Chennaiyin FC captain Ryan Edwards, now in his second season with the Indian Super League (ISL) club, has quickly become a key member of the team. Joining last season, he had an impressive debut campaign, featuring in 22 games, scoring two goals, and keeping three clean sheets. Edwards emerged as a leader in defense, guiding the team to the playoffs a gap of four years.

This summer, he was one of two foreign players retained by the club, signing a contract extension until the end of the 2025 season. Reflecting on his inaugural season in Indian football, Edwards expressed pride in his journey and the incredible experiences he's had in India.

“It's been amazing,” he said in an interview with Chennaiyin FC.

“I wasn't quite ready physically with not having a preseason and stuff so I obviously missed out on the first couple of games and then and then got in the team and stayed in the team really all the way through. I don't know how many games I have played so far but since I've come here I've loved it. I've loved the training under the manager. I've loved playing under him. That's obviously one big reason why I came here and yeah it's gone so quick, I'm glad they extended for another year,” he said.

Chennaiyin FC faced a challenging start to the previous ISL season, suffering defeats in their first three matches. However, they rebounded strongly in the latter half of the season, ultimately securing a playoff spot. Winning three of their last four league matches, they notably achieved an away victory against Mohun Bagan SG, scoring a dramatic late goal to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Edwards reflected: “Last year was obviously successful in the end but we didn't start great. There were loads of challenges in between. We didn't have a big squad anyway and we lost a lot of games that we we should have won at that time or so we thought we shouldn't have lost and been a bit more comfortable getting into the playoffs but we got there in the end and it was quite successful looking at what we what we went through to get into them. I think everyone wrote us off. I think we were second from bottom after Christmas for a good couple of months and we managed to put a run together which got us into the top six which we haven't done for a long time. Hopefully we can carry that momentum into this season and have a much more successful year this year and secure the playoffs a lot earlier and see where it takes us.”

Chennaiyin FC has parted ways with several key players from last season, including Rafael Crivellaro, Lazar Cirkovic, and Jordan Murray. However, they've bolstered their squad with eye-catching signings such as Daniel Chima Chukwu, Jordan Gil, and Elsinho. Indian talents like Kiyan Nassiri and Lalrinliana Hnamte are also among their ranks. Edwards believes the league will be more competitive this year, as all teams have significantly strengthened their squads.

“We're so confident this year we feel we have a better squad and everyone else I think everyone else will say they got better squads this year as well so it's a much stronger league. I think this year it would be a lot a lot tighter. What I mean by that is no one will run away and I think it'll be a lot more closer and hopefully we can be right up there,” he said.

Chennaiyin FC has had a mixed start to the ISL 2024-25 season. They began their campaign with a stunning away win over Odisha FC but dropped points against Hyderabad FC and Mohammedan Sporting Club, suffering their first defeat of the season to the latter. Despite these results, the English centre-back is confident the team can have a successful season ahead if they can reduce their mistakes.

“There were signs, loads of signs as there was in the Odisha FC game that we're a good team and the only way we lost (to Mohammedan SC) was by beating ourselves with in terms of mistakes. We know when we cut the mistakes out, I'll certainly limit them to a very low number and not as many as we have been doing in the previous season that we've got a chance of being successful and going competing against the best teams as we've shown this season and last season in terms of Odisha FC away, Mohun Bagan (Super Giant) away and places like that,” he explained.

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