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

Players

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 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]

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

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

Indian Super League

Standings

Pos	Team	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	30	24	+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

Updated to match(es) played on 25 February 2020. 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) Champion.

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 (AFC Cup group stage), and ATK, the 2019–20 Indian Super League playoffs winners, would qualify as India 3 (AFC Cup qualifying play-offs).[29] However, ATK merged with Mohun Bagan for the 2020–21 Indian Super League season, and the new team will qualify as India 2. 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

23 October 2019 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)

27 October 2019 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)

30 October 2019 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)

10 November 2019 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

25 November 2019 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)

28 November 2019 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)

9 December 2019 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)

20 December 2019 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)

26 December 2019 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)

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

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

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

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

1 February 2020 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

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

16 February 2020 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

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

25 February 2020 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		Karanjit Singh	1	0	1	0	0	0
31	GK		Vishal Kaith	17	0	17	0	0	0
33	GK		Sanjiban Ghosh	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
3	DF		Tondonba Singh	8	0	8	0	0	0
5	DF		Masih Saighani	12	1	12	1	0	0
6	DF		Lucian Goian	20	2	20	2	0	0
8	DF		Edwin Sydney Vanspaul	16	0	16	0	0	0
13	DF		Eli Sabiá	19	1	19	1	0	0
18	DF		Jerry Lalrinzuala	10	0	10	0	0	0
25	DF		Zohmingliana Ralte	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	DF		Laldinliana Renthlei	7	0	7	0	0	0
35	DF		Hendry Antonay	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	DF		Reamsochung Aimol	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF		Lallianzuala Chhangte	21	7	21	7	0	0
10	MF		Dragoș Firțulescu	15	0	15	0	0	0
11	MF		Thoi Singh	12	0	12	0	0	0
15	MF		Anirudh Thapa	20	1	20	1	0	0
16	MF		Sinivasan Pandiyan	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	MF		Dhanpal Ganesh	4	0	4	0	0	0
22	MF		Deepak Tangri	3	0	3	0	0	0
28	MF		Germanpreet Singh	9	0	9	0	0	0
50	MF		Rafael Crivellaro	20	7	20	7	0	0
Forwards
9	FW		Nerijus Valskis	20	15	20	15	0	0
12	FW		Jeje Lalpekhlua	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	FW		Rahim Ali	5	0	5	0	0	0
27	FW		André Schembri	18	5	18	5	0	0
45	FW		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]

References

1. "ISL: Chennaiyin FC appoints Owen Coyle as new head coach". Retrieved 28 December 2019.
2. "ISL 2019: Sandy Stewart joins Chennaiyin FC as assistant coach". Retrieved 28 December 2019.
3. "Chennaiyin FC appoint Konstantinos Rostantis as Head of Medicine and Performance/Assistant Coach".
4. "ISL: Chennaiyin FC appoint Sabir Pasha as assistant coach".
5. "Karanjit gets a new contract and coaching role at Chennaiyin". Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
6. "Amoy Ghoshal - Chennaiyin FC's 'brain behind the scenes' adds another golden feather to his cap". Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
7. "Indian Football Transfers: Chennaiyin FC confirm Edwin Vanspaul signing from Chennai City FC".
8. "Chennaiyin secure the signature of Lithuanian forward Nerijus Valskis".
9. "Chennaiyin complete Lucian Goian signing to strengthen defence".
10. "Afghan defender Masih Saighani joins Chennaiyin on a free transfer".
11. "WELCOME TO THE HOME OF CHENNAIYIN FC".
12. "Chennaiyin FC signs Andre Schembri on free transfer force".
13. "Chennaiyin sign former Maltese international Andre Schembri".
14. "Chennaiyin up the ante as Lallianzuala Chhangte joins".
15. "Vishal Kaith moves to Chennaiyin".
16. "Chennaiyin rope in Rafael Crivellaro as their latest foreign recruit".
17. "Farewell Gregory Nelson".
18. "Isaac Vanmalsawma to don Jamshedpur colours in the upcoming season".
19. "Isaac Vanmalsawma, Chris Herd leave Chennaiyin FC".
20. "East Bengal sign Abhijit Sarkar on loan from Chennaiyin FC".
21. "Chennaiyin FC Bid Farewell to Fan Favourite Mailson Alves".
22. "Raphael Augusto signs up to play for Bengaluru FC".
23. "CK Vineeth heads to Jamshedpur to add experience to strike force".
24. "Midfielder Francisco Fernandes leaves Chennnaiyin FC".
25. "Kerala Blasters, Chennaiyin announce ISL preseason tours".
26. "Chennaiyin FC's pre-season at Ahmedabad from Sept 1".
27. "Kerala Blasters, Chennaiyin announce ISL preseason tours".
28. "Chennaiyin FC, Gokulam Kerala FC Play Out Draw in Pre-season Match".
29. "Clarification over AFC Club Competition slots from 2021 onwards". All India Football Federation. 10 March 2020.
30. "Bengaluru FC to play in AFC Cup playoffs as AIFF confirms all three continental spots for ISL teams". Scroll.in. 4 June 2020.
31. "Fixtures & Results".
32. "Chennaiyin FC". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
33. "Player Stats". Retrieved 29 December 2019.