DSK Shivajians Football Club, founded as Shivajians Sports Club is an Indian football club based in Pune, Maharashtra. The club is owned by the DSK Group and play in the I-League. The club was founded in 1987 in Shivajinagar, Pune by Ashok Vanjari, Manoj Walvekar, Emanuel Jeevan, Moreshwar Dhumal, Viju Deshmukh and Frank Norman as a platform for entertainment and community engagement for the residents of the locality. The Club have played in the top tier of the Pune Football League since their formation in 1987, and have played the I-League from the 2016. A direct entry into the League, and therefore were immune to relegation until 2018. The club is known for its youth development policy, and was the first professional football club in India to have tied up with a major international football club in Liverpool FC along with whom they run their academy. The club play their home games at the Shree Shiv Chattrapati Sports Complex in Pune, and train at the DSK Dream City Football Fields in Loni.
History
The Early Years: 1987–1989
The Club was formed on 6 August 1987, under the name Shivajians Sports Club, by the Late. Ashok Vanjari, Manoj Walvekar, Emanuel Jeevan, Moreshwar Dhumal, Viju Deshmukh and Frank Norman. A community club, it served as a platform for competition, entertainment and engagement for locals from the Shivajinagar area in Pune. In 1987 itself, the club organized the first ever All India Floodlight Football Tournament, which was held in Pune in the memory of Shri B. B. Walvekar. Teams such as Central Railway – Bombay, Madras Tukes, Bank Of India – Bombay, Sesa Goa, State Bank Of India – Hyderabad, Salsete Goa, Kampti Colonies – Nagpur, Bangalore Eleven, Kerala Police and Cochin Customs which were forces to be reckoned with in the country at the time, all participated in the tournament.
Two Decades of Local Dominence: 1990–2010
From 1990 til 2010, the club had dominated the Pune football scene. In this period, the club won all the prestigious tournaments held in Pune, including the Dr. Hedgewar Football Tournament, Raja Shiv Chhatrapati Football Tournament, Rupmay Chatterjee Football Tournament, Dada Saheb Chavan Memorial Cup and Guru Teg Bahadur Football Tournament. The club also won many state level and all India level football tournaments held in the nearby cities of Kolhapur, Gadhinglaj, Miraj, Indore and Akola. Staying true to their goal of engaging the community, the Club organised many training programmes and provided scholarships to players from the economically weaker sections of society.
Change Of Ownership and DSK Shivajians FC: 2010–Present
On 30 April 2010, Shirish Kulkarni, Executive Director of the DSK Group and former Shivajians SC player, was appointed as the president of the club. This was a prelude to the DSK Group's takeover of the club in 2013, which led to it being renamed as DSK Shivajians FC. The DSK Group has invested heavily in developing infrastructure for the Club at the DSK Dream City Football Fields in Pune, where they created a state-of-the-art fully residential training facility which also houses the DSK Shivajians FC Academy, which is run in association with Liverpool FC. In 2013, the Club played the I-League 2nd Division under Coach Pradhyum Reddy, but missed out on the Final Round by a point. In 2015, the club got corporate entry into the I-League and under Derrick Perreira they played the 2015–2016 I-League Season where they finished 9th in the league.
English club Liverpool announced a partnership with DSK Shivajians in India to start their international football academy, with the partnership pertinent in the academy setup only, with academy players trained by coaches representing Liverpool playing for DSK Shivajians U18s. The DSK Shivajians U18 plays in the I-League U18, and the 2014–15 U19 I-League was the first time they were involved in national-level youth team football, partnering Liverpool, and played in the Maharashtra Zone of the league.
