The 2013–14 Pune F.C. season is the club's fifth season in I-League, the top flight of Indian football and the seventh season in the club's entire history. This season will also see the club participate in Asia's top footballing competition, the AFC Champions League, in 2014 after India was awarded a spot in the tournament qualifiers and the club were announced as the best club in India to complete the club licensing requirements set by the All India Football Federation.
Former Netherlands international player and former Vitesse Arnhem manager Mike Snoei was hired to be the head coach of the club following the resignation of Derrick Pereira.
Background
Pune began the 2012–13 campaign with hope. The club came into the season having lost some of their better players, including Subrata Pal, Baldeep Singh, and Lester Fernandez. The club also lost their top scorer from the previous season in former Guinea international Mandjou Keita. However, the club was able to make up for those loses with the signings of Abhra Mondal and James Moga. With these players added to the squad, Pune went into the 2012–13 I-League season with a bang, beating ONGC 3–2 on the opening day of the season. Then, after defeating Pailan Arrows on 9 November 2012, the club went on a nine-game unbeaten streak which eventually allowed the club to finish the season in second place, their best ever finish in the I-League to date.
Pre-season
Player movement
After the 2012–13 season ended, Pune did not make many major changes to the squad. The club did let go three of their four foreigners in Chika Wali, Boima Karpeh, and club top scorer James Moga. All three players subsequently signed for other I-League clubs with Wali signing for Salgaocar, Karpeh joining Sporting Goa, and Moga joining East Bengal. The club's number 1 goalkeeper from last season, Abhra Mondal, also left the club to join East Bengal. In addition to Mondal, the club also lost Subhash Singh, Karma Tsewang, and Nallappan Mohanraj to Shillong Lajong, Salgaocar, and Mumbai Tigers respectively. The club also lost their first ever signing in Jeje Lalpekhlua who decided to sign for former I-League champions, Dempo.
Air India forward Prakash Thorat was the first player signed by Pune for the new season. The club then proceeded to sign both Anthony D'Souza and Arup Debnath respectively from Salgaocar and Mumbai Tigers. The club then went on to sign three new foreigners to replace the three that left the club. The first to arrive was Equatorial Guinea international Raúl Fabiani. The second foreign signing for Pune came only two days later with the signing of Calum Angus from Swedish Superettan side GAIS. Then the third and final foreign signing for Pune before the season began was former A-Leaguer James Meyer who last played for the Brisbane Roar. Then, before the I-League season began, Pune signed up four players from their academy with Denechandra Meitei, Salam Ranjan Singh, Thongkhosiem Haokip, and Gobin Singh all earning promotions to the senior squad.
After the season began, Pune did make a change in their squad with Raúl Fabiani being released from the side and former Premier League and Bolton Wanderers player Riga Mustapha being brought in as a replacement. The club made further changes to their squad in January 2014 with the signings of Gabriel Fernandes, Nicolau Borges, and Nawab Zeeshan being announced. Fernandes comes on loan from Dempo while Borges comes on loan from Mohun Bagan.
Then, on 18 February 2014, the club announced that they had re-signed former Fans' Player of the Year Lester Fernandez for the rest of the season.
In
Out
Matches
The club began their pre-season campaign with new coach Mike Snoei in Goa. The club drew their first two matches against SESA Football Academy and Laxmi Prasad before beating Churchill Brothers 2–0 thanks to a double from Raúl Fabiani. In their next match, Pune defeated league-rivals Mumbai F.C. at the Balewadi Sports Complex in which strikes from James Meyer, Fabiani, and Zohmingliana Ralte earned the side a 3–0 victory. Then in their final match of pre-season, Pune defeated Deccan XI 2–0 thanks to strikes from Dhanpal Ganesh and Shanmugam Venkatesh.