Real Kashmir Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Incorporated in 2016, the club predominantly competes in I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. Real Kashmir with its reserves side also participates in Jammu & Kashmir Premier Football League regionally.
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| Full name | Real Kashmir Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Sheeni Seh (Snow leopards) | ||
| Short name | RKFC | ||
| Founded | 2016[1] | ||
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| Head coach | Ishfaq Ahmed | ||
| League | I-League J&K Premier Football League |
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| 2023–24 | I-League, 5th of 13 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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Current season| Departments of Real Kashmir FC | |||
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| Football (Men’s) | Futsal (Men’s)[2] | Football (Women’s) | Football (Reserves & Youths) |
Nicknamed “Sheeni Seh” (transl. Snow Leopards), Real Kashmir is the first ever club from Jammu and Kashmir to earn promotion to compete in any top flight football league of the country. They also lifted prestigious IFA Shield title in 2022. Club’s futsal section has been competing in the state league, as well as AIFF Futsal Club Championship, the highest division of futsal club competition in the country.
History
Foundation and early history
The seeds of Real Kashmir FC were sown in 2014 after devastating floods swept through the region causing massive loss of life and property. To keep the youth, who had lost much during the floods—engaged, Shamim Mehraj, editor of a local newspaper named “Kashmir Monitor”, and Sandeep Chattoo, a local businessman, came together to arrange footballers.
What began as a community outreach programme garnered massive support from the local populace and it soon started evolving into something more. Real Kashmir FC as a club, formalised in 2016, and affiliated with Jammu & Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) under the tireless efforts by Chattoo. Founded in 2016, Real Kashmir FC emerged as the first ever top flight professional football club in Jammu and Kashmir.
Club Name and Crest
Club founder Sandeep Chattoo named the club after the his favourite football club Real Madrid from Spain. Real in Spanish translates to Royal, which is not literally intended in naming Real Kashmir. The club crest is of a Snow Leopard, which signifies the culture, landscape and climatic conditions of the territory.
Later years
Shortly after its formation, the club participated in their first national competition in September 2016 when they competed in the 2016 Durand Cup. In January 2017, Real Kashmir roped in David Robertson as their new head coach, and in July, it became the first club from Jammu & Kashmir to play on foreign soil by playing 4 matches in Scotland. They appeared in their first major tournament by competing in the 2016–17 I-League 2nd Division, but failed to reach to the final round. They have been participating in all four categories of the AIFF.
In May 2018, Real Kashmir FC earned promotion to the 2018–19 I-League by winning the 2017–18 I-League 2nd Division after defeating Hindustan in the final game of the season by a score of 3–2. On 30 May 2018, Real Kashmir became champions of the I-League 2nd Division. This was only their second season at this level, after the club’s inception in 2016, earning promotion to the I-League for the first time ahead of the 2018–19 season. In October 2018, they clinched Jammu & Kashmir Invitational Cup, jointly with Minerva Punjab. In 11 December 2018, they witnessed one of the league’s biggest wins, after they thrashed Shillong Lajong by 6–1. Real Kashmir achieved third place in their debut season.
In August 2018, the Real Kashmir FC youth team travelled to Germany for pre-season training with one of the best football clubs in the world: Borussia Dortmund (BVB). The youth team visited the training centers where official BVB teams train. They also visited the famous BVB stadium Westfalenstadion. They participated in 2019 Durand Cup and reached the semi-finals, but lost 3–1 to Mohun Bagan. On 19 December 2020, the Snow Leopards, as they are fondly called, added another golden chapter in their short yet eventful history by winning the 123rd edition of the IFA Shield tournament, defeating George Telegraph at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. It is the first major domestic triumph since their inception in 2016.
For I-League 2021, they borrowed three players (Danish Farooq Bhat, Adnan Ayoub, Farhan Ganie) from J&K Bank Football Club. In the 2020–21 I-League, the club finished their campaign in fifth place (Play-off), accumulating 21 points with 5 wins in 15 matches. As the defending champions of IFA Shield, Real Kashmir began its 2021 edition campaign on 24 November with a 3–0 win over Indian Arrows. They retained their title with a 2–1 win against Sreenidi Deccan on 15 December. The club failed to make an impact in the 2021–22 I-League season and finished on twelfth place. In midway of the 2022–23 season, the club roped in English manager Gifton Noel-Williams as new head coach, who succeeded Mehrajuddin Wadoo in February 2023.
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2016–2018 | None | The Kashmir Monitor |
| 2018–2021 | Adidas | Hotel Ch2 |
| 2021–2022 | SIX5SIX | |
| 2022–2023 | Nivia | |
| 2023–2024 | Vector X | Football for Peace |
| 2024–present | BK Sports | Casyno Days |
Stadium
The club is currently using 11,000 seater TRC Polo Synthetic Turf Ground in Srinagar, as their home ground until the renovation of Bakshi Stadium. Since 2015, the ground is being used in I-League 2nd Division as the home ground for their rival Lonestar Kashmir, and I-League for Real Kashmir. The ground is operated by the Jammu & Kashmir Football Association and renovated in 2015. It has artificial turf.
Rivalry
Real Kashmir has a rivalry with their fellow Jammu & Kashmir-based club Lonestar Kashmir FC, that participated in the I-League 2nd Division. The team has also participated in the inaugural 2020–21 Real Kashmir Cup, which was hosted at the TRC Turf Ground.
Players
First-team squad
- As of 31 January 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Current technical staff
| Position | Name |
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| Head coach |  Ishfaq Ahmed |
| Goalkeeping coach | Mohammed Yusuf Ansari |
| Physio | Aamir Shafi Sheikh |
Records and statistics
Overall records
- As of 6 April 2023
| Season | Division | Teams | Position | Avg. attendance | Super Cup | Durand Cup | AFC Champions League | AFC Cup |
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| 2016–17 | I-League 2nd Division | 12 | Grp A-3rd | 600 | Did not exist | Group stage | Did not qualify▼ | Did not qualify▼ |
| 2017–18 | 18 | 1st | 2,108 | Did not participate | Did not participate▼ | |||
| 2018–19 | I-League | 11 | 3rd | 9,246 | RO16 | |||
| 2019–20 | 11 | 4th | 9,034 | Did not participate▼ | Semi-finals | |||
| 2020–21 | 11 | 5th | 🔒 Closed Doors▼ | Did not participate▼ | ||||
| 2021–22 | 13 | 12th | ||||||
| 2022–23 | 12 | 5th | 2,859 | Qualifiers |
Season by season
- As of 6 April 2023
| ⭐ | Top scorer in division |
| 🇮🇳 | Top Indian scorer in division |
| Season | League | Finals | Top scorer(s) | |||||||||
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| Division | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Pos | Player(s) | Goals | ||
| 2016–17 | I-League 2nd Division | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Grp A-3rd | — |  Lago Dogbo |
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| 2017–18 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 23 | 14 | 29 | Champions | — | Bernard Kouassi
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| 2018–19 | I-League | 20 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 25 | 14 | 37 | 3rd | — |  Mason Robertson
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| 2019–20 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 14 | 22 | 4th | — | Mason Robertson |
6 | |
| 2020–21 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 23 | 18 | 21 | 5th | — | Mason Robertson
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6 | |
| 2021–22 | 17 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 23 | 31 | 14 | 12th | — | Mason Robertson |
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| 2022–23 | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 27 | 25 | 34 | 5th | — | Samuel Kynshi |
6 🇮🇳 | |
| 2023–24 | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 36 | 19 | 40 | 5th | — | Gnohere Krizo |
12 | |
Managerial record
- As of 28 October 2023
| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win% | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Robertson | Scotland |
2016 | 2022 | 70 | 34 | 20 | 16 | 96 | 64 | 48.57 | |
| Mehrajuddin Wadoo | India |
2022 | 2023 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 28.57 | |
| Gifton Noel-Williams |  England |
2023 | 2023 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 62.50 | |
| Ishfaq Ahmed | India |
2023 | till date | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.00 |
Notable players
Past and present internationals
The following Real Kashmir players have been capped at international level for their respective countries. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.
Taha Dyab (2018)
Aaron Katebe (2018–2020)
Kashif Siddiqi (2019)
Tenzin Samdup (2019–2020)
Zohib Islam Amiri (2021)- Masih Saighani (2021)
Nozim Babadjanov (2022–2023)- Nuriddin Davronov (2023)
- Shaher Shaheen (2023–)
Henry Kisekka (2024–)
Other noted player(s)
- Mason Robertson (2018–2022) — IFA Shield top scorer, with Real Kashmir (Chuni Goswami Memorial Award for Man of the tournament) in 2020.
Other departments
Football (women’s)
In September 2020, Real Kashmir FC launched women’s development initiative named She Power Programme, in collaboration with Delhi Public School, for U-14 and U-10 girls teams. Senior team was announced in August 2021.
Futsal (men’s)
The futsal section of Real Kashmir has participated in the inaugural edition of Futsal Club Championship, in which they failed to reach the knock-out stages.
The team previously clinched the state Futsal Championship title for the 1st time in September 2021, defeating Downtown Heroes by 3–1, which was organized by Jammu & Kashmir Football Association.
Football (youth men’s)
Real Kashmir has been operating U13, U15 and U18 youth teams. Their U15 team took part in Hero U15 I-League. U18 team of the club competed in final round of the 2018–19 Indian Elite League. U17 team later went on to participate in 2022–23 U-17 Youth Cup. The U15 team participated in Nike Premier Cup.
Honours
League
- I-League
- Third place (1): 2018–19
- I-League 2nd Division
- Champions (1): 2017–18
Cup
- IFA Shield
- Winners (2): 2020, 2021
- J&K Invitational Cup
- Winners (1): 2018
Award
- IFA Shield Fair Play Award (Ronny Roy Memorial Trophy): 2020
Affiliated club(s)
The following club was affiliated with Real Kashmir FC:
- Oxford United FC (2020–2021)
In popular culture
Worldwide attention
Real Kashmir have received international acclaim following their participation in a BBC Scotland documentary named “Real Kashmir FC” that followed the team and their Scottish manager David Robertson, which won the best ‘Single Documentary’ category at the British Academy Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) or BAFTA Film Awards Scotland. It additionally won at the UK “Broadcast Awards” for best documentary, and the best documentary and best director for Greg Clark at the Rotterdam European Sports Awards. A follow-up documentary “Return to Real Kashmir FC” was then made and given a 4 star review in The Guardian. The documentaries were also broadcast on Fox Sports in the US.
Global partnerships
On 22 October 2018, Adidas India announced its official partnership with Real Kashmir Football Club, the first football team from the Kashmir valley to qualify for the country’s top tier I-League.
“Through sport, we have the power to change lives and the Real Kashmir team is a great example of this. Real Kashmir and its players have shown dedication and perseverance under difficult circumstances and we are proud to support them as they create history.”
— Dave Thomas, MD of Adidas India, expressed on a positive future with Real Kashmir FC.
Beginning with the 2018–19 I-league season, Adidas became the official kit partner for the club. Also, beyond kit sponsorship, Adidas India aims at redefining the ‘Real’ Kashmir through the lens of sports and becoming a proponent of changing lives in Kashmir through football. The club is also affiliated to the Football for Peace, a non-governmental organisation headquartered in London. Real Kashmir also took part in Football for Peace global conference at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, as an ambassador from India.