Hindustan

Full name	Hindustan Football Club
Nickname(s)	Hindustan
Short name	HFC
Founded	1948; 76 years ago (1948)
Ground	Various
Head coach	Abhijoy Basu
League	Delhi Premier League
2021–22	Delhi Premier League, runners-up
Website	hindustanfc.in
Home colours Away colours

Hindustan Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in New Delhi.^[1][2] Affiliated with Football Delhi (FD), the club last participated in Delhi Premier League.^[3][4][5]

Founded in 1948, Hindustan predominantly participated in I-League 2nd Division,^[6][7][8] which was then second tier of Indian football league system.^[9][10] They use Ambedkar Stadium as home ground, in addition to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for selected matches.

Hindustan FC was founded in 1948 in New Delhi.^[11][12][13] Thus it, owned and run by Bengalis, became one of the oldest football clubs in the capital city of India.^[14] The club has been affiliated with Delhi Soccer Association (DSA),^[15] which is now known as Football Delhi,^[16] and participate in the DSA Senior Division league (now named Delhi Premier League).^[17] They for the first time lifted the regional league title in 2001–02 season,^[18] while club's goalkeeper Salim Ansari was presented the player of the year award.^[19]

In November 2002, Hindustan participated in the inaugural edition of Delhi Lt. Governor's Cup and reached to the semi-finals.^[20] The club later competed in the National Football League Second Division continuously in 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, but were not granted the permission of joining the newly formed I-League II (then second-tier) for not fulfilling the AFC club licensing criteria.^[21] In 2007, Hindustan FC roped in their first foreign coach, Bernard Operanozie from Nigeria.^[22] Hindustan clinched their second DSA Senior Division title in 2009 season as co-winners with Indian National FC.^[23]

Hindustan Football Academy was started by the former club chairman D. K. Bose,^[24] and they roped in Spanish professional coach Óscar Bruzón on board for a period of two years to train Delhi's budding footballers in the age group of under-12 and under-16.^[25] Hindustan FC, founded just after the independence of India, have been the flag bearers from the capital in the second tier of Indian football, having participated for a record 14 times.^[26] They also participated in the 2014 I-League 2nd Division and moved to the final round of I-League Qualifiers,^[27][28] finishing on fifth position^[29][30] with four points in eight matches.^[31][32]

Though their biggest achievement is finishing as the runners-up in the 2017–18 I-League 2nd Division,^[33] under the coaching of Vikrant Sharma.^{[34][35][36][37]} In the 2018–19 I-League 2nd Division,^[38] Hindustan finished at the bottom of the Group A and bowed out of the tournament.^[39][40] The club has participated in the 2021 FD Senior Division,^[41][42][43] and finished as runners-up.

Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi is used as the clubs' home ground for most of their DSA Senior Division League matches.^[44][45][46] It has also hosted I-League 2nd Division matches.^[47][48][49] The stadium has a capacity of 35,000 spectators. Hindustan also use Thyagaraj Sports Complex ground.^[50]

The club formerly used Government of India press grounds for matches of DSA B-Division League.^[14]

Hindustan FC have nurtured rivalries with other Delhi based clubs, predominantly with Garhwal,^[51] Simla Youngs,^[52] Indian Air Force,^[53][54] New Delhi Heroes and Sudeva Moonlight (now 'Sudeva Delhi'). Besides the state league, they faced some more rivals in the prestigious Durand Cup,^[55][56] the oldest existing club football tournament in Asia and third oldest in the world.^[57][58]

On 29 November 2012, Hindustan FC launched its women's team with the unveiling of team jersey. At a press conference, Hindustan president Sushil Pandit said that the decision to launch the team was in line with the club philosophy to support women's football.^[67]

Delhi Soccer Association is looking to start its women's league and Hindustan FC would not want to be left behind.

— Sushil Pandit, President of Hindustan FC, after launching their women's team ahead of the Delhi Women's League in 2012.^[68]

The women's team competes in the Delhi Women's Football League, organised by Football Delhi.^[69][70] Its U17 women's team has been participating in the Khelo India Women's League since 2019.^[71]

Hindustan FC ran U-13, U-15 and U-17 level teams and academies, which were based at the Thygaraja Stadium.^[63] In 2013, the club launched its U19 team to participate in the Elite League (India).^[72] The U19 team was from Delhi zone and first participated in the 2014–15 I-League U19 season (group D – rest of India), and reached the final round.^[73][74][75]

The club also established an academy, named Hindustan Football Academy.^[62] They also organize an youth football tournament yearly in Delhi, known as Hind Kishore School Tournament.^[62]

• I-League 2nd Division^[76][77]
  • Runners-up (1): 2017–18
• DSA/FD Senior Division League^[78][79][80]
  • Champions (2): 2001–02, 2008–09^{[note 1]}
  • Runners-up (7): 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002–03, 2005, 2008–09, 2021–22

• Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup^[81]
  • Runners-up (1): 1995
• Dharamvir Walia Memorial Cup^[82]
  • Winners (1): 2013

For current and former notable Hindustan FC players with a Wikipedia article, see: Hindustan FC players.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2022)

Name	Nationality	Years	Ref.
Bernard Operanozie	Nigeria	2007–2008	[83]
Monoranjan Bhattacharya	India	2008–2009	[84]
Tope Ayodeji Fuja	Nigeria	2011–2012	[85][86]
Michiteru Mita	Japan	2012–2014	[87]
Abhijoy basu	India	2014–2017	[88][89]
Bernard Operanozie	Nigeria	2017	[90]
Vikrant Sharma	India	2017–2018	[91]
Sena Sena	India	2018–present	[92]

• List of football clubs in Delhi
• Sport in Delhi

• Dineo, Paul; Mills, James (2001). Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora. London, United Kingdom: Frank Cass Publishers. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-7146-8170-2. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022.
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• "Regionalism and club domination: Growth of rival centres of footballing excellence". Soccer & Society. 6:2–3 (2–3). Taylor & Francis: 227–256. 6 August 2006. doi:10.1080/14660970500106410. S2CID 216862171. Archived from the original on 1 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
• Nath, Nirmal (2011). History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service. ISBN 9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
• Shreekumar, S. S. (15 August 2020). THE BEST WAY FORWARD FOR INDIA'S FOOTBALL. HSRA Publications. p. 244. ISBN 9788194721697. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
• "Royal flush for Wahingdoh". theshillongtimes.com. Shillong: The Shillong Times. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
• Punnakkattu Daniel, Chris (10 April 2014). "Royal Wahingdoh and Bhawanipore clash in 2nd Division title decider". cpdfootball.de. Shillong. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
• Mukherjee, Soham (9 July 2018). "All you need to know about the football league structure in Jammu and Kashmir". goal.com. Goal. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2023.

• Hindustan Football Club profile and statistics at Global Sports Archive
• Hindustan FC on Twitter
• Hindustan FC on Facebook
• Hindustan FC fixtures and results at Scorebing
• Hindustan FC fixtures and results at Sofascore