Sreenidi Deccan FC

Sreenidi Deccan Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Hyderabad, Telangana. It was established on 1 January 2015 as a football academy in Hyderabad, and later was launched from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in 2021. The club is currently competing in the I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system.

On 5 June 2020, All India Football Federation (AIFF) issued an invitation to accept bids for new clubs to join the I-League and on 12 August, Sreenidi Deccan FC was granted playing rights directly in 2021–22 I-League.

Formation and journey
Sreenidi football academy was founded in January 2015 in Aziznagar. It received the first accreditation from the AIFF in June 2019 and in its initial years the club played in the football leagues for the age groups of U13, U15 & U18.

On 5 June 2020, the AIFF issued an invitation to accept bids for new clubs to join the league, and on 12 August Sreenidi Deccan were granted playing rights directly in 2021–22 I-League. Sreenidi Deccan Football Club was formally launched on 7 July 2021 in Visakhapatnam by state sports minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao. In 2021, they participated in the IFA Shield and reached the final, losing to Real Kashmir by 2–1 and finished as runners-up.

The club began its league campaign on 27 December against NEROCA with a 3–2 defeat. In the next game, they defeated TRAU by 3–1 with a brace from Colombian striker David Castañeda, and later lost 3–1 to Mohammedan. After finishing fourth in group stage with six wins in twelve matches, they moved to the championship stage. At the end, the club finished their maiden league campaign in third place with 32 points in 18 matches, and won the last match against Churchill Brothers on 14 May. Later in November, the club participated in Baji Rout Cup in Odisha and reached semi-finals.

In August 2022, Portuguese manager Carlos Vaz Pinto was appointed head coach. The club retained their key players including Colombian striker David Castañeda Muñoz. In 2022–23 I-League season, Sreenidi Deccan achieved second position. After winning qualifying matches, they entered into the 2023 Indian Super Cup, and began their journey with a 1–1 draw with Bengaluru. The club later thrashed Kerala Blasters by 2–0. In the last group stage match against RoundGlass Punjab, Sreenidi lost 1–0 and failed to progress to the semi-finals.

On 29 October 2023, Sreenidi Deccan entered into a strategic partnership with Portuguese giant S.L. Benfica; primary focuses brought on strength and conditioning, nutrition and psychology, alongside youth developments in coming years. On that day, the club began their 2023–24 league season with style, thrashing NEROCA 4–0. They ended their league campaign as runners-up, narrowly missing the opportunity to secure promotion to the Indian Super League.

Stadium
Sreenidi Deccan uses Deccan Arena as their home ground, which is located in Sreenidi Football Villa, Aziznagar, Hyderabad, and was inaugurated in November 2022.

The club when entered into I-League, proposed to use the DYSSR Stadium in Visakhapatnam for home matches, a multi-purpose stadium having capacity of 27,500. Due to COVID-19 pandemic in India, all league games were played in few centralized venues in West Bengal, and the club never used DYSSR Stadium.

Crest, colours & kits
The primary club colours are orange and green. The primary colours, along with the secondary white colour can be seen on the crest as well as the jerseys. Club's kits were launched by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust chairman K Ramamohana Rao.

Managers and statistics
''Only competitive matches are taken into account.

Notable players
The following foreign players of Sreenidi Deccan have been capped at senior/youth international level. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.


 * 🇬🇭 Mohamed Awal (2021–2023)
 * 🇦🇫 Faysal Shayesteh (2022–)
 * Stanislas Dua Ankira (2023)
 * 🇨🇮 Ibrahim Sissoko (2023–)

Affiliated clubs
The following club is affiliated with Sreenidi Deccan FC:
 * S.L. Benfica (2023–present)

Honours
League
 * I-League
 * Runners-up (2): 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Third place (1): 2021–22

Cup
 * IFA Shield
 * Runners-up (1): 2021

Sreenidi Deccan youth and academy
Sreenidi Deccan have their youth men's football section that participates in various nationwide tournaments. Club's leading football academy is based in Hyderabad. Their U17 team took part in the inaugural 2022–23 U-17 Youth Cup in January 2023. Reserve team of the club also took part in prestigious Stafford Challenge Cup in Bangalore. Club's U21 team participated in the "south zone" qualifiers of 2023 Reliance Foundation Development League. In December 2023, club's academy gained an 'elite category' accreditation by the All India Football Federation.

Club's academy and international football school are based in Deccan Arena in Hyderabad, and grassroots development programme is headed by Portuguese manager Fabio Ferreira.

Honours
 * TFA C-Division Championship
 * Champions (1): 2022
 * Apollo Tyres Hotfut Youth League (U-14)
 * Champions (1): 2022