The 2019–20 season was the sixth season in Kerala Blasters FC's existence, as well as their sixth season in Indian Super League.
Review and events
Indian Super League
Kerala Blasters started their 2019–20 Hero Indian Super League campaign with 2 consecutive home matches. They managed to come back for a 2–1 victory over ATK in the inaugural match, but lost against Mumbai City in very next match by conceding a late goal.
They continued their winless run after the first match, by losing their first away match of the season against Hyderabad FC after took lead and a goal less draw against Odisha FC. In this match, most of the time they played with 6 local players and only 2 foreign players because of injuries. During the international break after the match, they signed Vlatko Drobarov as a replacement for injured Jairo Rodrigues.
Kerala Blasters managed to climb to 6th position on the table after winning by their highest margin till the date of 5–1 against Hyderabad FC. They also defeated their rivals Bengaluru FC and ATK. Their last match in the season was against Odisha FC which ended in 4-4. This was the highest scoring match in the history of ISL till that date. Finally, the Blasters ended their season by finishing in 7th place in the table.
Players
First-team squad
Transfers
Transfers in Entry datePositionNo.PlayerFrom clubFeeRef. 1 May 2019 MF 40 Zayed Bin Waleed Free agent None 29 May 2019 MF 6 Mario Arqués Jamshedpur FC None 1 June 2019 FW 10 Bartholomew Ogbeche NorthEast United None 1 June 2019 MF 17 Rahul KP Indian Arrows None 12 June 2019 MF 22 Sergio Cidoncha Jamshedpur FC None 1 July 2019 DF 51 Gianni Zuiverloon Delhi Dynamos None 3 July 2019 GK 42 Shibinraj Kunniyil Gokulam Kerala Undisclosed 10 July 2019 GK 1 Bilal Khan Real Kashmir None 17 July 2019 MF 7 Moustapha Gning SD Ejea None 24 July 2019 GK 13 Rehenesh TP NorthEast United None 31 July 2019 MF 30 Arjun Jayaraj Gokulam Kerala Undisclosed 7 August 2019 MF 15 Darren Caldeira Mohun Bagan A.C. None 14 August 2019 DF 14 Jessel Carneiro Dempo S.C. None 17 August 2019 MF 8 Seityasen Singh NorthEast United None 21 August 2019 DF 3 Jairo Rodrigues Persela Lamongan None 24 August 2019 FW 28 Raphaël Messi Bouli Foolad F.C. None 28 August 2019 FW 20 Mohammad Rafi Chennaiyin None 2 September 2019 MF 23 Samuel Lalmuanpuia Shillong Lajong None 18 October 2019 DF 4 Raju Gaikwad Jamshedpur None 22 November 2019 DF 9 Vlatko Drobarov Belasica None
Loan return PositionNo.PlayerFrom club MF 19 Halicharan Narzary Chennaiyin FC MF 55 Jeakson Singh Indian Arrows FW 13 C. K. Vineeth Chennaiyin FC
Transfers Out Exit datePositionNo.PlayerTo clubFeeRef. 1 March 2019 DM 7 Cyril Kali Panserraikos F.C. Released 1 March 2019 DM 6 Nikola Krcmarevic Kerala Blasters (B) Released 1 March 2019 DF 4 Nemanja Lakić-Pešić FK Voždovac Released 1 March 2019 MF 99 Courage Pekuson Kerala Blasters (B) Released 1 March 2019 MF 8 Slaviša Stojanović Kerala Blasters (B) None 1 March 2019 MF 17 Kizito Keziron KCCA FC Released 1 June 2019 MF 9 Goa None 9 June 2019 GK 1 Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem ATK None 1 July 2019 DF 15 Anas Edathodika ATK None 17 July 2019 MF 22 Zakeer Mundampara — Released 26 August 2019 FW 13 C.K. Vineeth Jamshedpur Released 2 September 2019 MF 45 Deependra Negi Hyderabad Released
Loans out Start dateEnd datePositionNo.PlayerTo clubFeeRef. 25 August 2018 End of season FW — Shaiborlang Kharpan Ozone FC None – 25 June 2019 End of season MF — Nongdamba Naorem Mohun Bagan None – 31 July 2019 End of seasonFW 10 Matej Poplatnik Kaposvári Rákóczi FC None
Pre-season and friendlies
The Kerala Blasters traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their pre-season tour ahead of the new season. There, the club was set to play friendlies with top division UAE Pro League club.
The team traveled to UAE on September 4 and played one game vs Dibba Al-Fujairah. The event organisers Michi Sports did not provide the club with proper training and other facilities in the UAE, so the club decided to pull out of the tour.
The club was scheduled to face Ajman Club on 12 September, Emirates Club on 20 September and finally Al-Nasr on the 27th. But all the three games were cancelled. The club returned to India on 11 September and had a preseason at home training facility.
Kerala Blasters restarted their preseason on their home training facility turf at the Panampilly Nagar Ground. The club faced I-League 2nd Division club South United, I-League club Real Kashmir FC and they also faced the Kerala Santhosh Trophy team, the Kerala State Football Team. The Blasters even had a preseason game against their own reserve side, the Kerala Blasters (B). They Finished their preseason with a draw against Indian Arrows.
Competitions
Indian Super League
Standings
Results summary
League Results by round
Matchday
Statistics As of 17 March 2020.
Squad appearances and goals
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards
Squad statistics LeagueOthersTotalGames Played 18 0 18Games Won 4 0 4Games Drawn 7 0 7Games Lost 7 0 7Goals Scored 29 0 29Goals conceded 32 0 32Goal Difference -3 0 -3Clean Sheets 3 0 3Goals by Substitutes 0 0 0Yellow Cards 41 0 41Red Cards 1 0 1
Players Used: Kerala Blasters has used a total of 24 different players in all competitions.
Goalscorers RankNo.Pos.NationNameLeagueOthersTotal110FW15015228FWRaphaël Messi Bouli808319MF10117MFRahul KP1018MFSeityasen Singh10122MFSergio Cidoncha10133DFVlatko Drobarov101Own Goals 101 TOTAL29029
Assists Note: This list features only the top 5 players with most assists in the season
RankPos.NationNameLeagueOthersTotal AppearanceTotal Assists1DFJessel Carneiro501852MFSergio Cidoncha301333DFGianni Zuiverloon20824MFHalicharan Narzary201425MFSahal Samad20182
Clean sheets No.NationNameLeagueOthersTotal Clean SheetsGames played1Bilal Khan101513Rehenesh TP20213 TOTAL30318
Disciplinary record No.Pos.NationNameLeagueOthersTotal3DF3000003007MF5000005002DFMohammad Rakip10000010024DFAbdul Hakku11000011028FWMessi Bouli50000050018MFSahal Samad20000020033DFVlatko Drobarov50000050022MFSergio Cidoncha20000020055MFJeakson Singh10000010051DFGianni Zuiverloon1000001006MFMario Arques1000001008MFSeityasen Singh1000001005DFRaju Gaikwad20000020010FWBartholomew Ogbeche30000030014DFJessel Carneiro20000020011MFK Prasanth10000010039DFLalruatthara20000020017MFRahul KP1000001001GKBilal Khan200000200 TOTAL41100004110
See also 2019–20 I-League 2nd Division 2019–20 Kerala Premier League 2019–20 in Indian football 2019–20 Indian Super League I-League 2nd Division Indian Super League Kerala Blasters FC Reserves Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Premier League
References
External links Official website