The Pune Football Club Academy was the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

of Pune Football Club. They played in the

I-League U19 The Youth League is a system of youth association football, 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) ...

, the highest level of youth football in India. The team closed operations in 2016 and were purchased by

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

FC Pune City Football Club Pune City was an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Pune, Maharashtra, which last participated in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football league system, under licence from All Ind ...

, and rebranded it as the

FC Pune City Academy FC Pune City (R) was FC Pune City's reserve team that participanted in the I-League 2nd Division. FC Pune City Academy was the youth setup of FC Pune City. They participated in Youth League U18 and U15, as well as Pune Football League. History ...

History

Pune had always operated a U19 and U17 youth team since their inception in 2007 but on 23 June 2011 it was announced that the club would open an Academy at the U20 level, thus becoming the first

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 ...

team to do so. The initial trials for the Academy were held in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and were attended by around 280 hopefuls. Out of the 280 players only 25 passed the trial while five extra players were called up from the then-Pune Under-19 squad, thus creating the first group of 30 players for the 2011–12 season. The clubs first tournament was the Peninsula Pune Cup which was held in September 2011 and was a pre-season tournament for Pune,

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

, and Deccan XI. The Academies first match since founding was during that tournament on 10 September against Air India. The match ended 2–1 in favor of Air India. The Pune Academy then played their first ever foreign tournament in January 2012 when they participated in the Aaha Rara Gold Cup. They however only made the semi-finals after losing to Samsung Jawalakhel 4–0. The Academy then participated for the first time in the 2012 I-League U20 which is the official youth tournament of the

. Their first match was against

HAL HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bengaluru, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...

on 20 April 2012; Pune won 5–1. The team then went on to win the I-League U20 after winning all 9 matches to go undefeated. In 2013, the Academy won the U20 league again. This time in the final round the Pune Academy grabbed 13 points from five matches to finish on top. On 26 August 2016, it was announced that

of the

had taken over the Pune FC Academy and will rebrand it under their name.

Head coaches

Gift Raikhan Gift Raikhan (born 25 May 1981) is an Indian football coach and a former player who played as a left-back. He also managed Manipur football team in Santosh Trophy. Playing career During a playing career which spanned six seasons, Raikhan play ...

(2011–2013) *

Naushad Moosa Naushad Moosa (born 10 February 1971) is a former Indian footballer. He is an assistant manager, head coach of the reserve team, and head of youth development of Indian Super League club NorthEast United. During his playing days, Moosa played ...

(2013–2016)

Honours

* I-League U20 **Champions (2):

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 ...

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 ...

*Kedari Redekar Football Tournament **Runners-up (1): 2012

Notable graduates

This is a list of former academy graduates who have either played a match professional with

Pune F.C. Pune Football Club was an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Pune, Maharashtra. The club competed in I-League, then top flight of Indian football league system. The club was one of the List of football clubs in Ind ...

or any other club professionally. *

Amrinder Singh Amrinder Ranjit Singh (; born 27 May 1993) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Indian Super League club Odisha and the India national team. Early life and youth career Amrinder was born on 27 May 1993 in Mahil ...

* Denechandra Meitei * Dhanpal Ganesh * Fanai Lalrempuia * Nikhil Kadam * Salam Ranjan Singh *

Thongkhosiem Haokip Thongkosiem Haokip (born 13 March 1993), commonly known as Semboi, is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward. Career Early career Born in the village of Gangpijang in Manipur, Haokip began playing football for his state side ...

* Syed Shoaib Ahmed

References

{{coord missing, Maharashtra

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Football academies in India 2011 establishments in Maharashtra 2015 disestablishments in India