Chennaiyin FC squad list for pre-season tour to Malaysia
The fifth season of Indian Super League (ISL) is scheduled to start on September 29, 2018. All teams are having a pre-season tour, to get ready for the upcoming ISL games. The defending ISL champion Chennaiyin FC will have a pre-season tour in Malaysia for four weeks and will play four matches and will return to Chennai on September 11.
The medical assessment is over for the players. All Indian players along with Head Coach John Gregory are leaving on Monday 13, August and all foreign players and foreign coaching staffs will be coming directly to Malaysia. The team will be using the training facility of Sime Darby Football club. Apart from the first team players, six CFC's B team players are also included in the pre-season tour.
Along with ISL title defence, Chennaiyin FC will also be participating in AFC Cup (Asian Football Confederation). The AFC Cup is an annual competition in which domestic clubs from Asia participate. The only team from India that has participated in AFC Cup is Bengaluru FC and they are also the runner-up of 2016, in which they lost to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1-0. Only two slots are available for India to participate in the competition. So this year Chennaiyin FC will be participating for the first time.
ISL will begin on September 29, 2018, and end around March 2019 (tentative) with 3 weeks break for international friendlies which will be played November 2018.
New Signings and Squad List for ISL 2018:
Head Coach: John Gregory
Goal Keeping Coach: Kevin Hitchcock
Goal Keepers: Karanjeet Singh, Sanjiban Ghosh, Nikhil Bernard
Defenders: Inigo Calderon, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Mailson Alves, Ngasepam Tondonba Singh(New Signing), Zohmingliana Ralte, Sereno
Midfielders: Dhanapal Ganesh, Anirudh Thapa, Raphael Augusto, Andrea Orlandi (New Signing), Thoi Singh, Gregory Nelson, Srinivasan Pandiyan (New Signing), Germanpreet Singh
Forwards: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Mohammed Rafi, Aman Chetri.