ISL: FC Pune City ropes in Pradhyum Reddy as assistant coach

Indian Super League (ISL) franchise FC Pune City on Friday appointed Pradhyum Reddy as the assistant coach for the first team and the Head of Football - Youth.

Reddy, who was the assistant to Ashley Westwood at Bengaluru FC, has had prior experience with an ISL team. He had worked with Delhi Dynamos in the 2016 edition of the IMG-Reliance owned league for player recruitment.

Pradhyum is a Scottish born AFC & USSF 'A' licensed coach. After working in UK and US for a decade, Pradhyum returned to India in 2009.

He joined Shillong Lajong in the 2010 season and in his debut season got promoted to the I-League by winning the I-League 2nd Division.

Besides working with the main team, he also was the technical director of Shillong Lajong's Youth Development Program before moving to DSK Shivajians in 2012.

After a brief six-month stint with the Pune-based club, the 40-year-old joined Bengaluru FC as an assistant coach in 2013 and went on to have three successful seasons with them.

FC Pune City is the only ISL team to have a full-fledged residential academy set up and boast of having three junior teams (U-18; U-16; U-14) and a Women's team.

On his new appointment at FC Pune City, Pradhyum said, "Being a part of FC Pune City setup is a new challenge, which excites me. It's a very professional set up and the training facility is one of the best in the country."

"The club shares the same vision on the direction in which Indian football should move ahead, as demonstrated by their commitment to their Academy, grassroots and all aspects of football development. I look forward to being a part of ISL as well," he added.

FC Pune City have never reached the semifinals of the ISL in its three-year history and finished sixth in the last season.