Odisha FC brought back head coach Josep Gombau who enjoyed an excellent two-year spell at the club on 8 June.[3] He started to rebuild the team by bringing a new set of players. He stated that the team composition and their play would be different, so they wanted new players. He also confirmed that they retain no foreign players from last season.[4] On 1 July, They announced the launch of Odisha FC Women team.[5]
Odisha made their Durand Cup debut in Group D. They won their first game with 6 goals against NorthEast United.[6] Odisha defeated Kerala Blasters, Sudeva Delhi and Army Green in their remaining group matches without conceding a single goal.[7] But in the quarter-finals, they lost against Bengaluru, who later won the tournament.[2]
Indian Super League
Odisha was handed an away fixture in their first match, facing defending premiers Jamshedpur. Odisha won the game 3-2.[8] But in next match Mumbai City FC notched a 2-0 win over them in a tightly contested affair with a Shubham Sarangi own goal and a Bipin Singh late strike.[9] In their first home match, Odisha FC made another stunning comeback to register second win of the season. After the first half Kerala Blasters was leading with a goal, but in the second half Jerry Mawihmingthanga equalised and substitute Pedro Martín won it for the Juggernauts.[10] In next match they picked their second home win as well by beating Bengaluru FC. Nandhakumar Sekar scored the game's only goal.[11] But an early goal sink them to their second defeat of the season against Hyderabad FC. Then they nabbed three consecutive wins against East Bengal, Chennaiyin and NorthEast united.[12] But in the next match, The Juggernauts were reduced to ten men in the 65th minute when Nandhakumar Sekar was shown a second yellow and FC Goa made the visitors pay with all three goals coming after.[citation needed] In the next match, Odisha FC and ATK Mohun Bagan shared the points in the season’s first goalless draw to complete Odisha's first half of the season with six wins and one draw.[citation needed]
Source: Indian Super League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) fair play ranking; 8) drawing of lots Notes:
Josep Gombau after being signed as the head coach stated that the team composition, and how they play, all will be different so they wanted new players. They didn't retain any foreign players. Signed 4 players from Spanish teams, Osama Malik from an Australian club Perth Glory and Diego Maurício returned from Mumbai City. Even though Kamaljit Singh has signed an extension, he later transferred to East Bengal. They signed 15 players in total, transferred 17 players out and retained 17 players from last season. Vinit Rai continued on loan in Mumbai City.
