- JCT FC
Infobox Football club
clubname = JCT FC
fullname = Jagatjit Cotton & Textile Mills FC
nickname = The Millmen
founded =1971
ground =Guru Gobind Singh Stadium ,Ludhiana
capacity = 12,000
chairman = flagicon|India Samir Thapar
manager = flagicon|India Parminder Singh
league =I-League
season = 2007-08
position = 3rd|pattern_la1=_whitelower|pattern_b1=_thinwhitesides|pattern_ra1=_whitelower|leftarm1=cc3333|body1=cc3333|rightarm1=cc3333|shorts1=cc3333|socks1=cc3333
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=|leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFFJCT Football Club, founded in 1971, is an
India n professional football club based inPhagwara ,Punjab (India) . They are sponsored by Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills under the leadership of Samir Thapar and have emerged as one of the most successful Indian football clubs in recent years. They play in the nationalI-League and Punjab State Super League.JCT FC has long been synonymous with football in Punjab and northern India. Like the other two institutional teams from the state,
Border Security Force SC andFC Punjab Police , JCT have played a pivotal role in raising the standard of football in Punjab.JCT have won many prestigious tournaments and brought laurels to the State of Punjab. They won the inaugural edition of the National Football League in 1996. The success of the outfit can be partly attributed to the fact that their owners, the Thapars, apart from being business moguls, are also keen followers of the game.
History
Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills constituted the football club in 1971. However, the club got recognition from 1974 onwards when several players joined the club from the Leader Club of
Jalandhar . Included among these players was Inder Singh, who had captained the Indian national team in previous years and won the Arjuna Award in 1969. The Leader Club, started by Lala Dwarka Das Sehgal had played a major role in popularizing football in Northern India in the 1960s and 1970s. Though the Leader Club is no more, JCT Mills have since taken the mantle and become the biggest and most successful football club in this part of India.JCT Limited has been involved in the Punjab Football Association (PFA) for the last three decades. JCT won the innagural NFL title in the 1996-1997 season. In January 2007, the JCT management decided to change the club name from JCT Mills FC to JCT FC.In May 2008, JCT announced a partnership with Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Coca Cola Championship in
England Academy
JCT Limited set up the JCT Football Academy atPhagwara in 2000 to train budding players. It funds their studies in colleges, especially at the Guru Nanak College,Phagwara .Facts
JCT was the first Indian club to hire a foreign coach.
JCT was the first Indian team outside Kolkata to win the
IFA Shield .JCT is a part of the flagship JCT group that was started by the late
Karam Chand Thapar .Performance in AFC Competitions
*
Asian Club Championship : 1 appearance::1997: Second RoundCurrent Season
JCT finished 3rd in the 2007-2008 season of the newly formed
I-League , the successor to the NFL Premier Division.Players
Current Roster
Notable former players
*
Baichung Bhutia
*I M Vijayan
* Inder Singh
* Jarnail Singh
* Parminder Singh
* Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi
*P. Renedy Singh
*Sunil Chetri Team Management
Transfers
Retained
Karanjit Singh, Narinder Singh, Harish Sharma, Daljit Singh, Jaspal Singh, Shivraj Singh, Baldeep Singh Sr, Jaswinder Singh, Sakatar Singh, Anwar, Tajinder Singh, Rakinderjit Singh, Baldeep Singh Jr., Eduardo da Silva Escobar, Gurwinder Singh, Julius Irabor Akpele
New
Left
Honours
*Indian League: 1::1996/97
*Durand Cup : 5::1976, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1996
*Federation Cup (India) : 2::1995, 1996
*IFA Shield : 1::19969x Punjab Football League
1987, 1990/91, 1991, 1995, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 200610xGurdarshan Memorial Cup
1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2001, 20024x Sait Nagjee Cup
1976, 1979, 1985, 19951978 Madura Coats Trophy
1995 Scissors Cup
1997 Rovers Cup
2002 Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Memorial Trophy
2005 Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy
References
* [http://www.jctfootball.com/] OFFICIAL SITE
* [http://www.iloveindia.com/sports/football/clubs/jct-mills.html Football Clubs – JCT FC]
* [http://www.indianfootball.com/team/jct.html Indian Football – JCT FC]
* [http://www.indianfootball.com/transfers2006.html Season ending Transfers 2006 (NFL India)]
* [http://www.soccerway.com/national/india/first NFL 2006/2007 League Table]
* [http://www.footballdatabase.com/index.php?page=club&Id=737&cont=&cln=JCT_Mills JCT Mills]
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