Full name | NorthEast United Football Club |
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Nickname(s) | The Highlanders |
Founded | 13 April 2014 |
Ground | Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati |
Capacity | 35,000 |
Owner | John Abraham |
Head coach | Nelo Vingada |
League | Indian Super League |
2016 | Regular season: 5th Finals: DNQ |
Website | Club home page |
NorthEast United Football Club (NEU) is an Indian professional football franchise based in Guwahati, Assam. It competes in the Indian Super League. The club claims to represent the 8 states of India known as North East India: Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Mizoram. The team is owned and operated by Bollywood actor John Abraham. The club is currently managed by Nelo Vingada.
In early 2014, it was announced that the All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India, and IMG-Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight of nine selected cities for the upcoming Indian Super League, an eight-team franchise league modeled along the lines of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament. On 13 April 2014, it was announced that Bollywood actor John Abraham and Shillong Lajong Football Club had won the bidding for the franchise.
On 16 July 2014, the club signed Joan Capdevila, a European Championship and World Cup winning defender with Spain, as its marquee player. He said: "India is a huge country and it should be a privilege for me to be a small part in popularising this global game here and working with the young talented footballers of North East India".