Churchill Brothers Football Club Goa, commonly known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa. The club is scheduled to compete in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of the Indian football league system, from the 2026–27 season, having acquired the sporting licence previously held by Jamshedpur FC in August 2026. For most of its history, the club played in the National Football League and its successor, the I-League.
The club has won the I-League title twice, and finished among the top three on nine other occasions in the national league. It has also won eight Goa League titles, three Durand CupsList of Durand Cup tournament winners and runners-up RSSSF. Retrieved 7 May 2021. and a Federation Cup. Churchill Brothers were ranked the fourth-best Indian club and 648th in the world in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics rankings for the decade 2001–2010. The club is commonly nicknamed "The Red Machines".
History 1988–2009: Foundation and early years Churchill Brothers FC was founded in 1988 as Varca Sports Club. After one season it was renamed Brothers Sporting Club. The club was subsequently bought by Churchill Braz Alemao and renamed Churchill Brothers Football Club; it finished as runners-up of the National Football League three times, in 1996–97, 1999–2000 and 2001–02.
Churchill Brothers represented India in the 1997–98 Asian Club Championship, but were eliminated in the first round by the Vietnamese side Dong Thap, losing 2–1 on aggregate. In 1998 the club signed Bassim Yonan, the first Iraqi footballer to play in India. The Scottish manager Danny McLennan coached the team in the 1999–2000 season.
Churchill Brothers won the Durand Cup in 2007 and the 2008–09 I-League, followed by the Durand Cup again in 2009 and the IFA Shield in the same year. In 2008 the Nigerian World Cup player Emeka Ezeugo was appointed head coach. The club had earlier been runners-up in the inaugural 2007–08 I-League.
The I-League title qualified Churchill Brothers for the 2010 AFC Champions League qualifiers, from which they dropped into the 2010 AFC Cup. They won both group matches against Al-Hilal Al-Sahili, finished second in the group and advanced to the knockout stage, where they lost 2–1 to Al-Qadsia at the Mohammed Al-Hamad Stadium.
2010–2019: Second title and relegation battles Vincent Subramaniam of Singapore managed the club for part of the 2010–11 I-League season. Croatian Drago Mamić took over for the remainder of the campaign and led the side to the IFA Shield.
On 9 June 2011, the club appointed the former Portugal national football team assistant Manuel Gomes as head coach. In October 2011 the team won the 2011 Durand Cup, a third title in the competition, beating Prayag United 5–4 on penalties. Gomes resigned on 15 February 2012 and the former coach Carlos Roberto Pereira returned on a caretaker basis.
Mariano Dias was appointed head coach on 13 July 2012 and in his first season guided the club to the 2012–13 I-League title, its second national championship.
Churchill Brothers won the 2013–14 Federation Cup, but after finishing 12th with 25 points from 24 matches in the 2013–14 I-League the club was excluded from the competition for failing to meet the Asian Football Confederation's club licensing criteria.
In November 2017 the Ukrainian Mykola Shevchenko was appointed head coach. His first match, on 2 December 2017 against Shillong Lajong, ended in defeat, and he was dismissed shortly afterwards. The club then brought in Joseph Afusi of Nigeria as technical director, but was relegated at the end of the 2017–18 season with 17 points from 18 matches. The club's place was later reinstated by the AIFF following a successful appeal.
The Romanian Petre Gigiu was appointed head coach in August 2018. The club finished fourth in the 2018–19 I-League with 34 points.
2020–2025: I-League runners-up and title dispute In September 2020 Churchill Brothers appointed the Spaniard Fernando Santiago Varela as head coach. Under Varela the club finished as runners-up of the 2020–21 I-League with 29 points; although Churchill won their final match against RoundGlass Punjab, Gokulam Kerala FC took the title on head-to-head record.
Ahead of the 2021–22 I-League the club signed its first Guinean player, Sekou Sylla, and Petre Gigiu returned as head coach. The team finished fourth. Later that year the club reached the final of the Baji Rout Cup in Odisha, losing to Rajasthan United. Churchill finished sixth in both the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons and also took part in the 2023 Indian Super Cup and the 2024 Bhausaheb Bandodkar Memorial Trophy. In October 2024 the Cypriot Dimitris Dimitriou was appointed head coach.
2024–25 title dispute Churchill Brothers provisionally finished top of the 2024–25 I-League table with 40 points. The title, however, remained unresolved because of a protest by second-placed Inter Kashi, who claimed three points from a fixture against Namdhari SC in which an ineligible player had allegedly been fielded. On 13 April 2025 Churchill Brothers withdrew from the Super Cup in protest at the delay.
On 19 April 2025 the AIFF Appeals Committee declared Churchill Brothers champions of the 2024–25 I-League, a ruling that also carried promotion to the Indian Super League. Inter Kashi appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which overturned the AIFF decision on 18 July 2025 and crowned Inter Kashi champions, leaving Churchill Brothers as runners-up.
2025–26: Absence from national competition Following the CAS ruling, Inter Kashi were promoted to the ISL in place of Churchill Brothers. The Goan club challenged the AIFF before the Delhi High Court and separately sought admission to the ISL as an additional team. On 12 February 2026, two days before the 2025–26 Indian Super League season began, the AIFF Executive Committee rejected Churchill Brothers' application, with only one of its 22 members voting in the club's favour.
At the same meeting the AIFF approved the rebranding of the I-League as the Indian Football League (IFL), together with a governance structure giving the participating clubs a 60 per cent stake in the competition. Churchill Brothers did not enter the 2025–26 IFL, which began on 27 February 2026 with ten teams, and consequently played in no national competition that season; the AIFF subsequently demoted the club to I-League 2 for non-participation.
2026–present: Acquisition of the Jamshedpur licence and ISL entry On 31 July, Jamshedpur FC announced that it would not take part in the 2026–27 Indian Super League, ending a nine-year association with the competition. The withdrawal followed the expiry of the AIFF's extended deadline for clubs to pay the first instalment of the participation fee. On 14 August, Tata Steel agreed to transfer its entire shareholding in Jamshedpur Football & Sporting Private Limited (JFSPL) to Churchill Brothers Sports Club Private Limited for a token consideration of 100. The transaction covered the club's ISL sporting licence and contracts of 12 players and 2 coaches, which Churchill Brothers agreed to take over from September. Completion was made subject to the AIFF approval by 31 August 2026. Tata Steel's vice-president for corporate services, D. B. Sundara Ramam, said that the company would refocus its football investment on grassroots and youth development through the Tata Football Academy. The sale agreement recorded JFSPL's turnover for the financial year as , equivalent to 0.01 per cent of Tata Steel's consolidated turnover. Churchill Brothers paid the full participation fee to the AIFF, becoming one of 13 clubs to complete the payment. The takeover marked the club's first appearance in the top division of Indian football since the 2017–18 I-League.
Crest A new red-and-black crest was introduced in 2011. The original crest featured a football on green grass with yellow rays representing the sun, together with the club's initials.
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors PeriodKit manufacturerShirt sponsor1988–11Churchill Brothers2011–17Nivia2017–18Faisports2018–23Nivia2023–24Trak-Only2024–26King Sports2026–27Nivia
Ownership and nickname
Churchill Brothers has been owned and led for decades by the Goan entrepreneur and politician Churchill Alemao, a former president of the Goa Football Association and former Chief Minister of Goa. His daughter, Valanka Alemao, is the club's chief executive officer. The club operates through Churchill Brothers Sports Club Private Limited, which in August 2026 acquired Jamshedpur Football & Sporting Private Limited and with it the ISL sporting licence.
Stadiums
Since the founding of the I-League, Churchill Brothers have mainly played at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao, a ground shared over the years with other Goan clubs including Dempo, Salgaocar, Sporting Clube de Goa and Vasco. The club has also used the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco for both I-League and Goa Professional League fixtures.
During the 2012–13 I-League season the club temporarily played at the Duler Stadium in Mapusa while Fatorda was being renovated for the 2013 Lusophony Games and Tilak Maidan was being upgraded to AFC standards. For the 2013 AFC Cup the club used the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune as its home ground. In 2022 the club moved to the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, and in the 2024–25 I-League season it used the Raia Panchayat Ground in Raia.
Rivalries Churchill Brothers has a long-standing rivalry with the fellow Goan side Dempo, known as the "Goan Derby". The club also has rivalries with two other Goan sides, Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar, whom it met in the I-League and continues to face in the Goa Professional League.
Players First-team squad
Personnel Technical staff Position Name Technical director Team manager Head coach Dimitris Dimitriou Assistant coach Goalkeeing coach Fitness coach Doctor Kitman Media officer
Management Position Name Owner Churchill Brothers Sports Club Private Limited (Churchill Alemao) Chief executive officer Valanka Alemao
Honours League I-League Champions (2): 2008–09, 2012–13 Runners-up (4): 2007–08, 2009–10, 2020–21, 2024–25 National Football League Runners-up (3): 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2001–02 Third place (2): 1997–98, 1999–2000 National Football League II Runners-up (1): 2005–06
Cup Durand Cup Champions (3): 2007, 2009, 2011 Runners-up (2): 2001–02, 2008 Federation Cup Champions (1): 2013–14 IFA Shield Champions (2): 2009, 2011 Rovers Cup Runners-up (3): 1997, 1999, 2000–01 Goa Governor's Cup Champions (3): 2000, 2002, 2003 Runners-up (2): 1999, 2001 Goa Police Cup Champions (1): 1999 Runners-up (1): 2018 Baji Rout Cup Runners-up (1): 2022
Regional Goa Football League Champions (8): 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2008–09, 2019–20 Third place (1): 2007
Performance in AFC competitions
Asian Club Championship: 1 appearance 1997–98: First round AFC Champions League: 2 appearances 2002–03: Qualifying round 3 2010: Qualifying play-off AFC Cup: 3 appearances 2010: Round of 16 2013: Group stage 2014: Round of 16
Team records Seasonal records SeasonDivisionTeamsPositionAttendanceFederation Cup/Super CupDurand CupAFC Champions LeagueAFC Cup2016–17I-League106th2,560Group stageDNPDNPDNP2017–18I-League109th2,921Round of 16DNPDNPDNP2018–19I-League114th3,387–DNPDNPDNP2019–20I-League118th3,062–DNPDNPDNP2020–21I-League112nd––DNPDNPDNP2021–22I-League134th–DNPDNPDNPDNP2022–23I-League126th–DNPDNPDNPDNP2023–24I-League136th–Group stageDNPDNPDNP2024–25I-League122nd–WithdrewDNPDNPDNP2025–26Did not enter any national competition2026–27ISL13TBD–TBDTBDDNPDNP Key Teams = Number of teams in the division Position = Final position in the league Attendance = Average league attendance DNP = Did not participate
Transfer record Highest transfer fee received – Khalid Aucho: for a move to the Egyptian club Misr Lel Makkasa in 2019.
Goalscoring record