Mahindra United Football Club also known as MUFC was a football club based in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The home ground for the club was located at Cooperage Ground in Mumbai. Mahindra United played competitive football and was instrumental in making the game of football popular in India. The club participated in the 1st Division of the I-League, the AFC-affiliated top-tier football league in India and many other top ranked leagues in India. The club no longer exists presently as it closed down at the end of 2009-10 seasons.
The Mahindra United Football Club was traditionally referred as India`s Manchester United. The club was one of the admired football clubs in India and was popular for its steady performances in the last four decades of its survival. The club had won various important tournaments in India.
History of Mahindra United Football Club
Mahindra United Football Club was set up in the year 1962 as the Mahindra & Mahindra Allied Sports Club under complete support of the Mahindra Group. It was successful in securing admission into Mumbai`s Harwood League in 1964. During the summers of 2000, the Mahindra United Football Club was renamed as Mahindra United. The colour of the shirt was also changed from orange to red.
The Mahindra United Football Club played its NFL home matches at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai
The team played its NFL home matches at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai, but due to the bad state of the stadium, as of February 7, 2006, they had to play almost all of their NFL games away from Mumbai.
The club finished the inaugural season of the NFL Premier Division at the bottom of the table, but were not relegated as there was no second tier in the league at the time.
For the first time in the club`s history Mahindra were champions of the NFL Premier Division in the 2005-06 seasons with two games to spare. The team followed it up with beating their arch-rivals, Air India for the first time in the season. The club also won are the Federation Cup twice, in 2003 and 2005. With this win the team became the first in the history to win the Federation Cup and National Football League double in the same season.
Honours and Achievements for Mahindra United
* Indian League: 1
2006
* Durand Cup: 3
1998, 2001/02, 2008
* Federation Cup (India): 2
2003, 2005
* IFA Shield: 2
2006, 2008
* 2007 AFC Cup Quarter-Finals
* 2006 AFC Cup
* 2004 AFC CUP (Asian Football Confederation) 2004 3rd Place in Group B
* 2003 President of Maldives Invitational Soccer Cup
* 2003 Super Cup
* 1971, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1995:12x Mumbai Elite Division 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
* 2000, 2001/02: 3x Nadkarni Cup
* 2000, 2001, 2002
* 1980 Bandodkar Gold Cup
* 1993 Rovers Cup
* 1998 Chief Ministers Cup
* 1999 Mammen Mappillai Cup
Performance in AFC competitions
* AFC Cup: 3 appearances
2004: Group Stage
2006: Group Stage
2007: Quarter-Finals