt. The red denotes "passion and vitality" while blue stands for "truth and loyalty".^[38]

Ownership

Bharat FC was formed through an initiative by Kalyani Group, a privately held industrial group, headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, India, that is focused in four primary sectors, viz. Engineering Steel, Automotive & Non-Automotive Components, Renewable Energy & Infrastructure and Specialty Chemicals.^[39] Amit Kalyani was the club's first and only managing director.^[40]

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
2015	Nivia[41]	Kalyani Group[41]

Stadium

Main article: Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex

Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex on a matchday

When Bharat FC's name was announced, the Balewadi Sports Complex was also announced as the first ever stadium to be used by the club.^[6] The stadium has a capacity of 12,000.^[7] The team has stated their intention to eventually construct their own football stadium with Manjri being the initial looked at location for the stadium.^[41]

Disfunction

The team was officially launched in November 2014,^[42] but despite investing heavily, Bharat FC just managed to gain only 18 points from 20 games in the 2014–15 I-League season, finishing at the bottom.^[43] The return on investment being abysmal, the club didn't see I-League as an economically viable investment anymore.^[44][45] With minimal activity ahead of their second season and several staff, including CEO Suvrat Thatte, resigning, the Pune-based club only played one season in the I-League.^[37][46]

Team records

Overall records

As of 5 January 2015

Season	I-League								Federation Cup	Durand Cup	AFC	Top Scorer
	P	W	L	D	GF	GA	Pts	Position				Player	Goals
2014–15	20	4	6	10	13	28	18	11th	—	—	—	Kris Bright	6

Head Coach's Record

As of 6 January 2015

Name	Nationality	From	To	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win%	Ref.
Stuart Watkiss	England	4 November 2014	1 June 2015	20	4	6	10	13	28	020.00	[47]

Technical staffs

As of 6 January 2015

Position	Name
Head coach	Stuart Watkiss
Assistant coach	Stanley Rozario
Fitness coach	Lindsay Davis[48]
Physiotherapist	Ian Farmery[49]

Notable players

For all former notable Bharat FC players with a Wikipedia article, see: Bharat FC players.

World Cup player

• Kris Bright (2015)^[18][50]

See also

• List of football clubs in Maharashtra
• Defunct football clubs in India
• Sports in Maharashtra

References

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Further reading

Bibliography

• Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
• Sharma, Nikhil Paramjit; Gupta, Shantanu (4 February 2019). India's Football Dream. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 9789353283063. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

Other sources

• Anselm Noronha (23 December 2014). "Bharat FC sign six players from Indian Super League". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
• Luiz, Brian (24 October 2021). "Featured : Haryanavi Defender Ravi Kumar Punia Qualified for I-League by Winning the Qualifiers with Rajasthan United". futbolindia.in. Futbol India. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
• Stan, Joel (22 October 2021). "The Story of Ravi Kumar Punia, defender from Haryana playing for Rajasthan United FC". Halfway Football. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
• Shafi, Sharhan (31 October 2021). "The Story of Ravi Kumar Punia, defender from Haryana playing for Rajasthan United FC". kashmircrown.com. Srinagar: The Kashmir Crown. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
• Narvekar, Ravish R (30 January 2017). "Wearing the national team jersey again will be a proud moment for me-Adil Khan". khelnow.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
• Williams, Joe (25 September 2017). "The Goa and Maha Derby: A thing past in I-League". khelnow.com. Khel Now News. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
• Noronha, Anselm (6 May 2015). "Top and Flop: Sporting Clube de Goa 2–0 Bharat FC". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
• "Old Candy in New Wrapper: DSK Shivajians have got basics right but lack excitement". thefangarage.com. Pune. 20 January 2016. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2024.

External links

• Bharat FC at Soccerway
• Bharat FC on Twitter
• Bharat FC at BeSoccer
• Bharat FC at Fotmob (archived)
• Bharat FC at WorldFootball.net
• Official club website (archived)
• Bharat FC at Global Sports Archive