Defending champions Pune FC will be led by senior academy cadet Henry Monsang in the U-19 I-League. The Manipuri-born defender is one of the four Peninsula Pune Football Club Academy (PPFCA) players from the first batch (2011-2013).  

Drawn in the Maharashtra Zone of the two-tier restructured League, double-champions Pune FC begin their campaign with an away game against Kenkre FC on Friday, January 17.

Four senior cadets – Avilash Paul, Henry Monsang, Subhasish Bose (all part of last year’s winning team in Jamshedpur) and Syed Shoaib Ahmed – apart from 20 Junior cadets make up the team who are out with an aim to complete a hat-trick of titles.

Pune FC Under-19 Coach, Naushad Moosa said; “The team has shaped up well in the past five months. The assignment is challenging and with high expectations. We are ready to deliver a positive result.”

This year Pune FC’s twenty-four member squad is a mix of the Under-19 and Under-17 Academy set up.

The 20 new faces include twelve Under-19 cadets and eight U-17s who were shortlisted for the two-year 2013-15 academy batch.

Three players from Pune – Chetan Choudhary, Vikas Zanje and Kevin John – are among the seven players from Maharashtra in the squad. The others include Sukhadev Patil, Rushabh Dhere (both Kolhapur), Syed Shoaib (Nagpur) and Altamash Sayed (Latur).

The youngest of the squad is defender Manoranjan Singh at 15 years 2 months.

The other teams making up the five-team Zone includes Mumbai FC, PIFA Colaba FC and AIFF Navi Mumbai Academy.

PUNE FC U-19 SQUAD

Goalkeepers
Avilash Paul, Tanmay Bhattacharjee, Sukhadev Patil

Defenders
Henry Monsang (Captain), Kaushal Singh, Rohit Kalsotra, Yumnam Arnold Singh, Manoranjan Singh, Mohammad Saukat, Chetan Choudhary

Midfielders
R. Manimaran, Rushabh Dhere, Subhasish Bose, Cheterpaul Lyndoh. Sanchayan Samadder, Altamash Sayed, C. Kiran, Enestar Malngiang,  Soubhagyan Somarajan, Rupak Dey, Sebastian Thangmuansang

Forwards
Vikas Zanje, Syed Shoaib Ahmed, Kevin John

Officials
Ranjan Chowdhury (Academy Head), Naushad Moosa (Coach), Lino Sequeira (Physio), Amit Dharap (Manager)