SBI Kerala Football Team (known as SBT Thiruvananthapuram FC until 2017) was a 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

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

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 ...

that represented and was owned by the

State Bank of Travancore State Bank of Travancore (SBT) was a major Indian bank headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and was a major associate of State Bank of India. SBT was a subsidiary of the State Bank of India, State Bank Group, but also had private sh ...

(SBT). It last competed 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 ...

. The club until its seizure was most successful in the Kerala Premier League history, winning the title record six times and finishing as runners-up on 5 occasions. The club has also won the National Football League Second Division twice, and became the first club from the city of

to play in the top division of

Indian football Association football is one of the most popular sports in India. The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the first FIFA event the country hosted. It was called the most successful FIFA U-17 World Cup ever, with a record-breaking attendance of 1,347,133 ...

History

During the mid-1980s, already established as a premier bank in the state of Kerala and the considering the popularity and passion towards the game of football at the region,

decided to launch a team of its own and register it with

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 ...

in November 1986. The debut of the team was in 1987 in the Trivandrum District 'E' Division League, the 5th division league of the region. The team steadily progressed further and went on to reach the 'B' Division to win the trophy in 1992, thus entering the 'A' Division League, the Tier-1 league of the region in 1993–94.

Growth

At that point, the bank stepped in again by recruiting sportsmen under a special sports quota, pioneering a new trend among the government-controlled

Public Sector Undertakings Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) in India are government-owned entities in which at least 51% of stake is under the ownership of the Government of India or state governments. These types of firms can also be a joint venture of multiple PSUs. ...

. This received a further impetus when N. M. Najeeb, a prominent national player at that time, agreed to coach the team. The club then evolved from a group of amateur players and went on to win various trophies. It also qualified and participated in many national level tournaments like

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 ...

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is a football competition organized by the Indian Football Association, the football governing body in the Indian state of West Bengal. The IFA came into existence in 1893, and was named after the association. The IFA Shield to ...

, Rover's Cup, Scissors Cup, Kalinga Cup and the Federation Cup.

Entry to National Football League

Being the state champions in the 1996, SBT was eligible to play in the newly formed

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 ...

introduced 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 ...

that year, but the emergence of the first professional football club from the state FC Cochin denied its opportunity. However, SBT was given an entry to the 2nd Division NFL, introduced in 1997–98 as a qualifying round for the top division. The team, though a hot favorite with the likes of National players Jiju Jacob, V. P. Shaji, Feroz Sheriff, A. Sunil Kumar and K. V. Dhanesh, could not qualify as it ended runner-up with a draw against Sesa Sports Club in the final game of the season. The next season (1998–99) was the highpoint in SBT's history as it emerged the champions in the 2nd Division NFL, being the only institutional team till date to win the same. It also got promoted to the National Football League, but the glory did not last long as the team performed poorly and again got relegated to the second division. It once again qualified for the

in 2004–05 but after that, there were hardly any notable achievement for the club at the national level.

Last developments

Pursuant to the directions of AIFF, SBT formed a junior team. It entered the 'E' Division of Trivandrum District League in 2007 and in less than a decade, it has reached the Super Division, giving SBT the distinction of fielding two teams, first in the history of Trivandrum League. The future of the club was in threat after the merger between the

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Public sector undertakings in India, public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest bank in India with a 23% market shar ...

with

in April 2017, but the new management decided to continue with the football team and the club took part in

2016–17 Kerala Premier League The 2016–17 Kerala Premier League Season was the fourth season of 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 Ker ...

with a new name SBI Kerala.

Honours

* National Football League II **Champions (2): 1998–99, 2004 *

/Kerala Football League **Champions (6): 2000–01, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007-2008, 2014–15, 2015–16 **Runners-up (5): 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2004—05, 2005–06 2013–14 *Kerala State Club Football Championship **Champions (6): 1996, 2002, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2017 **Runners-up (3): 1997, 2006, 2011 *G.V. Raja Football Tournament **Runner-up (1): 2010 * Mammen Mappillai Trophy – 1996 * Arlem Cup * Kerala Kaumudi Trophy * JC Jacob Trophy * T'puram Mayor's Cup: 2019

References