Indian Super League outfit, Mumbai City Football Club (MCFC), will have their pre-season tour in Thailand where they will be playing four games ahead of the fifth season of the league commencing on September 29.
"They have started the pre-season four days ago in New {Navi) Mumbai and all the players will go to Thailand on Thursday (September 30) and five foreign players will join the team directly in Thailand," Mumbai City FC CEO Indranil Das Blah told reporters at the club's media briefing here today.
"We moved slightly late because of certain issues. So our pre-season started late and we have all the Indian boys, except three who are with U23 team," he added.
According to Blah, the franchise will play a minimum of four games in Thailand in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
"We will come back and play two games (In India) ahead of the tournament," Blah informed adding the details will be shared soon. So our expectation is to do as best we can. We are still getting our stuff, so we will have an uphill task and we will have catching up to do," Blah added.
The team has hired Jorge Costa as its head coach.
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Costa, 46, who excelled both as a player and manager, will bring a surfeit of experience, having been at the helm of clubs in Europe such as Portuguese clubs SC Braga Paos Ferreira, Romania's CFR Cluj, Greek sides AEL Limassol and Anorthosis Famagusta and the Gabon national team.
"I am not here to make any promise but I can promise good football," Costa said.
"Then I started watching games. In Portugal we don't watch too much of Indian League (ISL)," he added.
"My philosophy is winning three points -- I will respect my players and my philosophy will depend on the players," the coach said.
Last year, the Mumbai City FC had a disappointing show and stood seventh on the points table.