Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, competing in the Indian Super League, and it was founded on 1 January 2014, a date that marks the modern era of top‑flight football in the city and a focal point for collectors on Walkouts as they seek inaugural and early-run shirts.
Owned by Vita Dani, Abhishek Bachchan and MS Dhoni, the club established a distinct identity quickly, adopting blue as its primary colour and a crest built around the Dhrishti Bommai motif, a local cultural symbol. Chennaiyin reached three ISL finals in its opening years and secured a headline domestic honour with two ISL Cup titles, victories that drive demand for winner shirts from the 2015 and 2017‑18 campaigns.
Collector interest starts with the club’s first release, the inaugural 2014 kit, which serves as an anniversary anchor for post‑founding memorabilia. In the absence of long heritage runs, early retail runs and first‑edition home shirts from the inaugural season are treated as de facto anniversary pieces, tying release year and club origin into a single sought‑after item for regional collectors.
Season and match magnets centre on the 2015 final in Goa and the 2017‑18 final in Bengaluru, plus the 2019‑20 decisive match against ATK, each creating a provenance story for shirts. Fans and archivists chase shirts linked to these fixtures because they represent title resolution and player signatures from high‑profile matches, especially shirts associated with goal scorers and the starting XI on final day.
Signed retail demand is strong alongside match‑worn provenance; fanshop shirts, not only match‑worn jerseys, are actively collected, particularly early retail runs and player‑issue variants that were sold in limited numbers. Region‑specific fan editions and framed retail jerseys from Chennai market drops are frequently requested, and collectors value documented retail provenance when seeking framed or signed retail pieces.
Iconic away pieces are also important to provenance narratives. A contrasting away palette, typically described as white with blue trim, is tied in collectors’ minds to decisive away performances and the club’s cup finals, and such colourways are specifically hunted when they can be linked to matchday photos or programme records from the 2015 final, which amplifies demand for authenticated shirts worn or issued on that day.
Practical provenance matters alongside storylines, and authenticated examples with a COA or photographic verification command attention from buyers seeking verifiable signatures or retail provenance. Walkouts lists framed, retail and signed editions tied to the 2015 and 2017‑18 winner shirts and to the 2019‑20 final, making it straightforward for collectors to trace items back to those seasons and the defining fixtures that created the club’s early legend.
