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CLUB PROFILE: PUNE FC
THE
PUNE WAY
PUNE FC WERE ONLY
FOUNDED IN 2007,
BUT HAVE QUICKLY
ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES
AS A SHINING LIGHT IN
INDIA BOTH ON AND OFF
THE FIELD.
By: Amoy Ghoshal Photos: World Sport Group/Courtesy of Pune FC
Becoming professional
remains one of the biggest
challenges for Indian
football clubs, but one
club that is making huge
progress on that front is
Pune FC.
A proof of their good
work is the fact that they were the only Indian
club to be granted the national club license
last year after fulfilling the AFC criteria.
That eventually earned them a place in the
2014 AFC Champions League play-offs, and
although Pune lost to Vietnam’s Hanoi T&T in
the first round, they did make their debut in the
AFC Cup to cap a remarkable rise having only
been formed in 2007.
Based in the city of Pune, which is located
in the state of Maharashtra in Western India,
the club was formed by the Mumbai-based
Ashok Piramal Group.
And the club has since gone on to become
a benchmark for other clubs in India’s
domestic league, the I-League, by setting high
standards in youth development and creating
a professional environment for players to
flourish.
They are one of the few clubs to have
specialists in every department including video
analysis and scouting, while Pune have also
achieved many other firsts as they received
the first-ever transfer fee in Indian football,
were the first to organise annual club awards
and the first to have their own online channel.
The club’s youth policy, though, is
their standout quality and it is even more
AFC QUARTERLY 55