Gokulam Kerala 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

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the

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 ...

, the second tier of the

Indian football league system The Indian football league system is the league structure of football club competitions in India. The highest level of men's club football competition is the Indian Super League. Indian Women's League, founded in 2016, is the highest level of ...

. They won the

2020–21 I-League The 2020–21 I-League (known as the ''Hero I-League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the I-League, one of the top tier Indian professional football leagues, since its establishment in 2007. The tournament was hosted in bio-sec ...

title to become the first club from Kerala to do so, and became the first team to defend the league title in 2021–22. Gokulam is also the first club from the state to qualify for a

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

competition, the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

, in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Nicknamed ''Malabarians'', Gokulam Kerala represents the state of Kerala, predominantly its

Malabar region The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regions of the subcontin ...

. Affiliated with the

Kerala Football Association The Kerala Football Association (abbreviated ''Kerala FA''), formerly the Travancore-Cochin Football Association, is one of the 36 Indian state football associations that are affiliated with the All India Football Federation (AIFF). It sends s ...

(KFA), club's reserve team competes in the

Kerala Premier League The Kerala Premier League is the highest state football leagues in India, state-level association football, football league organized by the Kerala Football Association and played in the state of Kerala, India. It is the overall fifth tier of ...

. They also won the 129th edition of the

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 ...

, becoming the second side from Kerala to win that competition. The women's section of the club participates in the

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

Formation and early years (2017–2020)

Gokulam Kerala was founded in January 2017 at

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a municipality and town in Kerala and the headquarters of the Malappuram district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Kerala, 4th largest urban agglomeration in Kerala and ...

. The club then went on to participate in Awes Cup in Goa, in which they finished the campaign as runners-up. On 20 September, after the second round of bidding invitations, the bid evaluation committee decided to award Sree Gokulam Group the right to field their team in the Hero I-League 2017–18 season onwards from Calicut, Kerala. Although the club did not have a good beginning, they went on to defeat clubs like

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 ...

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

and

Minerva Punjab Minerva Academy Football Club (often referred to as Minerva Punjab) is an Indian professional multi-sports club based in Mohali/Chandigarh, Punjab (India), Punjab, best known for its association football, football, cricket and futsal teams. Th ...

by the end of the season. Gokulam Kerala hired Spaniard Fernando Santiago Varela as head coach in March 2018. On 15 March 2018, Gokulam played the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

qualifiers against

North East United FC NorthEast United Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded on 13 April 2014 during the inaugural seas ...

and was qualified with a 2-goal victory. In the pre-quarterfinals of the Super Cup on 1 April 2018, they were leading against

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

by 0–1 until 60 minutes with a goal scored by the striker

Henry Kisekka Henry Kisekka (born 31 August 1989) is an Ugandan professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Regarded as an important asset to Dong Nai's attacking line in 2012, he recorded 11 goals, helping his team achieve promotion. Not m ...

but Bengaluru scored a stoppage time goal which led to a defeat of 2–1. Gokulam in 2019, for the first time went abroad and participated at the 2019 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, where they qualified for the Semi-finals after finishing 2nd in Group B. Gokulam finished as semifinalist after losing 3–2 to

Chittagong Abahani Chittagong Abahani Limited (), also spelled as Chattogram Abahani or Chittagong Abahoni, is a sports club based in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A wing of Abahani Limited was established at Chittagong in 1980, known as Chittagong Abahani. It is on ...

. Gokulam Kerala won their maiden title under the coaching of Fernando Santiago Varela, the 129th edition of the

on 24 August

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, defeating

2–1 in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

2020–present

Gokulam Kerala won the 2020–21 I-League by defeating

TRAU FC TRAU Football Club (known fully as Tiddim Road Athletic Union Football Club) is an Indian professional football club based in Imphal, Manipur. The club has, until relegation in 2024, competed in the I-League, the second tier of the Indian foot ...

in the final game. With 29 points from 15 games, they qualified for the

2022 AFC Cup The 2022 AFC Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). This season was the last in an all-year-round (spring-to-autumn) schedule; ...

group stage. In April 2021, Gokulam Kerala emerged as the champions of the

2020–21 Kerala Premier League The 2020–21 Kerala Premier League season was the eighth season of the Kerala Premier League. The season featured 12 teams which was divided into 2 groups and were played on a home-and-away format. The season was originally scheduled to start ...

, defeating

KSEB Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is an Indian public sector undertaking under the Government of Kerala that generates, transmits and distributes electricity in the state. Established in 1957, the agency comes under the authority of the Po ...

FC 2–1 at the

Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium Thrissur Corporation Stadium is a association football, football stadium owned by Thrissur Municipal Corporation. Situated in Thrissur city, it is also known as Palace Stadium. It is one of the oldest stadiums in Kerala, India and has capacity ...

. They began their

2021–22 I-League The 2021–22 I-League (also known as Hero I-League for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of I-League, last as the top tier of Indian football league system, since its establishment in 2007. All the matches were hosted in a bio-secure bu ...

season on 26 December with 1–0 win against

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers Futebol Clube de Goa (simply known as Churchill Brothers) is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, alongside the Goa Professional League (reserves). Founded in 1 ...

. They later thrashed Real Kashmir by 5–1. After back to back wins in both the group and championship stages, the club clinched I-League title again in 2021–22 season, defeating Mohammedan Sporting 2–1 in the final game at the Salt Lake Stadium on 14 May, and became the first club in fifteen years to defend a national league title. At the

group-stage opener, the club achieved a historic 4–2 win against

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

side

ATK Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

. Later, they were defeated 1–0 by Maldivian side

Maziya S&RC Maziya Sports and Recreation Club is a Republic of the Maldives, Maldivian professional football (soccer), football club based in Malé. They compete in the Dhivehi Premier League, the country's top division. The club was formed in 1996 and was ...

, 1–2 by Bangladeshi side

Bashundhara Kings Bashundhara Kings () is a professional football club based in Bashundhara Residential Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club competes in the Bangladesh Premier League, the top tier of the Bangladesh football league system. The club was established i ...

respectively, and knocked out of the tournament. On 5 July, the club officially announced that they roped in former Cameroonian international Richard Towa as new head coach. Due to not maintaining good form in league marches, the club parted ways with Towa and roped in Spanish manager Francesc Bonet in place of him. In April 2023, the club took part in 3rd edition of Indian Super Cup. Gokulam Kerala secured third place in

2023–24 I-League The 2023–24 I-League was the 17th season of the I-League and the second season as the second tier of Indian football league system. Mohammedan won the I-League for the first time and were promoted to the Indian Super League, while TRAU and ...

season, finishing their campaign with 42 points in 24 matches. In that season, club's Spanish striker Álex Sánchez emerged as the top goalscorer with 19 goals. On 18 April, the club roped in Antonio Rueda Fernández as new head coach. In November 2024, the club took part in the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

edition of

Sikkim Gold Cup The Sikkim Gold Cup, also known as the All India Governor's Gold Cup, is an Indian football tournament held in Sikkim and organized by the Sikkim Football Association (SFA). Some of the past champions include New Road Team of Nepal Nepa ...

, in which they defeated Bhutanese side

Transport United Transport United Football Club is a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu that competes in the Bhutan Premier League, the top level of Bhutanese football. The club was founded in 2001 and plays at the Changlimithang Stadium. Tran ...

by 2–1 in the quarter-finals.The club was featured in the 40th edition of the

. In the 2024–25 season, Gokulam Kerala falter at final hurdle against

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941, along with his younger brother Vaikuntrao Dempo. Vasantrao was the founding c ...

(a 3–4 defeat) to win the I-League title on the final day, thus failed to secure promotion to the

Stadiums

EMS Stadium, located in the heart of Calicut, is used as home ground of Gokulam Kerala. West stand is the largest block that can accommodate most spectators, while the capacity of the stadium is limited to 50,000. The club also used Kottappadi Stadium in

for training purposes. Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium previously served as club's home venue for matches of Kerala Premier League. In May 2023,

Kozhikode Municipal Corporation Kozhikode Corporation is the municipal corporation that administers the city of Kozhikode, Kerala. Established in 1962, it is in the Kozhikode parliamentary constituency. The first mayor was H. Manjunatha Rao. Its four assembly constituencies ...

decided not to renew the contract for matches at the EMS Stadium.

Supporters

Kerala is a state known for its passionate football fans. Football in Northern Kerala (known as Malabar Coastal Region) has arguably one of the most passionate fanbase in the state. "GKFC Battalia" is one of the largest supporters' group of Gokulam Kerala FC. Another noted supporters' group of the club named "GKFC Ultras" is also in existence.

Rivalry

Rivalry with Kolkata clubs

Gokulam Kerala is known for pathbreaking the

clubs,

and

Mohammedan ''Mohammedan'' (also spelled ''Muhammadan'', ''Mahommedan'', ''Mahomedan'' or ''Mahometan'') is a term for a follower of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. It is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhamm ...

in some major matches in I-League and Durand Cup. Gokulam Kerala won the

2019 Durand Cup The 2019 Durand Cup was the 129th edition of the Durand Cup, oldest football tournament in Asia, since the tournament's founding in 1888. 16 teams competed in the tournament. The matches were played across three locations in West Bengal, name ...

by defeating East Bengal in the semi-final and Mohun Bagan in the final. They also defeated Mohammedan in the deciding last match of

to clinch their consecutive league title. Both the states, Kerala and

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, are two dominant powerhouses of Indian Football.

Rivalry with Kerala United

Gokulam Kerala enjoys an on-field rivalry with another Kozhikode based side Kerala United (previously ''Quartz Calicut''). The first match between the two teams took place in the group stage of

2017–18 Kerala Premier League The 2017–18 Kerala Premier League Season was the fifth season of the Kerala Premier League. The season featured 10 teams which was divided into 2 groups with each having 5 and is played on a home-and-away format. The season kicked off on 7 Apr ...

, where Quartz Calicut were winners. After the purchase of Kerala united FC by the owners of

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

, the first match took place in

semifinal. The match ended goalless and Gokulam won 4–2 on penalties.

Results

Rivalry with Kerala Blasters

For the first time in history, Gokulam Kerala faced

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in India. The club was esta ...

in the "Kerala Derby" at group stage of the 132nd edition of

on 13 August 2023, in which they defeated the ISL side by 4–3.

Crest, colours & kits

Crest

The club crest incorporates elements from historical

Theyyam Theyyam is a Hindu religious ritual practised in the North Malabar Region of Kerala and some parts of Karnataka. Theyyam is a ritual performance involving extended chanting of mantras and ceremonial preparations that typically span 8 to 10 hou ...

, a famous ritual art form that originated in northern Kerala. It encompasses dance, mime and music. The crest was unveiled in January 2017, by chief minister

Pinarayi Vijayan Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of chief ministers of Kerala, Chief Minister of Kerala since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), politburo ...

and football legend

I. M. Vijayan Inivalappil Mani Vijayan (born 25 April 1969), also known by the nickname Kalo Harin (Blackbuck), is a former professional football player who also captained the India national football team. He played as a striker, where he formed a successfu ...

Colours

During the early days they used yellow and red coloured home kit. From 2018–19 season onwards, traditional brown is used as primary colour for home kit, while green is used as away kit.

Kit evolution

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Other players under contract

Gokulam Kerala FC Reserves

Technical staff

Current technical staff

Notable players

The following Gokulam Kerala players have been capped at '' full international level''. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.

Managerial history

Fernando Santiago Varela at Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Oman

Coach Annese in Press Confrence after game versus PSMS Medan

Head coach's record

Statistics and records

Season statistics

Most appearances

Club captains

Top scorers

Wins against foreign teams

Honours

Domestic

League *

**Champions (2):

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 **Third place (2):

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 *

**Champions (2): 2017–18,

**Runners-up (3): 2018–19, 2019–20,

* Kerala State Club Championship **Runners-up (1): 2016–17 Cup *

**Champions (1):

* Bodousa Cup **Champions (1): 2019 *

All India Independence Day Cup The All India Independence Day Cup, commonly known as the Independence Day Cup, is an Indian association football, football tournament held in Nagaon, Assam and organised by Nowgong Sports Association. Teams from across the country compete in t ...

**Champions (1): 2019 *Ladakh Climate Cup **Champions (1): 2024 *AWES Cup **Runners-up (1): 2017 *Thiruvananthapuram Mayor's Cup **Runners-up (1): 2019

Invitational

Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup (), also known as Sheikh Kamal Gold Cup, is a biennial international club association football, football tournament held in Bangladesh. The inaugural edition took place in 2015. It is hosted by the Chittagong Ab ...

**third-place (1):

Performance in AFC competitions

: 1 appearance ::

: Group Stage

Affiliated clubs

The following clubs are affiliated with Gokulam Kerala FC: * Viva Chennai FC (2018–present) * Aspire FC (2022–present)

Gokulam Kerala WFC

References

General sources Bibliography * * Further reading * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Gokulam Kerala FC
at

Eleven Sports Eleven Sports was a multinational sports and entertainment media group headquartered in the United Kingdom. Eleven Sports' business model initially centred around the acquisition of major international sports rights in smaller countries. The ...

Gokulam Kerala FC
at WorldFootball.net
Gokulam Kerala FC
at the-AIFF.com {{Kerala Sports I-League clubs Football clubs in Kerala Association football clubs established in 2017 2017 establishments in Kerala