The 2018–19 Minerva Punjab FC Season was the club's third season in the I-League.
Sponsors As of 16 October 2018 Sponsors Type Sponsor's Name SponsorApollo Tyres Kit Sponsor Apollo TyresSports Drink SponsorGatoradeNutrition PartnerFast&UpPerformance Analysis PartnerCatapult Sports Fitness PartnerAnytime Fitness
Transfers Minerva Punjab saw an exodus of top players after their I-League victory in the 2017 season. Perhaps the biggest departure that Minerva Punjab was that of Chencho Gyeltshen. The Bhutanese attacker was the stand-out performer for Minerva in 2017 and was subsequently sold to Bengaluru FC. His departure left a huge gap in the Minerva squad.
Following Chencho out of the door were Kiran Chemjong, Sukhdev Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Bali Gagandeep, Kassim Aidara, Girik Khosla, Rakshit Dagar, and Abhishek Ambekar.
Kamalpreet Singh, Gagandeep, Aidara, and Rakshit Dagar all signed for Minerva's title rivals East Bengal F.C. Sukhdev Singh and Ambekar moved on to Mohun Bagan. Ahead of the 2018-19 I-League season, Minerva were left with a depleted squad.
On 6 July 2018 Minerva Punjab signed forward Yu Kuboki on a permanent transfer from Australian club Sydney Olympic FC. He had been in scintillating form for Sydney the previous season, scoring 11 goals in 22 matches as an attacking midfielder or a withdrawn striker.
In August 2018 Minerva signed three players including Nigerian forward Philip Njoku.
In September 2018 they signed former Ozone FC striking duo C. S. Sabeeth and Brazilian Robert De Souza. They also extended contracts with defender Akashdeep Singh and striker Akash Sangwan.
Contract extension
No.PositionPlayerDateRef Akash Sangwan 6 September 2018 Akashdeep Singh 9 September 2018 Amandeep Singh 10 September 2018 Souvik Das 14 September 2018 Deepak Devrani 19 September 2018 William Opoku 21 September 2018 Arshdeep Singh 22 September 2018 Arshpreet Singh 23 September 2018 Bhaskar Roy 26 September 2018 Randeep Singh 1 October 2018 Rajan Negi 9 October 2018
In
No.PositionPlayerPrevious clubTransfer feeDateRef10 Yu Kuboki Sydney Olympic FCFree agent 6 July 2018 Sandeep Rajput MPFC winter Camp Free agent30 July 20184 Philip Njoku FC Inter Turku Free agent7 August 2018 Liandala Fanai AizawlFree agent12 August 20187 Hitova Ayemi Fateh Hyderabad Free agent 25 August 20189 C. S. Sabeeth Ozone F.C. Free agent 2 September 201814 Dilli Ram Sanyasi Hindustan FCFree agent 5 September 2018 Robert De Souza Ozone FCFree agent 7 September 2018 Mohamed Irshad Gokulam KeralaFree agent 8 September 201828 Prabhjot Singh unattached Free agent 11 September 201850 Aimable Nsabimana APR FCFree agent 13 September 201812 Nikhil Pal Chennai City Free agent 16 September 2018 Akhil PM FC KeralaFree agent 26 September 2018 Atinder Mani Real KashmirFree agent 19 October 201811 Manandeep Singh Mohun BaganFree agent 19 October 2018 Jagpreet Singh unattachedFree agent 27 October 201822 Nidhin Lal Shillong LajongFree agent 27 October 20185 Lancine Touré MohammedanFree agent 27 October 201847 Alex Kouame unattachedFree agent 31 October 20186 Bala Al Hassan Dahir F.C. KeralaFree agent 5 November 201818 Donatus Edafe ND GoricaFree agent 8 November 2018 Moinuddin Khan Mohun BaganFree agent 9 November 2018 Caicedo Rodriguez Thinadhoo SportsFree agent 27 November 2018 Juan Quero FuenlabradaFree agent 27 January 2019 Cornelius Stewart MaziyaFree agent 31 January 2019
Out No.PositionPlayerOutgoing clubRef27 Abhishek Ambekar Mohun Bagan7 Chencho Gyeltshen Bengaluru16 Kassim Aidara East Bengal9 Bali Gagandeep East Bengal40 Rakshit Dagar East Bengal22 Kamalpreet Singh East Bengal31 Kiran Chemjong T.C. Sports Club3 Sukhdev Singh Mohun Bagan10 Moinuddin Khan Mohun Bagan11 Girik Khosla NorthEast United FC13 Bazie Armand Mohammedan24 Guy Eric Dano Rainbow AC48 Robert Dzouza unattached50 Aimable Nsabimana unattached10 Yu Kuboki unattached4 Philip Njoku unattached6 Bala Dahir unattached18 Donatus Edafe unattached
Squad
First-team squad
Team management
As of 9 August 2018. Position Name Technical directorPaul Munster Head coach Sachin Badadhe Assistant coach Vacant Team manager vacant Physiotherapist Karuna Kant Gupta
Pre-season and friendlies Minerva Punjab kicked off their pre-season preparations by participating in the 2018 Punjab State Super Football League from 26 August 2018. With 4 wins and 3 draws Minerva finished second in the league table. They beat league leader FC Punjab Police in the finals to win the 32nd Punjab State Super Football League title.
Punjab State Super League
Notes
J&K Invitational Cup Minerva Punjab participated in the J&K Invitational Cup organized by Real Kashmir FC. It was a knock out tournament.
Notes
Friendlies
Competitions
I-League
Matches
League table
Results summary
Results by round
2019 AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League is the premier continental football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). As the champions of the I-League the previous season, Minerva Punjab FC earned a chance to qualify for the tournament. India did not have a direct-entry spot in the AFC Champions League and thus the champion team from India had to qualify for the tournament through the preliminary rounds. Minerva Punjab were put up against Saipa FC of Iran.
2019 AFC Cup
Statistics
Goal Scorers RankNo.Pos.Nat.NameI-LeagueAFCIndian Super CupTotal 1 22 DF Lancine Touré 2002 9 MF Philip Njoku 2002 17 FW William Opoku 2002Own Goals---Total 6 6 0 6
Hat-tricks Player Against Result Date Competition
References
See also 2018–19 in Indian football 2018–19 I-League