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=FFFFFF

JCT Football Club, founded in 1971, is an Indian professional football club based in Phagwara, 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 national I-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 and FC 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 at Phagwara 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 Round

Current 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, 2006

10xGurdarshan Memorial Cup
1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2001, 2002

4x Sait Nagjee Cup
1976, 1979, 1985, 1995

1978 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]