2025–26 NorthEast United FC season

NorthEast United
2025–26 season
CEO	Mandar Tamhane
Head Coach	Juan Pedro Benali
Stadium	Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati
Indian Super League	Pre-season
Super Cup	Group stage
Durand Cup	Champions
Biggest win	6–1 DHFC (2025 Durand Cup final)

The 2025–26 season was the club's 12th season in Indian Super League since its establishment in 2014. In addition to the league, they also competed in the Durand Cup and AIFF Super Cup. On 23 August 2025, NorthEast United won their 2nd Durand Cup title after defeating Diamond Harbour FC in the final. This was their consecutive Durand Cup title.^[1]

Personnel

As of 1 July 2025

Position	Name	Refs.
Head coach	Juan Pedro Benali	^[2]
Assistant coach	Sergio Sesi	^[3]
Assistant coach	Naushad Moosa	^[4]
Goalkeeping coach	Manuel Diez Aznar
Strength and Conditioning coach	Javier Caballero
Team analyst	Amogh Adige
Physiotherapists	Kapil Sharma Dileep Kumar Jagadesan Sony Chittilappilly Sunny
Club doctor	Dr Abhinav
Reserves and U-18 head coach

Players

As of 13 July 2025^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	IND	Gurmeet Singh
2	DF	IND	Dinesh Singh Soraisham
3	DF	IND	Tondonba Singh Ngasepam
4	DF	ESP	Míchel Zabaco (captain)
7	FW	ESP	Jairo Samperio
9	FW	ESP	Guillermo Fernández
10	MF	ESP	Chema Nunez
11	FW	IND	Parthib Gogoi
12	DF	IND	Asheer Akhtar
13	MF	IND	Mayakkannan
14	FW	MAR	Alaaeddine Ajaraie
15	MF	IND	Macarton Nickson
16	FW	IND	Ankith Padmanabhan
17	DF	IND	Robin Yadav


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	ESP	Andy Rodríguez
19	MF	IND	Thoi Singh Huidrom
20	GK	IND	Dipesh Chauhan
21	FW	IND	Lalrinzuala Lalbiaknia
22	MF	IND	Redeem Tlang
23	MF	IND	Bekey Oram
24	FW	IND	Lalbiakdika Vanlalvunga
29	MF	IND	Mohammed Arshaf
30	MF	IND	Danny Meitei Laishram
35	GK	IND	Arman Tamang
66	FW	IND	Fredy Chawngthansanga
77	DF	IND	Buanthanglun Samte
80	FW	IND	Jithin MS

Competitions

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Durand Cup	2 August 2025	23 August 2025	Group stage	Winners	6	5	1	0	18	5	+13	083.33
Super Cup	26 October 2025	1 November 2025	Group stage	Group stage	3	1	2	0	6	5	+1	033.33
Indian Super League					0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
Oil India Challenge Gold Cup^[a]	23 October 2025	23 October 2025	Quarter-final	Quarter-final	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	000.00
Total					10	6	3	1	24	14	+10	060.00

Last updated: 26 October 2025
Source: Competitions

Durand Cup

Group stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	SHI	MAS	RDU
1	NorthEast United	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7	knockout stage	2–1	3–1	2–2
2	Shillong Lajong (H)	3	2	0	1	10	3	+7	6	knockout stage		6–0	3–1
3	Armed Forces	3	1	0	2	2	9	−7	3				1–0
4	Rangdajied United (H)	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1

Source: DFTS
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

2 August 2025 (2025-08-02) Match 16	NorthEast United	3–1	Armed Forces	Shillong, Meghalaya
19:00 IST	Ajaraie 23', 29', 70'	Report PDF Report	Amir 88'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Senthil Nathan S Man of the Match: Alaaeddine Ajaraie (NorthEast United)

8 August 2025 (2025-08-08) Match 28	Shillong Lajong	1–2	NorthEast United	Shillong, Meghalaya
19:00 IST	Figo Syndai 81'	Report PDF Report	Ajaraie 5', 83'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 13,900 Referee: Pratik Mondal Man of the Match: Alaaeddine Ajaraie (NorthEast United)

11 August 2025 (2025-08-11) Match 34	NorthEast United	2–2	Rangdajied United	Shillong, Meghalaya
19:00 IST	Oram 24' Jairo 76'	Report PDF Report	Iawphniaw 32' Danzel 44'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 4,439 Referee: Senthil Nathan S Man of the Match: Manbhakupar Iawphniaw (Rangdajied United)

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

16 Aug – Shillong

Shillong Lajong	2
		19 Aug – Shillong
Indian Navy	1
		Shillong Lajong	0
16 Aug – Kokrajhar
		NorthEast United	1
Bodoland	0
				23 Aug – Kolkata
NorthEast United	4
				NorthEast United	6
17 Aug – Jamshedpur
				Diamond Harbour	1
Jamshedpur	0
		20 Aug – Kolkata
Diamond Harbour	2
		Diamond Harbour	2
17 Aug – Kolkata
		East Bengal	1
East Bengal	2

Mohun Bagan	1

16 August 2025 (2025-08-16) Match 38 (2nd Quarter-finals)	Bodoland	0–4	NorthEast United	Kokrajhar (BTR), Assam
19:00 IST		Report PDF Report	Ajaraie 29', 61' Andy 53' Parthib 90+1'	Stadium: SAI Stadium Attendance: 14,970 Referee: Surajit Das Man of the Match: Alaaeddine Ajaraie (NorthEast United)

19 August 2025 (2025-08-19) Match 41 (1st Semi-finals)	Shillong Lajong	0–1	NorthEast United	Shillong, Meghalaya
19:00 IST		Report PDF Report	Tlang 36'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 14,911 Referee: Senthil Nathan (sub. Lalit Singh Rawat) Man of the Match: Redeem Tlang (NorthEast United)

23 August 2025 (2025-08-23) Final	NorthEast United	6–1	Diamond Harbour	Kolkata, West Bengal
17:30 IST	Akhtar 30' Gogoi 45+1' Ngasepam 50' Samperio 81' Rodríguez 85' Ajaraie 90+3' (pen.)	Report PDF Report	Majcen 68'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 16,920 Referee: Venkatesh Ramachadran Man of the Match: Alaaeddine Ajaraie (NorthEast United)

AIFF Super Cup

The virtual official draw ceremony of the Super Cup was held on Sept 25 at 4pm.^[6]

Group stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	NEU	JFC	INK
1	Goa (H)	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6	Advance to knockout stage	1–2	2–0	3–0
2	NorthEast United	3	1	2	0	6	5	+1	5			2–2	2–2
3	Jamshedpur	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4				2–0
4	Inter Kashi	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source: AIFF
Rules for classification: 1)1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group; 7) Disciplinary points; 8) drawing of lots
(H) Hosts

26 October 2025 (2025-10-26) Group Stage	NorthEast United	2–2	Inter Kashi	Bambolim
16:30 IST	Ajaraie 18' Zabaco 40'	I-League PDF Report	Harmanpreet 5' Karthik 74'	Stadium: GMC Athletic Stadium Attendance: 226 Referee: Harish Kundu Man of the Match: Karthik Panicker (Inter Kashi)

29 October 2025 (2025-10-29) Group Stage	NorthEast United	2–2	Jamshedpur	Bambolim
16:30 IST	Chema 20' Ajaraie 29'}	I-League PDF Report	Halder 43' Messi Bouli 89'	Stadium: GMC Athletic Stadium Attendance: 467 Referee: Tejas Nagvenkar

1 November 2025 (2025-11-01) Group Stage	Goa	1–2	NorthEast United	Margao, Goa
19:30 IST	Sahil 72'	I-League PDF Report	Chema 68' Robin Yadav 77'	Stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Attendance: 1,723 Referee: Crystal John Man of the Match: Dipesh Chauhan (NorthEast United)

Oil India Challenge Gold Cup

NorthEast United also participated in the 8th Oil India Challenge Gold Cup held at Duliajan, Assam and fielded mostly their reserve squad for the tournament. They started the tournament directly from the quarter-final.

Bracket

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

24 Oct

Shillong Lajong	3
		27 Oct
Assam Police	1
		Shillong Lajong	1
25 Oct
		Oil India	0
East Bengal II	0
				30 Oct
Oil India	1
				Shillong Lajong	0
23 Oct
				Diamond Harbour	2
NorthEast United II	0
		28 Oct
United Chirang Duar	4
		United Chirang Duar	1
26 Oct
		Diamond Harbour	4
Diamond Harbour	1

TRAU	0

23 October 2025 Quarter-final	NorthEast United	0–4	United Chirang Duar	Duliajan
17:30 IST		Report	Timothi ?' Jehova ?' Kaushik ?' Uttam ?'	Stadium: Nehru Maidan

Notes

^ NorthEast United fielded their Reserve squad for the tournament.

Statistics

Goalscorers

Rank	Player	Durand Cup	Super Cup	Total
1	Alaaeddine Ajaraie	8	1	9
2	Jairo Samperio	2	0	2
3	Parthib Gogoi	2	0	2
4	Andy Rodríguez	2	0	2
5	Redeem Tlang	1	0	1
6	Asheer Akhtar	1	0	1
7	Bekey Oram	1	0	1
8	Tondonba Singh Ngasepam	1	0	1
9	Míchel Zabaco	0	1	1

References

^ "NEUFC 6-1 DHFC HIGHLIGHTS: NorthEast United thrashes Diamond Harbour to retain Durand Cup title". Sportstar. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
^ "NorthEast United FC appoint Juan Pedro Benali as head coach". indiansuperleague.com. 22 May 2023. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
^ "Welcoming Sergio Sesi to the Think Tank! Joining in as the First Team Assistant Coach". @NEUtdFC. 13 July 2025.
^ "Join us in giving a warm welcome to Naushad Moosa, our new Assistant Coach". @NEUtdFC. 1 June 2023.
^ "Players". Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
^ "Mohun Bagan, FC Goa top seeded for Super Cup, 16 teams to take part". Times of India. 22 September 2025. Retrieved 22 September 2025.

[OilIndiaGoldCup-6] NorthEast United fielded their Reserve squad for the tournament.

[1] "NEUFC 6-1 DHFC HIGHLIGHTS: NorthEast United thrashes Diamond Harbour to retain Durand Cup title". Sportstar. Retrieved 23 August 2025.

[2] "NorthEast United FC appoint Juan Pedro Benali as head coach". indiansuperleague.com. 22 May 2023. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.

[3] "Welcoming Sergio Sesi to the Think Tank! Joining in as the First Team Assistant Coach". @NEUtdFC. 13 July 2025.

[4] "Join us in giving a warm welcome to Naushad Moosa, our new Assistant Coach". @NEUtdFC. 1 June 2023.

[5] "Players". Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2020.

[7] "Mohun Bagan, FC Goa top seeded for Super Cup, 16 teams to take part". Times of India. 22 September 2025. Retrieved 22 September 2025.

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