History of Kerala Blasters FC
[2] On 13 April 2014, it was announced the rights to the Kochi franchise had been won by former India national cricket team captain Sachin Tendulkar and entrepreneur Prasad V Potluri.
[5] Preparations for the first season started on 22 July when the Kerala Blasters took part in the first domestic draft to select fourteen Indian players.
On 13 August 2014, former England international goalkeeper David James was chosen as the first head coach and marquee player of the team.
[10] Michael Chopra, Iain Hume, Pulga, Erwin Spitzner, Pedro Gusmão, Cedric Hengbart and Raphaël Romey were the seven foreign players drafted to Kerala Blasters.
[11] Along with them, the club directly signed Penn Orji, Jamie McAllister, Andrew Barisic, Stephen Pearson and Colin Falvey in the remaining foreign players slots.
[14] The Blasters first win came in their fourth game, which was played against Pune City; Chinadorai Sabeeth and Penn Orji scored the club's goals, leading to a 2–1 victory.
Despite not being considered the favourite to win the two-legged tie, they won the first leg at home 3–0 with goals from Ishfaq Ahmed, Iain Hume, and Sushanth Mathew.
In extra time, however, Stephen Pearson scored the decisive goal in the 117th minute to win the tie 4–3 to enter the final.
Hume should have given Blasters the lead after 55 minutes, but he took too long alone in front of the goalkeeper, allowing the defenders to eventually block his shot.
[23] The first match of the season was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium against NorthEast United where the Blasters won 3–1 with goals from Josu, Mohammed Rafi, and Sanchez Watt.
[28] In an effort to rebuild the team after failing to qualify for the semi-finals in the previous season, the Blasters announced the signing of former Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell as their head coach on 21 June 2016.
[30] Other signings for the season included Graham Stack, Kervens Belfort, Duckens Nazon, and Mohammed Rafique along with the return of former players Michael Chopra and Cédric Hengbart.
[34] Vineeth's only goal in the 66th minute helped Blasters to beat North East United 1–0 to seal the second place behind Mumbai City FC in the league table.
[51] Having failed to qualify for the previous season's semi-finals, the Blasters signed a three-year deal with manager David James.
[55] This was the season that witnessed the club's rising star Sahal Abdul Samad's emergence as Blasters' mainstay in midfield.
[61] The club released all of their foreign players and signed a new roster that included Cameroon-born Raphaël Messi Bouli and former Nigeria international Bartholomew Ogbeche as forwards.
[73] As a part of their new philosophy, the Blasters decided to rely more upon young Indian players and extended the contracts of Sahal and Rahul KP until 2025.
[100] The Blasters started their pre-season camp in July 2021,[101] and played the most number of friendlies across all ISL clubs prior to the season.
[104] On 19 November, the Blasters played their first match of the 2021–22 Indian Super League season against ATK Mohun Bagan, which they lost 4–2.
[107] Following their defeat over ATK Mohun Bagan in the opening match of the season, the Blasters went unbeaten for the next 10 games, until they were beaten by the southern rivals Bengaluru on 30 January.
[115] After an impressive season, in April 2022, Kerala Blasters renewed the contract of the head coach Ivan Vukomanović till 2025.
[117] Even though the Blasters' pre-season preparations in the UAE were interrupted by the FIFA ban on AIFF,[118] the club sent their reserve team for the 2022 Durand Cup,[119] in which they reached the quarter-finals but were knocked out by Mohammedan SC from the tournament.
[122] Even though the Blasters lost their next three games, they recovered from the bad run and went on an eight match unbeaten streak and five consecutive wins for the first time in their history in this season.
[134] Kerala Blasters also took part in the 2023 Indian Super Cup, which took place in Kozhikode after the end of the ISL season in April 2023.
The club parted ways with assistant coach Ishfaq Ahmed after four years,[139] and saw captain Jessel Carneiro move to Bengaluru FC.
[145] Ahead of the league matches, the Blasters made several new foreign signings, including Miloš Drinčić, Kwame Peprah, and Daisuke Sakai.
[146] Coach Ivan Vukomanović, who had been serving a ten-match ban due to a walk-out incident from the previous season’s playoffs, returned on 27 October for a 2–1 comeback win against Odisha FC.
[148] The team experienced an injury crisis, with midfielder Freddy Lallawmawma sidelined for a significant part of the season due to a bike accident.
[150] The Blasters faced further challenges as captain Luna was injured midway through the season but returned for the league playoffs in April 2024.
[152] After the winter break, the Blasters competed in the 2024 Indian Super Cup, starting with a 3–1 victory over Shillong Lajong FC on 10 January.
