Tamil Nadu football team

The Tamil Nadu football team, also earlier the Madras football team, is an Indian football team representing Tamil Nadu in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy.[1] They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals twice, in 1972–73 and 2012, and have never won. Tamil Nadu team reached semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy in 2009,[2][3] where they lost to Goa. Prior to 1972, the team competed as Madras.

Tamil Nadu
Full nameTamil Nadu football team
Founded1941; 83 years ago (1941)
(as Madras football team)
GroundJawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai)
Capacity40,000
OwnerTamil Nadu Football Association
Head coachNallappan Mohanraj
LeagueSantosh Trophy
2023–24Group stage

Squad

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The team selected for 2024 Santosh Trophy;

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 Muthu Raja T
27 GK   IND Francis Vincent
31 GK   IND Murugan
3 DF   IND Henry Joseph
13 DF   IND Ajith Kumar(C)
6 DF   IND K Dhanushraj
4 DF   IND Rakshith D
23 DF   IND Deepak Bakthan
8 MF   IND Pandiyan Sinivasan
22 MF   IND Sriram Boopathi
24 MF   IND V John Alex
15 MF   IND Aravindhan
10 MF   IND Vikram Venkatachalam
No. Pos. Nation Player
9 FW   IND Saravanan Kumar G
17 FW   IND A Regan
19 FW   IND A Dhivakar
34 FW   IND Lijo K
12 FW   IND Nandha Kumar
14 FW   IND Alexandar Romario jesuraj
7 FW   IND Sharon
18 FW   IND Rojar J Venjilas

Coaching staff

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Position Name
Manager   Orlando Rayan[4]
Head coach   Nallappan Mohanraj
Assistant coach   Sathish

Player history

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Some of the former Tamil Nadu state football players are Samson Gunapandian, Simon Sundararaj,[5] J. Krishnaswamy, Raman Vijayan, Syed Sabir Pasha, Kalia Kulothungan,[6] Robin Charles Raja, V. Soundararajan, P.M. Radhakrishnan, P. Nageshwara Rao,[7] M. Thangaraj,[8] Gandhi (RBI), Edwin Ross (Winger), D'Cruz (ICF), Orlando Rayen, A.U. Celestine (Goal Keeper), P.V. Sriramulu, A. Satyanarayanan, Guna Singh, Koshy, Kumar, Thomas, Arumaiyanayagam, Thanikachalam, Chandran Jeypal, Dhanapathy, Gurunathan, Viswanathan, and Rajamanickam (Goal Keeper).[9]

Simon Sundararaj from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu scored the last Indian goal at the Olympics, in Rome in 1960.[10]

Most of these former players were employees of State or Central government institutions. All India Football Federation and Tamil Nadu Football Association were coordinating these players participation at the National level. In the past, to attend preparatory camps to get selected for the India national football team, it was difficult for these players to obtain leave from the institutions in which they were employed.[11] Some Tamil Nadu football players use their football talent and achievements to get jobs in Government institutions like Southern Railways, Indian Bank, and Chennai Customs.[12]

The following is a complete list of Tamil Nadu footballers.

Honours

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State (senior)

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State (youth)

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References

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  1. ^ "Tamil Nadu Football Association".
  2. ^ Football, DC. "The pain of 2009 in Santosh Trophy". Deccan Chronicle.
  3. ^ Roy, Anshuman. "Goa oust TN, fans lose temper". The Telegraph.
  4. ^ "Tamil Nadu Announces Santosh Trophy Squad – Football News India".
  5. ^ Frederick, Prince (April 2011). "Memories of Madras – Football's field day". The Hindu.
  6. ^ Rayan, Stan (19 November 2005). "Raw diamonds from the seashore". The Hindu.[dead link]
  7. ^ Chronicle, Deccan. "Players from yesteryear return to football's heyday".
  8. ^ Thiagarajan, Shantha. "When Ooty had a 'dribbler par excellence'". The Times Of India. No. July 2018.
  9. ^ Metro Plus Chennai, The Hindu (26 September 2002). "Memories of a different era". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 14 September 2003.
  10. ^ RS, Prasad. "Meet the footballer who scored India's last Olympic goal". The Times of India.
  11. ^ Week, Sports (1 September 1974). Who cares for the players?. Bombay: Khalid Ansari. p. 236.
  12. ^ Hore, Abhishek. "Leading scorer Riju mulls EB option". Hindustan Times.
  13. ^ Krishnaswamy, Karthik. "A happy homecoming for stars". The Hindu.
  14. ^ Raghu, T.N. "Sudhakar will be TN's key man". Deccan Chronicle.
  15. ^ List of Santosh Trophy Finals