Founded: 30 August, 2014.
Ground: Mumbai Football Arena, Andheri.
Capacity: 18,000
Owner(s): Ranbir Kapoor, Bimal Parekh.
Manager: Jorge Costa
League: Indian Super League
2017–18 Regular season: 7th (10 teams)
ISL Playoff Finals: Did not qualify
| Nationality | Number | Position | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 1 | GK | Amrinder Singh |
| India | 3 | DF | Shouvik Ghosh |
| Serbia | 4 | DF | Marko Klisura |
| India | 5 | DF | Anwar Ali |
| India | 6 | MF | Milan Singh |
Democratic Republic of the Congo | 7 | FW | Arnold Issoko |
| India | 8 | MF | Mohammed Rafique |
| Uruguay | 10 | MF | Matías Mirabaje |
| India | 11 | MF | Raynier Fernandes |
| India | 12 | MF | Sanju Pradhan |
| India | 15 | DF | Subashish Bose |
| Brazil | 16 | FW | Rafael Bastos |
| India | 17 | FW | Pranjal Bhumij |
| Romania | 18 | DF | Lucian Goian |
| India | 19 | MF | Vignesh Dakshinamurthi |
| India | 21 | GK | Ravi Kumar |
| India | 23 | DF | Souvik Chakraborty |
| India | 25 | FW | Alen Deory |
| India | 26 | MF | Sehnaj Singh |
| Senegal | 28 | FW | Modou Sougou |
| India | 29 | MF | Bipin Singh |
| India | 30 | GK | Kunal Sawant |
| India | 32 | DF | Davinder Singh |
| India | 37 | DF | Bikramjeet Singh |
| Portugal | 55 | MF | Paulo Machado |
Background
After a lackluster show in the 2017/18 season, the Mumbai City FC management replaced Alexandre Guimaraes with Jorge Costa in the coaching role.
Costa’s first assignment was the preseason tour to Thailand, where the Islanders won all their matches with a glut of goals. However, the bigger focus lay on their defense: Mumbai conceded 29 goals in 18 matches in the previous season. The signings of experienced defenders like Subashish Bose, Souvik Chakrabarti and Shouvik Ghosh should partially address these problems.
To strengthen the squad further, the former Porto player roped in Paulo Machado, Modou Sogou, and Rafael Bastos as Mumbai City’s foreign players.
Mumbai City FC looks strong on paper. They retained the Romanian, Lucian Goian, as captain, while the midfield is well-stocked with the likes of Mohammad Rafique, Milan Singh, and Bipin Singh.
The Gaffer
Costa has played at the highest level of international and club football for over a decade-and-a-half, with his most decorated moment coming in 2004, when he captained FC Porto to a UEFA Champions League win under Jose Mourinho.
The former Portuguese international has had coaching experience with S.C. Braga in the Primeira Liga, CFR Cluj in Romania and the Gabon national team.
He aims to bring his no-nonsense brand of football and set up the Mumbai team to fix their leaky defense.
Conclusion
Costa’s team will aim to impress, however with most oppositions packing their teams with technically-superior players, Mumbai City FC’s task is cut out.