'In India It's Always Difficult': Mumbai City FC Coach Petr Kratky Reveals Plan To Defend ISL Title

Mumbai City FC established their dominance in Indian Football when they beat Mohun Bagan SG 3-1 in the finals of ISL 2023-24 to be crowned Champions of India's premier football division for a second time in their history. 

Mumbai City will be kickstarting their title defence in a finals rematch against Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium on September 13th. Ahead of the start of new ISL season, Mumbai City FC have a mammoth task at their hands. In history of ISL, no team has ever defended their title and Mumbai City aim to become the first team to achieve the historic feat. 

However, Mumbai City FC head coach Petr Kratky doesn't think it's going to be easy and in a select media interaction, he reveals what it will take for his side to emerge as Champions once again in 2025. 

Petr Kratky admits difficult road to title defence 

Mumbai City are certainly one of the favourites heading into the new ISL season but according to coach Petr Kratky defending the title is in no way going to be easy given the league's history. 

However, Petr Kratky and Mumbai City have a plan to create history. In a select media interaction, Petr Kratky revealed to Republic World that key behind successful title defence will be creating a winning environment and to keep players hungry throughout the season. 

“It's all about creating an environment, we create an environment here in Mumbai City that people are hungry. Every time we sign player, every time we sign a star we ask them the same question why are you here in Mumbai City? Why are you here in India? It's very important for me to understand the players want to play football, want to win and want to achieve. We have some obligation towards the fans and football and I always remind the players in every meeting that we are here to play football and make everyone proud,” revealed Petr Kratky to Republic World. 

Petr Kratky further said that the season will be filled with ups and down but the environment right now is of high demand. 

“The environment we create in Mumbai City it's an environment where people want to play, regardless of who they play again and they want to win. Also we have lot of competition in the squad which can bring all sort of competitiveness and the players want to play more and they want to play longer…We will see how season goes, you always have ups and down, we will work behind the scene intensity to maintain but at the moment, the environment is high demand and we'll keep them moving forward,”  Petr Kratky told Republic World. 

"This winning mentality is all about the environment we create here in Mumbai City. The players who want to be here, who want to play for this club or for this country, in this country will make the football better. The players want to be here, they want to fight, they want to play to keep the competitiveness and emotion's the right pathway, it's now easy" - Petr Kratky, Head Coach, Mumbai City FC

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Will away games be a disadvantage?

Mumbai City have got a tough schedule at the start of the season as they will be facing heavy hitters in Mohun Bagan, Jamshedpur FC and Bengaluru FC to start the season. Three of their first four games are going to be played away from home.

Petr Kratky doesn't necessarily see that as a disadvantage as he believes they have enough quality to navigate the scheduling and come away with good results.

“Look, start of the season is very important for everyone because it's not a long season. It's actually quite short. I think there's disadvantage and advantage. Obviously we want to play in front of our fans but at the end of the day, you know schedule is there and I don't think it's that big disadvantage for us to play away. I think our performance will still be good because we have quality and we work hard to get better and better,” said Petr Kratky. 

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Petr Kratky further said that playing away in India is really tough due to away fans but says it can work out well for them as they will play more home games at the crunch end of the season. 

“When we play away in India it's always difficult because of the fans but, I don't think we would be too scared to play away. Obviously, it will all change because at the end of the season we will be at home and will play a lot of home games. And we're excited because of fans and we would like to show them how we can play”, added Kratky. 

Mumbai City will play their first home game of the season on 2nd October, 2024 when they host Bengaluru FC. Mumbai City certainly enter as the favourites to win ISL but will they have enough to become the first team to defend their ISL Crown?