Gokulam Kerala FC

Formation and early years (2017–2020)

Gokulam Kerala was founded in January 2017. The club then went on to participate in Awes Cup in Goa, in which they finished the campaign as runners-up. On 20 September, after the second round of bidding invitations, the bid evaluation committee decided to award Sree Gokulam Group the right to field their team in the Hero I-League 2017–18 season onwards from Calicut, Kerala. Although the club did not have a good beginning, they went on to defeat clubs like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Minerva Punjab by the end of the season. Gokulam Kerala hired Spaniard Fernando Santiago Varela as head coach in March 2018.

On 15 March 2018, Gokulam played the Super Cup qualifiers against North East United FC and was qualified with a 2-goal victory. In the pre-quarterfinals of the Super Cup on 1 April 2018, they were leading against Bengaluru by 0–1 until 60 minutes with a goal scored by the striker Henry Kisekka but Bengaluru scored a stoppage time goal which led to a defeat of 2–1.

Gokulam in 2019, for the first time went abroad and participated at the 2019 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup in Bangladesh, where they qualified for the Semi-finals after finishing 2nd in Group B. Gokulam finished as semifinalist after losing 3–2 to Chittagong Abahani. Gokulam Kerala won their maiden title under the coaching of Fernando Santiago Varela, the 129th edition of the Durand Cup on 24 August 2019, defeating Mohun Bagan 2–1 in Kolkata.

2020–present

Gokulam Kerala won the 2020–21 I-League by defeating TRAU FC in the final game. With 29 points from 15 games, they qualified for the 2022 AFC Cup group stage.

In April 2021, Gokulam Kerala emerged as the champions of the 2020–21 Kerala Premier League, defeating KSEB FC 2–1 at the Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium. They began their 2021–22 I-League season on 26 December with 1–0 win against Churchill Brothers. They later thrashed Real Kashmir by 5–1.

After back to back wins in both the group and championship stages, the club clinched I-League title again in 2021–22 season, defeating Mohammedan Sporting 2–1 in the final game at the Salt Lake Stadium on 14 May, and became the first club in fifteen years to defend a national league title.

At the 2022 AFC Cup group-stage opener, the club achieved a historic 4–2 win against Indian Super League side ATK Mohun Bagan. Later, they were defeated 1–0 by Maldivian side Maziya S&RC, 1–2 by Bangladeshi side Bashundhara Kings respectively, and knocked out of the tournament. On July 5, the club officially announced that they roped in former Cameroonian international Richard Towa as new head coach. Due to not maintaining good form in league marches, the club parted ways with Towa and roped in Spanish manager Francesc Bonet in place of him.

In April 2023, the club took part in 3rd edition of Indian Super Cup.