title: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC
text: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sporting Club (often abbreviated as HAL, or HASC) is an Indian institutional multi-sports club based in Bangalore, known for its association football team. It was named after the company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The club competed in the top tier of Karnataka football — the Bangalore A Division and from 2001, the Bangalore Super Division.
  
  As one of the top clubs from Karnataka, they have also competed in the National Football League till 2007, and subsequently the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system.
  
  The club was originally founded in 1950s, with having hockey, football and other sections. They were revived in 2006. Nicknamed "the pilots", HAL used Bangalore Football Stadium as their home ground. In 2014, following poor performance in 2013–14 season, the club announced of "temporary shutting down... activities".
  
  History
  
  Formation and journey
  Originally founded in the 1950s, the club later became affiliated with Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA) in the 90s. In 1952, the club clinched prestigious Stafford Challenge Cup title. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sports Club began their journey through participating in the Bangalore A Division league, in which they emerged champions in 2000. Before getting revived in 2006, they clinched the Bangalore Super Division titles in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.
  
  2006–2010
  
  After finishing third in the NFL Second Division in 2006, HASC were promoted to the Premier Division. Although only the top two teams from the Second Division gain promotion, Tata Football Academy who finished first in the standings were not able to form a professional team for the Premier Division. Therefore, HASC were promoted to the 11th NFL Premier Division along with runners up Churchill Brothers.
  
  In 2010, the club emerged as the runners-up of the 2010 I-League 2nd Division after the end of final round, hosted in Bengaluru. With 16 points in 7 matches, HAL finished on 2nd as ONGC FC clinched title.
  
  2010–2014
  
  HASC qualified for 2010–11 I-League season after finishing second in the 2010 I-League 2nd Division. They were the second South Indian team in I-League after Viva Kerala. In the last match of the season, they defeated defending champions Dempo 4–2 to starve off relegation to I-League 2nd Division, with Xavier Vijay Kumar scoring two goals. HAL later clinched the 2012–13 Bengaluru Super Division title.
  
  In the 2013–14 edition of the Bangalore Super Division, HASC finished eighth among nine teams. This prompted the club to shut down their activities "temporarily" in December 2014. The coach H. Chnadrashekhar said, "We will not field a team temporarily (in the Cups and the league) and to that effect HASC's management had sent a letter to BDFA secretary ST Bhoopal." Reports of the club resuming operations and fielding their team emerged after they held selection trials in 2019.
  
  Crest
  The HASC crest was different from the crest its parent company. For instance the Hindustan Company logo has a picture of the earth with a plane going around and has the word HAL written as well as the Hindi way of writing HAL while the HASC just has a crest with the word HAL in green letters.
  
  Home ground
  
  HASC used the Bangalore Football Stadium as its home ground for domestic and regional league matches since 2006, which previously had a capacity of 45,000 spectators. Built in 1967, the stadium has Artificial turf and currently has a capacity of 8,400.
  
  Club's training facilities are situated at the HAL Sports Club Ground in Bengaluru, which is used as venue for selection trials of their U19, U23 teams, alongside state youth competitions.
  
  Ownership and finances
  The ownership of HASC has been from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The company HAL were not so influential when running the club at first, as shown from their poor record before the 2010 I-League 2nd Division season in which the club achieved promotion.
  
  Notable players
  
  The following HAL players have been capped at senior/youth international level, with their respective countries. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.
  
   Jimmy Mulisa (2001–2002)
   Raja Baliev Nurlan (2001–2002)
   Ruslan Sydykov (2001–2002; 2002–2003)
   Philip Tarlue (2004)
   Rohit Chand (2010–2012)
   Aleksandar Šujdović (2011–2012)
  
  Honours
  
  League
  National Football League II
  Champions (1): 2000–01
  Third place (1): 2005–06
   I-League 2nd Division
  Runners-up (1): 2010
   Bangalore Super Division/Bangalore Football League
  Champions (9): 1984, 1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2012–13
  Runners-up (1): 2011–12
   Bangalore B Division
  Champions (1): 2020–21
  
  Cup
   Stafford Challenge Cup
  Champions (1): 1952
   Sait Nagjee Football Tournament
  Champions (3): 1952, 1953, 1954
  Puttiah Memorial Trophy
  Champions (6): 1977, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008
  Gadhinglaj Cup
  Runners-up (1): 2016
  ONGC Invitational Trophy
  Runners-up (1): 2016
  
  Other departments
  
  Field hockey
  The club has its hockey team, that competed in Beighton Cup (one of the oldest field hockey tournaments in the world). Then known as Hindustan Aircraft, they lifted the trophy in 1951, and finished as runners-up in 1952.
  
  Honours
  Beighton Cup
  Champions (1): 1951
  Runners-up (1): 1952
  Aga Khan Gold Cup
  Runners-up (1): 1949
  
  Academy and youth football
  Club's youth/academy team (colts) participated in I-League U19.
  
  See also
  
   List of football clubs in India
  
  References
  
  Further reading
  Bibliography
  
  Others
  
  External links
   Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC at WorldFootball.net
  Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC at Soccerway
   Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC at Global Sports Archive
  
   
  I-League clubs
  I-League 2nd Division clubs
  Football clubs in Bangalore
  Works association football clubs in India
  2006 establishments in Karnataka
  Association football clubs established in 2006
  Association football clubs established in the 1940s