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Punjab FC

2024–25 season
Director of Football	Nikolaos Topoliatis
Head coach	Panagiotis Dilmperis
Stadium	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Delhi
Top goalscorer	League: All: Luka Majcen 3goals
← 2023–242025–26 →
All statistics correct as of 2 July 2024.

The 2024–25 season is the fifth season in Punjab FC's existence, and club's second season in the Indian Super League.In addition to the league, they will also compete in the 2024 Durand Cup and Indian Super Cup.

Players

First-team squad

As of 9 January 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Ravi Kumar 4 DF  IND Nikhil Prabhu 6 MF  IND Ricky Shabong 7 FW  BIH Asmir Suljić 10 MF  ARG Ezequiel Vidal 12 DF  IND Khaiminthang Lhungdim 14 DF  IND Melroy Assisi 16 MF  IND Vinit Rai 17 MF  IND Manglenthang Kipgen 20 FW  IND Ranjeet Pandre 23 MF  IND Ashis Pradhan 24 MF  CRO Filip Mrzljak 25 MF  IND Shami Singamayum

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 DF  IND Rakesh Meitei (on loan from Kerala Blasters) 27 DF  IND Tekcham Abhishek Singh 28 DF  IND Denechandra Meitei 31 MF  IND Leon Augustine 33 DF  CRO Ivan Novoselec 32 DF  IND Pramveer Singh 44 FW  IND Ninthoinganba Meetei 45 DF  IND Nitesh Darjee 47 GK  IND Ayush Deshwal 74 DF  IND Suresh Meitei 77 FW  IND Nihal Sudeesh (on loan from Kerala Blasters) 78 GK  IND Muheet Shabir 99 FW  SVN Luka Majcen — MF  IND Princeton Rebello — FW  GRE Petros Giakoumakis

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Player	Previous club	Transfer fee	Ref
5 July 2024	MF	Vinit Rai	Mumbai City	Free Transfer
5 July 2024	GK	Muheet Shabir	Real Kashmir FC	Free Transfer
9 July 2024	FW	Ninthoinganba Meetei	Chennaiyin	Free Transfer
26 July 2024	MF	Filip Mrzljak	HNK Gorica	Free Transfer
29 July 2024	MF	Princeton Rebello	Odisha	Free Transfer
04 August 2024	DF	Ivan Novoselec	FC Istiklol	Free Transfer
04 August 2024	FW	Mushaga Bakenga	Apollon Limassol	Free Transfer
20 August 2024	FW	Ezequiel Vidal	Persita Tangerang	Free Transfer
31 August 2024	FW	Asmir Suljić	Velež Mostar	Free Transfer
9 January 2025	FW	Petros Giakoumakis	Makedonikos Neapolis	Free Transfer

Loans In

Start Date	End Date	Position	Player	From club	Transfer fee	Ref
13 July 2024	End of Season	FW	Nihal Sudeesh	Kerala Blasters	None
5 September 2024	End of Season	DF	Rakesh Meitei	Kerala Blasters	None

Loans out

Start Date	End Date	Position	Player	To club	Transfer fee	Ref
27 August 2024	End Of Season	DF	Tejas Krishna	Rajasthan United	None
4 January 2025	End Of Season	MF	Samuel Kynshi	Rajasthan United	None

Out

Date.	No.	Position	Player	Outgoing club	Transfer Fee	Ref
13 June 2024	8	MF	Madih Talal	East Bengal	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	9	FW	Wilmar Jordán	Chennaiyin	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	14	FW	Juan Mera	Churchill Brothers
13 June 2024	19	FW	Daniel Lalhlimpuia	Mumbai City	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	24	MF	Prasanth Mohan	Inter Kashi	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	39	DF	Mohammed Salah	Bengaluru	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	48	MF	Isaac Vanmalsawma	Hyderabad FC	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	77	FW	Bidyashagar Singh	Inter Kashi	Free Transfer
13 June 2024	80	MF	Amarjit Singh Kiyam	Mohammedan
13 June 2024	18	FW	Sweden Fernandes	Chennaiyin	Loan Return
13 June 2024	22	MF	Sahil Tavora	Hyderabad	Loan Return
13 June 2024	81	MF	Bryce Miranda	Kerala Blasters	Loan Return
13 June 2024	26	MF	Kingsley Fernandes	Churchill Brothers
1 August 2024	24	MF	Maheson Singh	Punjab FC 2
13 August 2024	5	DF	Dimitrios Chatziisaias	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Free Transfer
31 August 2024	7	FW	Krishananda Singh	SC Bengaluru	Free Transfer
19 December 2024	9	FW	Mushaga Bakenga	Retired

Personnel

Current technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Panagiotis Dilmperis
Assistant coach	Konstantinos Katsaras
Assistant coach	Sankarlal Chakraborty
Goalkeeping coach	Manish Timsina
Strength & conditioning coach	Papaioannou Ioannis
Team manager	Kamaldeep Singh
Technical director	Nikolaos Topoliatis
Technical director (Youth)	Giuseppe Cristaldi
Team doctor	Sidak Singh Dhillon
Chief analyst	Chaitanya Kulkarni
Head of Scouting	Luiz Greco
Chief Scout	Anush Aathithya

Summary

Punjab FC were placed in Group C of the Durand Cup. They qualified for the knockouts after 2 wins and a draw against Kerala Blasters. In the quarterfinals, Punjab faced Mohun Bagan. The match ended a 3-3 draw after regular time, and it went to a penalty shootout, in which Punjab lost and were eliminated. This marked the team's best performance in any national cup competition on the senior level.

Punjab played their first league match of the season away against Kerala Blasters on 15 September 2024, a 2-1 win. Leon Augustine won a penalty in the final minutes of regular time, that was converted by Luka Majcen who had been subbed in. After scoring, Majcen ran to the corner flag, uprooted it and placed his jersey over it, as a response to Kerala Blasters fans chanting against him. In the second minute of stoppage time, Blasters scored an equaliser, but Luka Majcen assisted Filip Mrzljak to score from a small angle in the fifth minute of injury time to win the game for Punjab. Later, Rahul KP's challenge for the ball left Majcen with a fractured jaw, ruling him out for the next 3 games. Punjab followed this away win with two back-to-back home wins against Odisha FC and Hyderabad FC. This made Panagiotis Dilmperis the first manager in the Indian Super League to win his first 3 ISL games. Pulga Vidal scored directly from a free kick against Hyderabad FC to give Punjab the lead.

On 18 October, Punjab faced Bengaluru in a top-of-table clash, narrowly losing 1-0 despite Bengaluru playing with 10 men for majority of the second half. After the first loss of the season, Punjab returned to winning ways on 31 October with a 3-2 Diwali night win over Chennaiyin FC. Chennaiyin's Wilmar Jordan Gil scored against his former club Punjab and did not celebrate. This match marked Majcen's return, who scored two goals in three minutes at the beginning of the second half.

From there, Punjab lost 2 games in a row in November, against FC Goa away and NorthEast United at home. On November 26, Punjab's away trip to Mumbai saw a 3-0 triumph over Mumbai City FC, the defending champions. Pulga Vidal scored right before the end of the first half. Filip Mrzljak won a penalty in the 52nd minute that was converted by Luka Majcen. Mushaga Bakenga scored his first and only ISL goal for the club.

In December, Punjab followed the Mumbai win with a 2-0 win over Mohammedan SC at home on 6 December, with goals from Majcen and Mrzljak. On 13 December, Punjab travelled to Jamshedpur and lost 2-1 at the Furnace. Pulga Vidal scored the solitary goal for Punjab, with Javier Siverio's brace winning the game for Jamshedpur. Filip Mrzljak picked up an injury at the beginning of the game. On 16 December, the trip to Kolkata ended in a horror show as Punjab went from leading 2-0 to losing 2-4 to East Bengal. Asmir Suljic and Pulga Vidal's strikes had given Punjab the two-goal lead in the first half. In the second half, Punjab conceded 4 goals within a space of 21 minutes. The equaliser for East Bengal was scored by Hijazi Maher. This also included two own goals by Suresh Meitei, one of which was awarded to East Bengal player Vishnu PV. In the 67th minute, David Lalhlansanga scored the 4th goal for East Bengal. Ivan Novoselec picked up an injury and had to be substituted out, before Khaiminthang Lhungdim was sent off due to a second yellow card. On 19 December, Mushaga Bakenga was released by the club by mutual agreement, and a day later he announced his retirement from football.

Due to Novoselec's injury and Lhungdim's suspension, the next game against Mohun Bagan at home saw Pramveer get his debut, becoming the youngest player to play in the ISL. Ricky Shabong opened the scoring in the 11th minute, a lead that Punjab maintained in the entire first half. In the second half, Alberto Rodriguez scored the equaliser for Mohun Bagan. Pulga Vidal got a yellow card for a challenge on Liston Colaco. He showed disagreement with the referee's decision by clapping sarcastically, for which the referee Rahul Kumar Gupta showed him another yellow card, sending him off the field. Soon after, Melroy Assisi's challenge on Anirudh Thapa was deemed to be enough for a penalty to be awarded to Bagan, which was scored by Jamie Maclaren. Alberto Rodriguez later scored his second goal of the game, Punjab losing 1-3.

For the home clash against Kerala Blasters on 5 January, only one out of the 6 foreigners was available (Asmir). Punjab lost the match 1-0 with Noah Sadaoui scoring a penalty kick for Kerala Blasters. On 9 January, Punjab announced the signing of Greek forward Petros Giakoumakis as a replacement for Mushaga Bakenga. On 10 January, Punjab played a 1-1 draw away against NorthEast United, with Lhungdim scoring a 82nd minute equaliser, before receiving 2 yellow cards in the last minutes and being sent off. Head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis was also sent off in the 86th minute, with both the assistant coaches receiving yellow cards as well. Dilmperis moved to the stands shouting at the referee in anger.

Competitions

Durand Cup

Group C

Matches

4 August 2024	Kerala Blasters	1-1	Punjab	Kolkata, West Bengal
16:00 IST	Aimen 56'	Report	Majcen 45+2'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 351 Referee: Senthil Nathan S Man of the Match: Freddy Lallawmawma (Kerala Blasters)

Knockout Stage

Indian Super League

League table

Matches

The league fixtures from September till December were announced by the FSDL and AIFF on 25 August 2024.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixtures

Statistics

Squad appearances and goals

All stats are correct as of match played on 10 January 2025

All competitions

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Super League		Durand Cup		Super Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	IND	Ravi Kumar	14	0	10	0	4	0	0	0
78	GK	IND	Muheet Shabir Khan	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
3	DF	CRO	Ivan Novoselec	15	1	12	1	3	0	0	0
4	DF	IND	Nikhil Prabhu	18	0	14	0	4	0	0	0
12	DF	IND	Khaiminthang Lhungdim	12	1	8	1	4	0	0	0
14	DF	IND	Melroy Assisi	8	0	5	0	3	0	0	0
27	DF	IND	Tekcham Abhishek Singh	16	0	13	0	3	0	0	0
28	DF	IND	Denechandra Meitei	3	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
35	DF	IND	Pramveer	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
45	DF	IND	Nitesh Darjee	5	0	3	0	2	0	0	0
74	DF	IND	Suresh Meitei	18	0	14	0	4	0	0	0
	DF	IND	Likmabam Rakesh Meitei	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
6	MF	IND	Ricky Shabong	14	1	14	1	0	0	0	0
11	MF	IND	Samuel Kynshi	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
16	MF	IND	Vinit Rai	13	1	9	0	4	1	0	0
17	MF	IND	Manglenthang Kipgen	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
23	MF	IND	Ashish Pradhan	6	0	2	0	4	0	0	0
24	MF	CRO	Filip Mrzljak	15	5	11	3	4	2	0	0
26	MF	IND	Kingsley Fernandes	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
31	MF	IND	Leon Augustine	16	1	13	1	3	0	0	0
44	MF	IND	Ninthoinganba Meetei	8	0	7	0	1	0	0	0
77	MF	IND	Nihal Sudeesh	18	1	14	1	4	0	0	0
25	MF	IND	Singamayum Shami	4	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
Forwards
7	FW	HUN	Asmir Suljić	14	3	14	3	0	0	0	0
9	FW	NOR	Mushaga Bakenga	13	3	10	1	3	2	0	0
10	FW	ARG	Ezequiel Pulga Vidal	14	5	13	4	1	1	0	0
20	FW	IND	Ranjeet Pandre	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
29	FW	IND	Muhammad Suhail F	4	0	3	0	1	0	0	0
99	FW	SVN	Luka Majcen	14	9	10	5	4	4	0	0

Goal scorers

As of match played 10 January 2025.

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League	Durand Cup	Super Cup	Total
1	99	FW		Luka Majcen	5	4	0	9
2	24	MF		Filip Mrzljak	3	2	0	5
	30	MF		Ezequiel Vidal	4	1	0	5
3	7	FW		Asmir Suljić	3	0	0	3
		MF		Mushaga Bakenga	1	2	0	3
4	3	DF		Ivan Novoselec	1	0	0	1
	6	MF		Ricky Shabong	1	0	0	1
	12	DF		Khaiminthang Lhungdim	1	0	0	1
	16	MF		Vinit Rai	0	1	0	1
	31	MF		Leon Augustine	1	0	0	1
	77	MF		Nihal Sudeesh	1	0	0	1

Assists

References

1. "Indian football Premier 1 club license list announced for 2024-25 season". Sportstar. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
2. Madhavan, Rahul. "Punjab FC announce the signings of Vinit Rai and Muheet Shabir ahead of 2024-25 season". Sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
3. Service, Tribune News. "Goalkeeper Muheet Shabir in Punjab FC". Tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
4. "Punjab FC secure services of midfielder Filip Mrzlijak".
5. "Punjab FC rope in Ivan Novoselec and Mushaga Bakenga". indiansuperleague.com. 4 August 2024.
6. "Punjab FC rope in Ezequiel Vidal". www.indiansuperleague.com. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
7. "ISL: Punjab FC signs Greek striker Petros Giakoumakis". 9 January 2025.
8. "Kerala Blasters FC Confirm Nihal Loan Move to Punjab FC". Kerala Blasters FC. 9 July 2024. Archived from the original on 9 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
9. "Loan update". Kerala Blasters FC. 3 September 2024. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
10. "I-League 2024-25: Full updated squad of Rajasthan United FC". Khel Now. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
11. "East Bengal bolster midfield with signing of Madih Talal". Khel Now. 27 June 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
12. "Luka Majcen, Madih Talal among 14 players to depart Punjab FC". www.indiansuperleague.com. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
13. "Punjab FC part way with Mushaga Bakenga by Mutual Consent". 19 December 2024.
14. "Panagiotis Dilmperis named Punjab FC head coach for upcoming season". www.indiansuperleague.com. 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
15. Sportstar, Team (25 August 2024). "Kerala Blasters ISL 2024-25 Schedule: KBFC to kick off Indian Super League season at away against Punjab FC". Sportstar. Archived from the original on 25 August 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
16. Sportstar, Team (25 August 2024). "ISL 2024-25 Schedule: Full list of Indian Super League matches from September to December". Sportstar. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.

• Punjab FC seasons
• 2024–25 Indian Super League season by team