Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Football Club (known simply as ONGC FC) was 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

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The club was an institutional arm of the

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking which is the largest government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer in the country. It accounts for around 70 percent of India's domestic pro ...

(ONGC), and part of its

multi-sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

. Nicknamed "The Oilmen", they competed in both the domestic top tiers

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, and

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

, alongside the regional competition named MDFA Elite League. The club also operated a non-professional football section that participates in regional corporate tournaments, including All-India Public Sector League.

History

2006–2010: I-League 2nd Division

In 2006, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation revived its football section and renamed it as ''ONGC F.C.'', in hope of expanding their involvement in Indian football, which included title sponsoring the old

Durand Cup The Durand Cup (also called the IndianOil Durand Cup Powered by Coal India Limited for sponsorship reasons) is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Annadale, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Hosted by the ...

and

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After ...

. In 2007, ONGC reached final of the prestigious

Bordoloi Trophy The Bharat Ratna Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Trophy, commonly known as Bordoloi Trophy, is a premier annual Indian football tournament held in Guwahati and organized by the Guwahati Sports Association (GSA). The tournament was founded in 1952 by ...

, in which they were beaten by

Port Authority of Thailand The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) (, ) is a government agency of Thailand, responsible for the regulation and governance of the ports of Thailand, primarily the ports of Laem Chabang and Bangkok Port, the country's two largest. PAT operates Th ...

3–0 at the end. In their inaugural season in the

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 ...

, the club finished on 6th place. After their first season, the club offered their players full-time contracts and higher salaries, as well as inducting youth sections. These changes helped the club finish on 5th place in the final round of the 2009 I-League 2nd Division, after topping the group stage. The next season would finally see ONGC get promoted, after the club won the

2010 I-League 2nd Division The 2010 I-League 2nd division was the third season of the second tier of the I-League, the highest football league in India. It commenced on 26 March 2010 with the first matches of the first round and ended in early May 2010 with the last matc ...

and went undefeated in the final round. It was the club's biggest achievement in domestic football. In 2010,

Caetano Pinho Caetano Infancio De Souza Pinho (born 18 September 1976) is an Indian professional football manager. He last served as the head coach of the I-League club Aizawl. Early life Pinho was born in Goa, India. All his family members were lawyers by ...

became the head coach of ONGC and helped the team winning the

and qualified for the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season of

. Unfortunately, after one season in the I-League, the club were relegated back into the 2nd Division and Pinho's job was on the line as ONGC were considering folding the club. Even Pinho himself said: "The club's poor showing had not gone down well with the management, who it was believed were even considering the most extreme of repercussions. For a company which supports 16 different disciplines of sports around the country, they had after all pumped in the maximum amount of money into the football club's coffers."

2010–2014: I-League and back

After earning promotion into the I-League, ONGC made some unexpected signings with the signatures of Nigerian playmaker

David Opara Nbusiyu David Opara (born 14 December 1985) is a Nigerian football player, who plays for Laxmi Prasad S.C. in the Goa Professional League The Goa Football League is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of Goa, organise ...

and re-signing striker

Badmus Babatunde Ayomide Babatunde Badmus (28 February 1986) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a forward. Babatunde has played for ONGC F.C. in 2010–11 I-League, scoring11 goals before his club was relegated. Career ONGC F.C. Badmus Babatunde was a st ...

, who was the overall top-scorer during the

, and signing former

India national football team The India national football team represents India in men's international Association football, football and is governed by the All India Football Federation, the governing body for Football in India, football in India. It is a member of FIFA, ...

goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar. ONGC played their first match of the

on 4 December 2010 against

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

at the

Salt Lake Stadium The Salt Lake Stadium, officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), is a multi-purpose stadium, used mostly for football matches, located in Salt Lake City, Greater Kolkata, with a capacity of 68,000 spectators. Named after S ...

, in which they lost 1–0. It took the club register first win till 9 January 2011 against

Viva Kerala Viva Kerala Football Club (also known as Chirag United Club Kerala) was an Indian professional association football, football club based in the city of Kochi, Kerala. The club was originally formed in 2004 as ''Viva Kerala''. They participated ...

at home with David Opara scoring the lone goal for ONGC. Then on 12 February 2011, ONGC created the biggest shock of the season after defeating East Bengal, who were undefeated before the game, 1–0 with Babatunde scoring in 58th minute at Cooperage Ground. Despite the unexpected result, ONGC could only do so much as despite scoring 11 more goals in the 2nd half of the season, they ultimately finished on last 14th place, which meant straight relegation back into 2nd Division after only one season. ONGC began their mission for a comeback to the I-League by entering the

2012 I-League 2nd Division The 2012 I-League 2nd Division was the fifth season of the then second tier of Football in India, using promotion and relegation with the I-League. Stadiums The 2012 I-League 2nd Division was played in 4 stadiums. Three of the stadiums were us ...

. The immediately made an impact after finishing the group stage in first place and entered the

final round A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

as automatic contenders. After a tough 12 matches in

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

and

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

, ONGC again finished in a promotion spot, second place, and thus qualified for the

2012–13 I-League The 2012–13 I-League was the sixth season of the I-League, the Indian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2007. The season began on 6 October 2012 and finished on 12 May 2013 with Churchill Brothers ...

, which was confirmed on 17 April 2012, after the club drew 1–1 with

Aizawl Aizawl (, American English, US: , British English, UK: ; Mizo language, Mizo: ), formerly known as Aijal, is the capital city and the most populous city of Mizoram, India. It is also the third largest city in northeast India. It is situated ato ...

. Santosh Kashyap managed the club in 2012–13 I-League. ONGC finished the next I-League season on 9th position with 31 points in 26 matches. The club has also participated in the 2013 IFA Shield unlikely. On 4 March 2013, it was announced that

Muktijoddha Sangsad Muktijoddha Sangsad is a non-political Well-being, welfare Club (organization), association of the combatants during the Bangladesh Liberation War formed on 13 February 1972. The organisation has a football club, Muktijoddha Sangsad KC, named afte ...

of Bangladesh would not participate in this tournament and instead current

club

ONGC The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking which is the largest government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer in the country. It accounts for around 70 percent of India's domestic pro ...

would take their place. But they failed to qualify for the knockout stages. In 2014, they participated in the 14th

Darjeeling Gold Cup All India Darjeeling Gold Cup, also known as All India Brigade of Gorkha's Gold Cup Football Tournament, or simply GTA Chairman's Gold Cup, is an Indian football tournament held in Darjeeling and organized by the Indian Darjeeling Gorkha Hill S ...

and won the tournament with a 5–0 win over

Dalhousie AC Dalhousie Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal, best known for its football section. It was established in 1880, during the British rule in India. Dalhousie has competed in the Premier Division of Ca ...

of Kolkata in final.

Sikkim Gold Cup win

In October 2014, ONGC participated in Sikkim Governor's Gold and reached to the final with a 2–1 win over Gangtok Himalayan. They clinched the trophy defeating

Manang Marshyangdi Club Manang Marshyangdi Club () is a Nepali professional football club based in Kathmandu, that competes in the Martyr's Memorial A-Division League. The club has won the National Championship title a record 8 times. Historically, they have had a fierce ...

of Nepal on

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

In leagues of Mumbai

Since their inception, ONGC became a member of

Western India Football Association The Western India Football Association, abbreviated as WIFA, is the governing body for association football, football in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is affiliated with the All India Football Federation, the sports national governing bod ...

(WIFA) and Mumbai District Football Association (formerly BDFA). They participated in later editions of Mumbai Harwood League alongside Maharashtra Football League. Before getting revived in 2006, they participated in B.D.F.A League, and W.I.F.A. Super Division from 1990 to 1999 and clinched BDFA title in 1993. ONGC also participated in

MDFA Elite Division The Mumbai Football League, also known as the Harwood League, is organised by Mumbai Football Association (MFA), as a ladder-based competition involving a total of five divisions and over 300 teams. It is the top football league in Mumbai and ...

, and lifted trophies in 2015–16 and 2017–18 season.

Ownership

Expulsion

In spite of finishing 9th in the

table with 36 points, ONGC were excluded from the next season, because they did not meet the AFC's club licensing criteria. New club

Oil India Oil India Limited (OIL) is a central public sector undertaking engaged in the business of exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas, transportation of crude oil and production of liquid petroleum gas. The central ...

has taken sponsorship and majority of ONGC's squad in the following years.

Stadium

ONGC played all their home matches for National Football League and I-League at the

Cooperage Ground The Cooperage Football Ground is a Association football, football stadium located in Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is predominantly home to multiple Mumbai Football League clubs. The Western India Football Association has operated fro ...

, which is located at the Nariman Point,

. It has a capacity of 5,000. During the

2010–11 I-League The 2010–11 I-League was the fourth season of the I-League, which was the highest football league competition in India during the time. It ran from 3 December 2010 to May 2011. Dempo are the defending champions. On 30 May 2011 Salgaocar won t ...

season,

Rajarshi Shahu Stadium Chhatrapati Shahu Football Stadium is a historic football stadium in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. Name The stadium is named after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, the Maharaja of the Indian princely state of Kolhapur Who has built this Stadium. ...

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

, hosted numerous matches of Mumbai teams due to unavailability of

. ONGC played its home games at this ground throughout the season.

Notable players

''For all former notable players of ONGC FC with a Wikipedia article, see:

ONGC FC players The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking which is the largest government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer in the country. It accounts for around 70 percent of India's domestic pro ...

''.

Honours

League

**Champions (2):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Mumbai Football League The Mumbai Football League, also known as the Harwood League, is organised by Mumbai Football Association (MFA), as a ladder-based competition involving a total of five divisions and over 300 teams. It is the top football league in Mumbai and ...

**Champions (4): 1993, 2011–12, 2015–16, 2017–18 **Runners-up (1): 2016–17

Cup

* Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup **Champions (2): 2010, 2014 *

**Runners-up (1): 2007 *

**Runners-up (1):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Kalinga Cup **Champions (1): 2014 *

**Champions (1): 2014 *All-India Petroleum Sports Control Board Inter-unit Championship **Champions (8): 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 **Runners-up (1): 2007 * All-India Public Sector Football Tournament **Champions (1): 2010 * YMFC Centennial All India Football Tournament **Champions (1): 2016 *

Nadkarni Cup The Nadkarni Cup is a football competition in Mumbai, India, which was first held in 1908. From 1908–1913, it was known as Junior Rovers Cup which was contested by school and college teams of Bombay (now Mumbai), with the trophy originally pr ...

**Champions (1): 2014 **Runners-up (1): 2007 *Gadhinglaj United Cup **Champions (1): 2016 **Runners-up (1): 2015 *ONGC Invitational Trophy **Champions (1): 2016 * YMFC Centennial All India Cup **Champions (1): 2016 *

Hot Weather Football Championship Hot Weather Football Championship, also known as the All India Hot Weather Football Championship, is an Indian football tournament held in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh and organized by the All India Hot Weather Football Championship Organising Commit ...

**Runners-up (1): 2007 * All-India Ballarpur Industries Limited Trophy **Runners-up (2): 2001–02, 2002 *Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial All-India Cup **Runners-up (1): 2018

Team records

Notable win against foreign team

Other departments

Cricket

Club's cricket team competes in the Maharaja Padam Singh Cricket Tournament and other regional competitions affiliated to the

Delhi & District Cricket Association The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) is the governing body of cricket activities in Delhi, India. It is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The Delhi cricket team is the team for Delhi & District Cricket Associat ...

. Noted Indian international players

Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (born 14 October 1981) is the Head coach of the Indian cricket team. He is also a former international cricketer, former politician, and philanthropist. He played for India in all formats of the game between 2003 and 2016. He w ...

, Praveen Kumar,

Ishan Kishan Ishan Kishan (born 18 July 1998) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team as a wicket-keeper batsman. He made his international debut in March 2021 against England cricket team, England. He plays for Jh ...

Tanmay Srivastava Tanmay Manoj Srivastava (born 7 November 1989) is an Indian former cricketer. Srivastava was a member of the Indian U-19 cricket team that won the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup tournament played in Malaysia. He scored 262 runs in six matches in ...

, and other first class players like

Sandeep Sharma Sandeep Sharma (born 18 May 1993) is an Indian cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Chandigarh and the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. He is a right-arm medium pace bowler. Sharma has represented India at two Under-19 World Cups – 2010 and 2 ...

Mithun Manhas Mithun Manhas (born 12 October 1979) is an Indian former first-class cricketer and current coach. A right-handed batsman, he also bowled right-arm off-spin and occasionally kept wicket. He was the first ever player from Jammu and Kashmir to pl ...

Taruwar Kohli Taruwar Sushil Kohli (born 17 December 1988) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He scored two triple-centuries in first-class cricket. In domestic cricket, he appeared with ONGC. Early l ...

Unmukt Chand Unmukt Chand (born 26 March 1993) is a former Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed top order batsman who currently plays for the Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket, and the Melbourne Renegades in Australia's Big Bash League. He ...

, and

Sumit Narwal Sumit Narwal (born 1982) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Delhi. An all-rounder from Haryana known for his right-arm medium-fast bowling and left-handed batting. He made his first-class debut for Delhi in the 2001-02 season. Narwal has play ...

appeared with the team in domestic tournaments. Honours *Lala Raghubir Trophy **Champions (1): 2012 *Maharaja Padam Singh Cricket Tournament **Champions (1): 2013 *DDCA Hot Weather Championship **Champions (1): 2013 *DY Patil T-20 Trophy **Runners-up (1): 2016

Field hockey

ONGC has its

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

team. It previously competed in

Beighton Cup The Beighton Cup (also known as the Coal India Beighton Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a field hockey tournament organized by Hockey Bengal (formerly the Bengal Hockey Association). Instituted in 1895, it is one of the oldest field hockey tourn ...

, one of world's oldest hockey tournaments. They finished as runners-up in the prestigious trophy in 2011 and 2013. Affiliated with the Bombay Hockey Association, ONGC also appeared in Bombay Gold Cup and Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup. ;Honours *

**Runners-up (2): 2011, 2013 *Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup **Runners-up (1): 2010 *

Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament The Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament (also known as the Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament for sponsorship reason) is organized by Surjit Hockey Society every year in Jalandhar, Punjab. The tournament was instituted in memorial of Sur ...

**Runners-up (1): 2017 * Senior Nehru Hockey Tournament **Champions (1): 2011 **Runners-up (1): 2010 *UP Hockey Championship **Champions (1): 2013–14 *PSPB Hockey Tournament **Champions (1): 2014 *Murugappa Gold Cup **Champions (1): 2017 *AIPSSPB Hockey Trophy **Champions (1): 2018 *Inter-Unit PSPB hockey tournament **Champions (1): 2018

Volleyball

ONGC operates men's volleyball team, that participates in domestic state and national level tournaments. In 2011, ONGC clinched IOB Platinum Jubilee National Volleyball Championship title, and qualified to represent India at the Asian Club Volleyball Championships in China. ;Honours *IOB Platinum Jubilee National Volleyball Championship **Champions (1): 2011 *All India Public-Sector Volleyball Championship **Champions (2): 2015, 2019 *All-India Volleyball Championship **Champions (1): 2017 *PSPB Inter-Unit Volleyball Tournament **Champions (1): 2014 **Runners-up (1): 2019–20 *Chand Agarwala Memorial National Volleyball Championship **Runners-up (1): 2003

Basketball

ONGC operates men's basketball teams. Honours *Federation Cup Basketball Championship **Champions (1): 2013–14 *JCI All India Basketball Tournament **Champions (1): 2013

Kabaddi

Club's kabaddi team competes in the PSPB Inter-unit Kabaddi Tournament and other regional tournaments. Honours *PSPB Inter-unit Kabaddi Tournament **Champions (1): 2013

Athletics

ONGC has men's athletics division, and operating teams competing in the Open National Athletic Championship. At the 52nd Open National Athletic Championship held in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

in September 2012, the team finished at third position with 6 gold, 3 silver and 10 bronze medals. In December 2013, the team clinched All India Public Sector Athletics Meet title, which was hosted at the Maharaja College Ground in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

. ONGC also won the Federation Cup Athletic Championship in 2013.

References

External links

*
ONGC FC
at GSA
ONGC FC
at Soccerway
ONGC FC
at Khel Now {{Maharashtra Sports Association football clubs established in 2006 Football clubs in Mumbai I-League clubs I-League 2 clubs 2006 establishments in Maharashtra Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Works association football clubs in India