ARA Football Club is an Indian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. Founded in 2016, the club is nicknamed "Ahmedabad Alphas", and previously competed in

I-League 2nd Division The I-League 2 is an Indian men's professional association football, football league. It is the 3rd tier of the Indian football league system, behind the Indian Super League and the I-League. It operates as a system of promotion and relegation ...

. ARA FC is the first professional team from Gujarat to compete in the nationwide league. The club also competes in

Gujarat SFA Club Championship The Gujatat State Football Association Club Championship is the highest state-level football league in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is organised by Gujarat State Football Association (GSFA). The league is also the 5th tier of the Indian fo ...

. Their reserve and youth teams play in both Hero Sub-Junior League and Hero Elite League, while women team is member of

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League (abbreviated as the IWL) is the women's top tier professional football league in India, founded in 2016. Currently, a total of 8 teams from across the country participate in the league. The competition was planned ...

History

Academy and early years

Ahmedabad Racquet Academy (ARA) started its journey as a professional multi-sports academy in

, which mainly consists of racquet sports and has been running since 2011 and began participating in Ahmedabad Junior league. The football club was among the newest projects established by the academy in recent times as an initiative by owner Vikram Patel.

Formation of club

The existing academy owned by Patel emerged as ARA FC in 2016 to ensure development of football in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

. On 19 July 2018, their academy were accredited and given two stars based on eligibility criteria, which allowed them to play in

Youth League U18 The Youth League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the All India Football Federation. It consists of 3 age groups competitions: U17 (AIFF Youth League), U15 (Junior League) and U13 (Sub-Junior Le ...

. ARA as a club became affiliated with

Gujarat State Football Association The Gujarat State Football Association (abbreviated GSFA) is one of the 36 Indian state football associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation. State teams Men *Gujarat football team *Gujarat under-20 football team * ...

(GSFA) in 2017, and began competing in the ADFA Premier Division League.

2018–present

On 20 November 2018, AIFF nominated ARA for proposed inclusion in the 2018–19 2nd Division League. On 7 December, it was announced that ARA FC would be one of nine clubs to play that season. Thus the

-based club became the only team from the state competing in a domestic tier league. In their maiden I-League 2nd Division in the 2018–19 season, ARA finished on fourth place in Group A with 11 points in 8 matches as Lonestar Kashmir progressed to the final round. They were nominated for participating in the 2021 I-League Qualifiers, since emerging victorious in Gandhinagar Premier League. They began their journey with a 1–1 draw against

Corbett FC Corbett Football Club (previously known as Amenity Sports Academy Football Club) is an Indian professional football club based in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. The club currently competes in the Uttarakhand Super League, and has participated in both ...

on 5 October at the

Bangalore Football Stadium The Bangalore Football Stadium is a association football, football stadium in Bangalore, Karnataka. It has served as a venue in three editions of the I-League, then top-tier football league in the country. The stadium was the home of Bengaluru ...

but did not advanced to the final round. In February–March 2023, the club participated in

Stafford Challenge Cup The Stafford Challenge Cup is an Indian football tournament held in Karnataka, organized by the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA). Instituted in 1938, it is the oldest football tournament in South India. The tournament was abolished i ...

in Bangalore. In August 2023, ARA gained

I-League 3 The I-League 3 is an Indian men's professional football league. It forms the fourth tier of the Indian football league system, below the I-League 2 and above the State leagues. History For the first time, the AIFF introduced qualifiers for ...

spot to compete in the inaugural edition.

Home stadium

ARA FC plays its home matches at the EKA Arena, which has a capacity of 20,000 spectators. The stadium is located in

Kankaria Lake Kankaria Lake is the largest lake in Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. A lakefront is developed around it, which has many public attractions such as a zoo, toy ...

, and has additional 10,000 temporary seats on the pitch area. Aka arena

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Current squad

Current technical staff

Honours

League

**Champions (2): 2022, 2025 *ADFA Ahmedabad District League 2nd Division **Champions (1): 2017 *ADFA Ahmedabad District League 1st Division **Champions (2): 2018, 2021–22 *Gandhinagar Premier League **Champions (1): 2020–21

Cup

*Heritage Cup Jaipur **Champions (1): 2020

Records

;Key *Tms. = Number of teams *Pos. = Position in league *Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Managerial record

updated on 25 October 2020

Notable players

''For current and former notable ARA FC players with a Wikipedia article, see: ARA FC players''.

Other departments

Women's team

ARA FC has its women's football team that competes in the

, the highest division of Indian women's football. Before the kick-off of 2021–22 Indian Women's League season, four teams including ARA Women from four states played each other once in April 2022, in the qualifying round at the

Ambedkar Stadium Dr. Ambedkar Stadium is a football stadium in New Delhi, India. The stadium is named after Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, social reformer and architect of the Indian Constitution. It was earlier known as Corporation Stadium. It has held competitions like ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

and they qualified for the final round after topping the group. Honours * Gujarat State Women's League **Champions (1): 2021–22 **Third place (1): 2022–23

Youth men's

Youth men's team of ARA competes in the Ahmedabad Elite Youth Cup Ahmedabad. Club's U17 team participated in "regional group stages" of

2022–23 U-17 Youth Cup The 2022–23 Youth League, also known as 2022–23 Hero U-17 Youth Cup (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), was the thirteenth season of the Indian Youth League and the first season of the competition as an under-17 category. The 2019� ...

Football academy

Football Academy of ARA FC gained 'elite category' accreditation by the

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

in December 2023.