Tamil Nadu football team

The Tamil Nadu football team, also earlier the Madras football team, is an Indian football team representing Tamil Nadu in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy.^[1] They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals twice, in 1972–73 and 2012, and have never won. Tamil Nadu team reached semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy in 2009,^[2][3] where they lost to Goa. Prior to 1972, the team competed as Madras.

Tamil Nadu

Full name	Tamil Nadu football team
Founded	1941; 84 years ago (1941) (as Madras football team)
Ground	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai)
Capacity	40,000
Owner	Tamil Nadu Football Association
Head coach	Nallappan Mohanraj
League	Santosh Trophy
2024–25	Final round
Home colours Away colours

Squad

The team selected for 2024 Santosh Trophy;

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Muthu Raja T 27 GK  IND Francis Vincent 31 GK  IND Murugan 3 DF  IND Henry Joseph 13 DF  IND Ajith Kumar(C) 6 DF  IND K Dhanushraj 4 DF  IND Rakshith D 23 DF  IND Deepak Bakthan 8 MF  IND Pandiyan Sinivasan 22 MF  IND Sriram Boopathi 24 MF  IND V John Alex 15 MF  IND Aravindhan 10 MF  IND Vikram Venkatachalam

No. Pos. Nation Player 9 FW  IND Saravanan Kumar G 17 FW  IND A Regan 19 FW  IND A Dhivakar 34 FW  IND Lijo K 12 FW  IND Nandha Kumar 14 FW  IND Alexander Romario Jesuraj 7 FW  IND Sharon 18 FW  IND Rojar J Venjilas

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Orlando Rayan[4]
Head coach	Nallappan Mohanraj, S. Grand Durai Pandian
Assistant coach	Sathish

Player history

Some of the former Tamil Nadu state football players are S. Grand Durai Pandian (Chennai Customs)(Striker), Samson Gunapandian, Simon Sundararaj,^[5] J. Krishnaswamy, Raman Vijayan, Syed Sabir Pasha, Kalia Kulothungan,^[6] Robin Charles Raja, V. Soundararajan, P.M. Radhakrishnan, P. Nageshwara Rao,^[7] M. Thangaraj,^[8] Gandhi (RBI), Edwin Ross (Winger), D'Cruz (ICF), Orlando Rayen, A.U. Celestine (Goal Keeper), P.V. Sriramulu, A. Satyanarayanan, Guna Singh, Koshy, Kumar, Thomas, Arumaiyanayagam, Thanikachalam, Chandran Jeypal, Dhanapathy, Gurunathan, Viswanathan, and Rajamanickam (Goal Keeper).^[9]

Simon Sundararaj from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu scored the last Indian goal at the Olympics, in Rome in 1960.^[10]

Most of these former players were employees of State or Central government institutions. All India Football Federation and Tamil Nadu Football Association were coordinating these players participation at the National level. In the past, to attend preparatory camps to get selected for the India national football team, it was difficult for these players to obtain leave from the institutions in which they were employed.^[11] Some Tamil Nadu football players use their football talent and achievements to get jobs in Government institutions like Southern Railways, Indian Bank, and Chennai Customs.^[12]

The following is a complete list of Tamil Nadu footballers.

• Dhanpal Ganesh
• Dharmaraj Ravanan^[13]
• Nallappan Mohanraj
• Kali Alaudeen
• C. S. Sabeeth
• Pradeep Mohanraj
• Michael Soosairaj
• Edwin Sydney Vanspaul
• Nanda Kumar
• Raegan Albarnas
• P. Sudhakar^[14]
• Michael Regin
• Sinivasan Pandiyan
• Alexander Romario Jesuraj
• C.Swaminathan

Honours

State (senior)

• Santosh Trophy^[15]
  • Runners-up (2): 1972–73, 2011–12

• National Games
  • Silver medal (1): 2007
  • Bronze medal (1): 2002

State (youth)

• Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy
  • Winners (1): 1985–86
  • Runners-up (1): 1999–2000

• M. Dutta Ray Trophy
  • Runners-up (2): 2004, 2007