Former Indian association football club
Football club
Jagatjit Cotton & Textile Football Club (formerly known asJCT Mills FC ; abbreviated asJCT FC , or simplyJCT )[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] is an Indianfootball academy based inPhagwara ,Punjab .[ 4] [ 5] Founded in 1971, the club was sponsored byJagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills under the leadership of Samir Thapar and participated in theNational Football League which was later rebranded asI-League .[ 6] [ 7] [ 8] The club currently participates inPunjab State Super Football League after disbanding their senior squad in 2011.[ 9] [ 10]
Nicknamed "The Millmen",[ 11] [ 12] JCT have won many tournaments and brought laurels to the State of Punjab. They won the inaugural edition of theNational Football League in 1996.[ 13] [ 14] [ 15] They were one of the benchmark teams in North Punjab along withBorder Security Force andPunjab Police , winning prestigious state level tournaments. It was the first team from India to sign a foreign coach and the first team outside ofCalcutta to win theIFA Shield ,second oldest football tournament in India.[ 16] JCT's corporate team also took part in All India Public Sector tournaments.[ 17]
In 2011, JCT emerged as sixth ranked Indian team, and 957th universally, in the international rankings of clubs during the first ten years of the 21st century (2001–2010), issued by theInternational Federation of Football History & Statistics .[ 18]
Jagatjit Cotton, Sahil Bagga and Textile Mills constituted the football club in March 1971.[ 19] [ 20] However, the club got recognition from 1974 onwards when several players joined the club from the Leaders Club ofJalandhar . Included among these players wasInder Singh ,[ 21] who captained the India national team in previous years, won the Arjuna Award in 1969,[ 22] and managed the club until 2001.[ 23] 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. After the end of Leaders Club era, JCT Mills have since taken the mantle and become the biggest and most successful football club in this part of India.[ 24] [ 25] In 1983, British coachBob Bootland took charge of JCT and guided the team winning theDurand Cup same year.[ 26] [ 27]
JCT Limited had been involved in thePunjab Football Association (PFA)[ 28] for the three decades. On 1 July 1992, the club appointed former Indian internationalSukhwinder Singh , who previously played for the club, as chief coach; He served as deputy general manager and joint secretary as well.[ 29] [ 30] In 1995, they clinched Scissors Cup title, defeatingMalaysia Premier League sidePerlis F.A. 1–0.[ 31] In 1996, they emerged champions in theFederation Cup , defeatingEast Bengal 5–3 through penalties.[ 32] JCT won the inauguralNFL title in the 1996–97 season.[ 33] [ 34] In that season, they clinched the prestigiousIFA Shield title, defeatingIraqi Premier League sideAl-Karkh SC by 1–0. In January 2007, the JCT management decided to change the club name from JCT Mills FC to JCT FC.[ 35]
Then Prime Minister of India,Manmohan Singh , with JCT players (in red ) during the inauguration of2006–07 National Football League . Mohammedan Sporting vs JCT Mills FC in the2006–07 National Football League atAmbedkar Stadium . In 2007, JCT announced an association with the English clubWolverhampton Wanderers , as part of the Wolverhampton-India Project launched at theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom .[ 36] [ 37] In theinaugural season ofI-League , JCT achieved third place, with 33 points.[ 38] [ 39]
In 2011, two members from theWolves Academy members visited the club with an intention "to start special training programmes".[ 40] However, a few months later, in June, the club announced of its disbanding.[ 41] [ 42] [ 43] In a statement, the club said, "Today football teams worldwide have become self-sustaining enterprises for which high exposure is needed to build viewership and spectators in the stadium. JCT won the inaugural national league in 1996, where there was high quality TV exposure and widespread public interest. But since then the league has had negligible exposure and the teams have been going almost unnoticed." It added, "JCT Limited, being a corporate, needs to justify to its stakeholders the effort vs visibility of the football team."[ 9]
Baljit Saini of JCT (in white and red ) againstDempo during the2008–09 I-League at Guru Nanak Stadium. In 2014, reports said that the club was planning on a return to professional football throughI-League 2nd Division thefollowing season ; however, it failed to materialize.[ 44] Though the official club body maintained JCT's football-centric activities and academies, and trials until 2015, alongside acquiring services of Spanish UEFA A license holder coach Juan Jose Royan Balco.[ 45] [ 46]
Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on a matchday JCT Mills used Guru Nanak Stadium ofLudhiana .[ 47] [ 48] It served as club's home ground for National Football League and Punjab State Super League matches.[ 49] [ 50] The stadium has a capacity of approximately 30,000 spectators.
Guru Gobind Singh Stadium , also used for some home matches of JCT Mills FCJCT Mills has also usedGuru Gobind Singh Stadium inJalandhar for some seasonal home matches of the National Football League and Punjab State Football League.[ 51] [ 52]
A view of Guru Gobind Singh Stadium JCT shared rivalry with local sideFC Punjab Police , which emerged as one of the strongest sides inPunjab State Super Football League .[ 53] [ 54] They have also enjoyed rivalries with two other local sides: Leaders Club (Jalandhar),[ 55] andBorder Security Force .[ 56] In the 1960s nd 70s, the club shared a fierce rivalry withMohammedan Sporting of Kolkata.[ 57]
For all former notable JCT Mills FC players with a Wikipedia article, see:JCT Mills FC players .
Noted Indian internationals
Bhaichung Bhutia,India captain , played for JCT from 1995 to 1997. Deepak Mondal began his domestic career with JCT; He represented the club in NFL from 1998 to 2000. Foreign international(s)
Performance in AFC competitions [ edit ] 1996–97 : Second Round[ 95] In last 3 decades of its existence, the JCT FC is the first Indian team outsideKolkata to win the prestigiousIFA Shield ,[ 96] [ 97] (in 1996, in which they defeated Iraqi Premier League clubAl-Karkh , by 1–0).[ 98] Apart from this, the JCT Club won many prestigious tournaments. They also won the opening edition of the National Football League in 1996–97.[ 99] [ 100] [ 101] [ 102] [ 103] JCT has also participated in theAsian Club Championship during its1996–97 season and reached the second round. They also achieved third place in 2007–08 season of the newly formedI-League .
The club was an eight-time winner of thePunjab State Football League and five-time winner of theDurand Cup .[ 104] [ 105] The success and the constant good performance of the club is attributed to its owner, the Thapars who apart from being business moguls, have been in constant effort to enhance the bar of their club at all the levels.[ 96] [ 106]
The following clubs were affiliated with JCT FC:
Notable wins against foreign teams [ edit ] As of matches played 2 August 2024 National Football League I-League National Football League III Punjab State Super Football League [ 122] [ 123] Champions (9): 1987, 1990–91, 1991, 1995, 2002, 2003, 2004–05, 2005–06,[ 124] 2006–07 Runners-up (4): 1985–86, 1988, 1992–93, 1999 Federation Cup [ 125] Winners (2): 1995, 1996[ 126] Durand Cup [ 127] Winners (5): 1976,[ 128] 1983, 1987, 1992,[ 129] 1996[ 115] Runners-up (7): 1974, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1985, 2006,[ 130] 2010[ 131] [ 132] IFA Shield [ note 1] Rovers Cup Winners (1): 1997[ 134] Runners-up (3): 1979–80, 1984, 1992[ 135] Indian Super Cup Runners-up (1): 1997[ 136] Punjab State Senior Championship [ 137] Champions (6): 1977, 1979–80, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1989 Runners-up (2): 1984–85, 1985 Gurdarshan Memorial Cup [ 138] Winners (10): 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2001, 2002[ 139] Runners-up (2): 1991, 2003[ 140] Sait Nagjee Football Tournament Winners (4): 1976, 1979, 1985, 1995[ 141] Madura Coats Trophy Winners (1): 1982, 1985[ 142] Bokaro Cup Scissors Cup Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Memorial Trophy Winners (1): 2002[ 144] Runners-up (1): 1998 Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy Winners (2): 2005, 2009[ 145] DCM Trophy Mohan Kumar Mangalam Football Tournament [ 148] Runners-up (2): 2005, 2006 Aurungabad Mayor's Trophy Tournaments won by JCT academy [ edit ] I-League U19 National Football League U19 All India MKM Football Championship Sardar Santa Singh Bhaur Memorial Trophy Sant Baba Hari Singh ji Naiki Wale Trophy JRD Tata Youth Cup Runners-up (1): 2008[ 159] Man United Premier Cup India Runners-up (1): 2010[ 160] All India Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Cup (U-17 Category) In 2015, JCT FC entered into the partnership withIndia On Track to re-launch the club in the 2015–16 season of theI-League 2nd division .[ 161] The aim of the partnership is to provide elite residential training and uplifting the development of its academy atHoshiarpur, Punjab .[ 161]
JCT FC academy and youth teams [ edit ] JCT FC launched their U-19 academy in 1998 and participated in the first National Football League (under-19) in October 2001.[ 162] [ 163] In the next edition between May and June 2003, they reached the finals.[ 164] [ 165] JCT Football Academy won the2011 I-League U19 .[ 151] In 2011, their senior team was disbanded, but the academy continued to operate. The academy team later participated in the2012 Durand Cup .[ 166] JCT academy team later participated inPunjab State League .[ 167] They incorporated under-16 academy in 2005 at Rurka Kalan, and participated in Subroto Mukherjee Cup and Inter-school Games organized under the banner of School Games Federation of India.[ 168] Club's U-15 team also took part inManchester United Premier Cup of India .[ 169] Later in 2022, JCT FC academy competed in Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Memorial Tournament in Banga.[ 170]
Beside football, JCT FC is operating futsal teams, currently competing in theAIFF Futsal Club Championship .[ 171] [ 172]
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1888–1900 1901–1920 1921–1940 1941–1960 1961–1980 1981–2000 2001–2020 2021–present Notes: The tournament was not held from 1914–19 (due to
WWI ), in 1939 (due to
WWII ), from 1941–49 (due to
WWII and
Partition ), in 1962 (due to
1962 War )