2017–18 NorthEast United FC season

Squad No.	Name	Nationality	Position(s)	Date of Birth (Age)
Goalkeepers
1	Ravi Kumar		GK	(1993-07-04) 4 July 1993 (age 31)
13	Rehenesh TP		GK	(1993-02-13) 13 February 1993 (age 31)
31	Gurpreet Singh Chabhal		GK	(1995-07-15) 15 July 1995 (age 28)
Defenders
3	Sambinha		CB / DM	(1992-09-23) 23 September 1992 (age 31)
4	Nirmal Chettri		RB / RWB / CB / DM	(1991-10-21) 21 October 1991 (age 32)
5	Jose Goncalves (C)		CB / LWB / LB	(1985-09-13) 13 September 1985 (age 38)
12	Reagan Singh		RB / RWB / CB	(1991-04-01) 1 April 1991 (age 33)
15	Abdul Hakku		CB / RB	(1994-06-10) 10 June 1994 (age 30)
16	Robert Lalthlamuana		LB / LM / RB	(1988-09-04) 4 September 1988 (age 35)
21	Martin Diaz		CB / LB / DM	(1988-03-17) 17 March 1988 (age 36)
33	Gursimrat Singh Gill		CB	(1997-02-11) 11 February 1997 (age 27)
Midfielders
6	Maic Sema		RM / LM / AM	(1988-12-02) 2 December 1988 (age 35)
10	Marcinho		AM / LW / RW	(1986-05-14) 14 May 1986 (age 38)
14	Rowllin Borges		DM	(1992-06-05) 5 June 1992 (age 32)
17	Sushil Meitei		LW / RW / AM	(1997-02-08) 8 February 1997 (age 27)
18	Malemngamba Meitei		RW / AM / LW	(1992-01-05) 5 January 1992 (age 32)
20	Lalrindika Ralte		LM / LW / CF	(1992-09-07) 7 September 1992 (age 31)
23	Helio Pinto		CM / DM / AM	(1984-02-29) 29 February 1984 (age 40)
45	Fanai Lalrempuia		CM	(1996-05-11) 11 May 1996 (age 28)
Strikers
9	Seiminlen Doungel		LW / CF / RW	(1994-01-03) 3 January 1994 (age 30)
11	Halicharan Narzary		LW / CF / RW	(1994-05-10) 10 May 1994 (age 30)
27	John Mosquera		CF	(1988-01-15) 15 January 1988 (age 36)
99	Danilo Lopes Cezario		CF	(1991-04-25) 25 April 1991 (age 33)

Players and squad numbers last updated on 6 March 2018.^[1]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Since	App	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee	Notes
1	GK		Ravi Kumar	31	2017	0	0	2018	Draft (₹1.5M)	Transfer fee paid to Minerva Punjab[2] Picked in draft.
13	GK		Rehenesh TP	31	2015	27	0	2019	Retained	Retained before draft.
31	GK		Gurpreet Singh Chabhal	28	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Draft	Picked in draft.
3	DF		Sambinha	31	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Loan
4	DF		Nirmal Chettri	33	2016	8	0	Undisclosed	Draft	Retained in draft.
12	DF		Reagan Singh	33	2016	4	0	2018	Draft	Retained in draft.
15	DF		Abdul Hakku	29	2017	0	0	2018	Draft	Picked in draft.
16	DF		Robert Lalthlamuana	35	2017	0	0	2018	Draft	Picked in draft.
5	DF		José Gonçalves	38	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Free
21	DF		Martín Díaz	36	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Free
33	DF		Gursimrat Singh Gill	27	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Draft	Picked in draft.
8	MF		Adilson	36	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Free
10	MF		Marcinho	38	2017	0	0	2018	Free
14	MF		Rowllin Borges	32	2016	13	0	2019	Retained	Retained before draft.
17	MF		Sushil Meitei	27	2017	0	0	2018	Draft	Picked in draft.
18	MF		Malemngamba Meitei	32	2017	0	0	2018	Draft	Picked in draft.
20	MF		Lalrindika Ralte	31	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Draft	Picked in draft.
45	MF		Fanai Lalrempuia	28	2016	2	0	Undisclosed	Draft	Retained in draft.
7	FW		Odaïr Fortes	37	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Free
9	FW		Seminlen Doungel	30	2017	10	1	2018	Draft	Picked in draft.
11	FW		Halicharan Narzary	30	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Draft	Retained in draft.
19	FW		Luis Páez	37	2017	0	0	Undisclosed	Free
99	FW		Danilo	33	2017	0	0	2018	Free
23	MF		Hélio Pinto	39	2018	0	0	Undisclosed	Free	Signed in Mid-season transfer window
6	MF		Maic Sema	35	2018	0	0	Undisclosed	Free	Signed in Mid-season transfer window
27	FW		John Mosquera	36	2018	0	0	Undisclosed	Free	Signed in Mid-season transfer window

2016 was another disappointing season for NorthEast United. NorthEast United started their campaign on a high note with two consecutive wins over Kerala Blasters and Goa.^[3] By mid-season NorthEast United lost all the momentum and had longest winless run of 5 matches (shared with Pune City and Chennaiyin) and longest losing run of 4 matches.^[4] By the end of season NorthEast United came very close to qualifying for knockout phase. In their final match of regular league phase NorthEast United needed a win against Kerala Blasters to proceed further, which they ended up losing 1–0 by conceding a goal at 66th minute.^[5] NorthEast United finished 5th on points table with 18 points from 14 matches.^[5] After the end of season, NorthEast United parted ways with coach Nelo Vingada on mutual consent.^[6]

At the end of 2016 Indian Super League season majority of domestic players from NorthEast United were loaned by or transferred to I-League clubs for 2016–17 season. After I-League season all loaned out players returned to club. However, due to the Indian Super League regulation each club was allowed to retain a maximum of two Indian players over the age of twenty-one (21) from previous squad.^[7]

NorthEast United announced on 17 July 2017 that João Carlos Pires de Deus will be taking over as head coach.^[8] Deus said:^[9]

I am a very positive man and I am very positive about the challenge that I have with NorthEast United FC. The club is new with a vibrant fan base and owners who have the right vision to develop football in the region. I can assure the fans that we will play positive football and that all the players and the staff will work hard.We will leave no stone unturned so that we can achieve our objectives. I believe that young players are important in any campaign and will ensure that they fit seamlessly into our setup. This year, we will be focused on playing good football and winning as many games as we can...taking it one game at a time.

On 8 July, NorthEast United announced they are retaining Rehenesh TP^[10] and Rowllin Borges^[11] for two years.^[12] Remaining players from previous squad who had returned from loans namely Nirmal Chettri, Reagan Singh, Fanai Lalrempuia, Subrata Pal, Seityasen Singh, Robin Gurung and Sumeet Passi went straight into players draft.

In ISL draft held on 23 July 2017, NorthEast United retained defenders Nirmal Chettri and Reagan Singh and midfielder Fanai Lalrempuia. NorthEast United added eight new players from draft, goalkeepers Ravi Kumar and Gurpreet Singh Chabhal, defenders Robert Lalthlamuana, Gursimrat Singh Gill and Abdul Hakku, midfielders Lalrindika Ralte, Malemngamba Meitei and Sushil Meitei. Forward Seminlen Doungel made his come back to NorthEast United for a second stint along with forward Halicharan Narzary.^[2]

In ISL draft, goalkeeper Subrata Pal, defender Robin Gurung and forward Sumeet Passi drafted to new expansion franchise Jamshedpur FC.^[13] Midfielder Seityasen Singh was picked by Delhi Dynamos.^[14]

On 13 September, NorthEast United announced their eight foreign singing namely defenders Martín Díaz, Sambinha and José Gonçalves, midfielders Adilson and Marcinho and forwards Luis Páez, Odaïr Fortes and Wellington da Silva on their official Twitter account from series of Tweets.^[15][16]

Wellington da Silva was later replaced by forward Danilo for unknown reasons.^{[citation needed]}

Loan Return					Draft / Retain
Date	Pos.	Name	From		Date	To	Draft Round	Ref.
30 June 2017	GK	Rehenesh TP	East Bengal		8 July 2017	Retained	Pre-draft	[12]
	MF	Rowllin Borges	East Bengal			Pre-draft	[12]
	GK	Subrata Pal	DSK Shivajians		23 July 2017	Jamshedpur FC	Round 2	[13]
	FW	Halicharan Narzary	DSK Shivajians			Retained	Round 3	[2]
	DF	Nirmal Chettri	DSK Shivajians			Retained	Round 4	[2]
	MF	Seityasen Singh	DSK Shivajians			Delhi Dynamos	Round 5	[14]
	DF	Robin Gurung	East Bengal			Jamshedpur FC	Round 5	[13]
	DF	Reagan Singh	Mumbai F.C.			Retained	Round 8	[2]
	FW	Sumeet Passi	DSK Shivajians			Jamshedpur FC	Round 12	[13]
	MF	Fanai Lalrempuia	Minerva Punjab			Retained	Round 13	[2]

No.	Pos.	Name	From	Date	Type	Ref.
13	GK	Rehenesh TP	East Bengal	8 July 2017	Retained[n1]	[12]
14	MF	Rowllin Borges	East Bengal			[12]
11	FW	Halicharan Narzary	DSK Shivajians	23 July 2017	Draft[n2]	[2]
4	DF	Nirmal Chettri	DSK Shivajians		Draft[n2]	[2]
20	MF	Lalrindika Ralte	East Bengal		Draft	[2]
16	DF	Robert Lalthlamuana	East Bengal		Draft	[2]
9	FW	Seminlen Doungel	Bengaluru		Draft	[2]
12	DF	Reagan Singh	Mumbai F.C.		Draft[n2]	[2]
1	GK	Ravi Kumar	Sporting Goa		Draft	[2]
33	DF	Gursimrat Singh Gill	Bengaluru		Draft	[2]
18	MF	Malemngamba Meitei	NEROCA		Draft	[2]
15	DF	Abdul Hakku	Fateh Hyderabad		Draft	[2]
45	MF	Fanai Lalrempuia	Minerva Punjab		Draft[n2]	[2]
31	GK	Gurpreet Singh Chabhal	Delhi United		Draft	[2]
17	MF	Sushil Meitei	Royal Wahingdoh		Draft	[2]
19	FW	Luis Páez	Rionegro Águilas	13 September 2017	Free	[17]
21	DF	Martín Díaz	Liverpool Montevideo		Free	[18]
3	DF	Sambinha	Sporting CP		Loan	[19]
10	MF	Marcinho	Free Agent		—	[20]
5	DF	José Gonçalves				[21]
7	FW	Odaïr Fortes				[22]
8	MF	Adilson				[23]
99	FW	Danilo
23	MF	Helio Pinto	Kongsvinger IL	1 January 2018	Free
6	MF	Maic Sema	Örebro SK	20 January 2018	Free
27	FW	John Mosquera	La Serena	25 January 2018	Free

n1. ^ Player was retained by club before draft.

n2. ^ Player was part of club's previous season squad but had to enter players draft due to the Indian Super League regulation.^[7]

NorthEast United began their pre-season training on 27 September.^[24] Squad gather in Imphal on 17 October for 10-day pre-season training camp where they played an exhibition match against NEROCA^[25] which ended as 2–0 in favor of NorthEast United.^[26]

After training in Imphal, club went to Antalya, Turkey for the final leg of the pre-season.^[27][28] In Turkey, NorthEast United played friendly matches against Iraqi top division sides Al-Kahraba FC,^[29] Al-Naft SC,^[30] Naft Al-Janoob SC,^[31][32] Al-Najaf FC^[33] and Turkish top division side Alanyaspor.^[34]

NEROCA v NorthEast United

22 October 2017 Friendly	NEROCA	0–2	NorthEast United	Imphal, Manipur
14:00 IST (UTC+5:30)		Report	Danilo 57' Sushil Meitei 89'	Stadium: Khuman Lampak Main Stadium

Al-Kahraba FC v NorthEast United

28 October 2017 Friendly	Al-Kahraba FC	1–0	NorthEast United	Antalya, Turkey
		Report

Al-Naft SC v NorthEast United

31 October 2017 Friendly	Al-Naft SC	1–1	NorthEast United	Antalya, Turkey
16:00 FET (UTC+03:00)		Report	Danilo

Naft Al-Janoob SC v NorthEast United

2 November 2017 Friendly	Naft Al-Janoob SC	1–2	NorthEast United	Antalya, Turkey
		Report	Marcinho

Al-Najaf FC v NorthEast United

5 November 2017 Friendly	Al-Najaf FC	1–0	NorthEast United	Antalya, Turkey
		Report

Naft Al-Janoob SC v NorthEast United

7 November 2017 Friendly	Naft Al-Janoob SC	2–2	NorthEast United	Antalya, Turkey
		Report	Luis Páez Danilo

Alanyaspor v NorthEast United

9 November 2017 Friendly	Alanyaspor	0–0	NorthEast United	Antalya, Turkey
		Report

Announced on 15 March 2018, 2018 Indian Super Cup is a replacement for the Federation Cup. The qualifiers for the inaugural tournament are to begin on 15 March and conclude on 31 March 2018. The tournament proper will then commence on 5 April and conclude with the final on 25 April 2018.

NorthEast, having finished the 2017–18 ISL at the bottom spot, had to play the qualifiers to enter the competition. They played their qualifier match against Gokulam Kerala on 15 Match 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar^[35] which they lost 0-2.

Indian Super Cup, unlike Indian Super League, allows only 6 foreign players in squad for the tournament.^[36] Out of the 6 players 5 can be fielded by the teams.

As of 14 March 2018^[37]

No.	Position	Nationality	Player
3	DF		Sambinha
5	DF		José Gonçalves
6	MF		Maic Sema
10	MF		Marcinho
21	DF		Martín Díaz
99	FW		Danilo

NorthEast United v Gokulam Kerala

15 March 2018 Q1	NorthEast United	0-2	Gokulam Kerala	Bhubaneswar
20:00 IST (UTC+5:30)		Report	Henry Kisekka 43', 74'	Stadium: Kalinga Stadium Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Tejas Nagvenkar Man of the Match: Nikhil Bernard (Gokulam)

Updated 12 January 2018.

Position	Name
Head coach	Avram Grant[38]
Assistant coach	Eelco Schattorie[39]
Goalkeeping coach	Joseph Sidy[40]
Strength and conditioning coach	Mauro André Claro Martins[41]
Physiotherapist	Arvind Yadav[42]

As of 15 March 2018

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Indian Super League		Indian Super Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	IND	Ravi Kumar	2	0	1+1	0	0	0
3	DF	GNB	Sambinha	15	1	14	1	1	0
4	DF	IND	Nirmal Chettri	17	0	16	0	1	0
5	DF	POR	José Gonçalves	17	0	16	0	1	0
6	MF	SWE	Maic Sema	8	0	5+2	0	0+1	0
9	FW	IND	Seminlen Doungel	16	4	13+2	4	0+1	0
10	MF	BRA	Marcinho	17	4	15+1	4	1	0
11	FW	IND	Halicharan Narzary	14	0	10+3	0	1	0
12	DF	IND	Reagan Singh	16	0	14+1	0	0+1	0
13	GK	IND	Rehenesh TP	18	0	17	0	1	0
14	FW	IND	Rowllin Borges	17	0	16	0	1	0
15	DF	IND	Abdul Hakku	4	0	3+1	0	0	0
16	DF	IND	Robert Lalthlamuana	10	0	6+3	0	1	0
17	MF	IND	Sushil Meitei	1	0	0+1	0	0	0
18	MF	IND	Malemngamba Meitei	7	0	4+3	0	0	0
20	MF	IND	Lalrindika Ralte	13	0	7+5	0	1	0
21	DF	URU	Martín Díaz	17	0	14+3	0	0	0
23	MF	POR	Helio Pinto	3	0	1+2	0	0	0
27	FW	COL	John Mosquera	8	1	2+6	1	0	0
33	DF	IND	Gursimrat Singh Gill	5	1	2+3	1	0	0
45	MF	IND	Fanai Lalrempuia	4	0	2+1	0	1	0
99	FW	BRA	Danilo	19	1	13+5	1	1	0
Players who left NorthEast United during the season:
8	MF	BRA	Adilson Goiano	4	0	4	0	0	0
7	FW	CPV	Odaïr Fortes	4	0	2+2	0	0	0
19	FW	COL	Luis Páez	6	0	1+5	0	0	0

Place	Position	Nation	Number	Name	Indian Super League	Indian Super Cup	Total
1	FW		9	Seminlen Doungel	4	0	4
1	MF		10	Marcinho	4	0	4
3	FW		99	Danilo	1	0	1
3	FW		27	John Mosquera	1	0	1
3	DF		3	Sambinha	1	0	1
3	DF		33	Gursimrat Singh Gill	1	0	1
				TOTALS	12	0	12

Number	Nation	Position	Name	Indian Super League		Total
3		DF	Sambinha	1	0	1	0
4		DF	Nirmal Chettri	6	0	6	0
5		DF	José Gonçalves	1	0	1	0
8		MF	Adilson	1	0	1	0
9		FW	Seiminlen Doungel	4	0	4	0
10		MF	Marcinho	2	0	2	0
12		DF	Reagan Singh	2	0	2	0
13		GK	Rehenesh TP	1	1	1	1
14		MF	Rowllin Borges	2	0	2	0
16		DF	Robert Lalthlamuana	1	0	1	0
19		FW	Luis Páez	2	0	2	0
20		MF	Lalrindika Ralte	2	0	2	0
21		DF	Martín Díaz	2	0	2	0
33		DF	Gursimrat Singh Gill	1	0	1	0
27		DF	John Mosquera	1	0	1	0
99		FW	Danilo	2	0	2	0
			TOTALS	25	1	25	1