Founded in August 1920, the club became affiliated with the Indian Football Association in 1922 and initially played in the Calcutta Football League Second Division before earning promotion to the First Division in 1924. East Bengal won its first First Division league title in 1942 and has since won it a record 39 times with generous help from different quarters.[5] The club was a founding member of the National Football League, the first nation-wide football league in India in 1996, which it has won three times since.[6] They have also won eight Federation Cups, three Super Cups, a record 29 IFA Shield, the Kuladakanta Shield and MLA Cup[note 1] titles, and 16 Durand Cup titles, making the club one of the most decorated in Indian football. On 28 January, 2024, they defeated the defending champions Odisha 3–2 in the Kalinga Super Cup final to win their first title in 12 years. As the winners, East Bengal qualified for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League 2 preliminary stage.
East Bengal is one of the most widely supported football clubs in the world. The club is mainly supported by the immigrant population from the eastern region of Bengal in
Kolkata derby, Asia's biggest football rivalry. East Bengal also shares a local rivalry with another Kolkata club, Mohammedan SC
. The club dons the iconic red and golden yellow colors.
History
Suresh Chandra Chaudhari (founder)
Sailesh Bose
Sarada Ranjan Roy (First president)
Formation
On 28 July 1920, Jorabagan was scheduled to play against
Sarada Ranjan Ray took on the role of becoming the first president of this newly formed club while Suresh Chandra Chowdhury and Tarit Bhusan Roy were declared to be the first joint secretaries of the club.[12] Soon after, Nagen Kali, M. Talukdar, B. Sen, N. Gossain, Goshto Paul (on loan from Mohun Bagan), P. Bardhan, S. Das, S. Tagore, J. Mukherjee, Ramesh Chandra Sen, S. Bose, C. Bose, A. Roy, and A. Bannerjee were announced to be the members of the first team squad by the board.[13][14]
Early years: 1920s–1930s
In the same month of its formation, the club participated in its maiden tournament in, the Hercules Cup, a seven-a-side tournament. On 11 August 1920, the club played their first match in the tournament and in their history against Metropolitan College, which they went on to win 4–0. East Bengal went on to win the tournament, announcing the arrival of a club that would break many records in the future. The club also won Khagendra Shield in 1921.
Mohun Bagan took place on 8 August 1921 in the Cooch Behar Cup semi-final match, which didn't turn in the favour of either of the teams as it ended in a goalless draw. It was an unofficial derby at that time.[9][16]
In 1924, the club won the Second Division and gained promotion to the IFA First Division after finishing in second place to Cameroons 'B' after paying a hefty sum.
Aryan, opposed it. East Bengal's efforts led to the abolition of the oppressive Indian club limit rule.[9][18]
In 1925, East Bengal made its IFA First Division debut, and Mona Dutta became the maiden goalscorer for the club in the league. On 28 May 1925, the first official Kolkata Derby was played, where Nepal Chakraborty scored the only goal for East Bengal.[12][19]
East Bengal won the Calcutta Football League for six straight years from 1970 to 1975.[25] In 1970, East Bengal topped the Calcutta Football League table without conceding a single goal. East Bengal won multiple times against their arch-rivals, Mohun Bagan, including a record margin of 5–0 in the history of the Kolkata Derby, in 1975. The same year, East Bengal won the CFL title without losing a match. The 1970s decade of the club is also commonly known as "Shonali Doshok" (in English Golden Decade).[12][27][22]
1980s–1990s
The club won the Federation Cup in 1980 and again in 1985. They also became the first Indian club to play in the newly reorganized Asian Club Championship in 1985–86.[25] The club then won their second treble in 1990, under coach Naeemuddin, by winning the IFA Shield, the Rovers Cup, and the Durand Cup in the same season. The club also won the Stafford Cup (1986) and the McDowell's Cup (1995, 1997). In 1993, East Bengal won its first-ever international title, the Wai Wai Cup in Nepal. The club also won the Federation Cup, the IFA Shield, the Calcutta Football League, the Durand Cup, and the Rovers Cup several times during this period.[28] In 1996, the club became the founding member of the first nationwide football league in India, the National Football League.[12][23][29]
In 1984, Dipak Das joined the club and revamped it. He brought professionalism and converted the football team into a private, limited company. He also secured sponsorship from local brands and companies like Khadims. In 1998, he collaborated with Vijay Mallya's United Breweries Group, which then formed a new Private Limited Company, with a 50–50 shareholding, called United East Bengal Football Team Private Limited and incorporated the football team—the first in the country. The team was renamed Kingfisher East Bengal FC.[30][26]
The club entered the 21st century in style, winning the
Joseph Blatter, visited the club tent on 15 April 2007. After a year, East Bengal became the first Indian football team to win against a West Asian team, Al Wihdat SC of Jordan on foreign soil.[12][28]
Lineup against Army Red in Durand Cup. The first match of centenary season.
East Bengal also made a record eight appearances, between 2004 and 2015, in the AFC Cup.[38][39] The club played in the semi-finals of 2013 AFC Cup where they lost to Kuwait SC of Kuwait.[40] The club has the achievement of winning the Calcutta Football League title eight consecutive times from 2010 to 2017, breaking their previous record of six times during the 1970s.[25][41] Following the exit of Kingfisher from the club, Quess Corp signed an agreement with the East Bengal and acquired a 70 percent stake in the club in July 2018. The football team was rebranded as Quess East Bengal FC.[42][43]
On 1 August 2019, the club entered its
Calcutta Football League and the I-League, and played its first match and won against Army Red in the Durand Cup.[45][46]
2020–present
The year 2020, saw the wake of
COVID-19 which halted the ongoing football season in the country.[47] The then investor, Quess pulled out from the two-year-old agreement by July 2020.[48][49] On 1 August, the club completed its 100 years of existence. In September, Shree Cement was announced as the new investor of the club.[50] The company acquired 76 percent shares of the club and renamed it from "East Bengal Football Club" to "Sporting Club East Bengal".[51][52] Later that month, after successful bidding, the club moved from the I-League to the Indian Super League.[53][54] In early 2022, the club parted ways with its investor Shree Cement
.
The partnership between investor group
2021–22 Indian Super League season. They returned the sporting rights to the club on 12 April 2022, after both the parties failed to reach an agreement and the final term sheet was not accepted and signed by the club officials.[55] The club officials, however, stated that East Bengal shall continue to play in the Indian Super League, and shall be announcing their new investors within the next two weeks.[56] East Bengal was once again handed another transfer ban by AIFF for non-payment of dues for seven of their players.[57]
On 25 May, East Bengal announced the collaboration with
2022-23 Indian Super League season with the arrival of the new investors.[61] On 18 July, after two months of contractual discussions between the club and the investor group, the club finally started the recruitment process for the new season after receiving a go-ahead from the investors.[62][63] On 22 July, the AIFF uplifted the transfer ban set on East Bengal and thus allowed the club to register their new signings for the season.[64] East Bengal appointed Santosh Trophy winning Kerala football team head-coach Bino George as the care-taker head coach of the team for the Calcutta Football League and Durand Cup, and will become the assistant coach of the team for the Indian Super League.[65][66] East Bengal also roped in former India national football team coach Stephen Constantine as the new head-coach of the team for the season.[67][68] The club also announced that the formal tie-up between them and the new investor group Emami.[69] East Bengal FC has hired former Indian Super League (ISL) champion Carles Cuadrat as their new Head Coach on a two-year deal.[70]
Crest, colours and kits
Crest
In 1930,
Bangla) became the club emblem, which has remained to this day.[21][71][23]
In the year 2020 East Bengal released a special Centenary Crest to celebrate 100 years of its existence.
The primary and secondary colors of East Bengal are red and yellow respectively.[73] Traditionally, the home kit consists of a red and yellow jersey with black shorts, while the away kit colors vary every year.[44] These colors came about after the club was formed when the founders debated over them for the club jersey. At that time, the jerseys used to come from England. The founders, while searching, came across the red and gold color shirt hanging at the Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co. department store in Chowringhee, Kolkata. It attracted them, and they finalized the colors and jersey. It cost ₹80 in 1920, four times higher than the average.[74] These colours permanently integrated with the club.[9]
East Bengal is a club mainly supported by the migrant population, known as Bangal, from the former Indian part of East Bengal (now modern-day Bangladesh). East Bengal is one of Asia's biggest and most supported football clubs. There are approximately 30 to 40 million supporters from all across the nation and overseas.[23][43] In October 2020, the club got voted as the most popular football club in India on an AFC poll by its supporters, gaining approximately 49% of the votes.[90]
East Bengal Ultras, the main ultras (supporters) group of East Bengal, was established in 2013. It was the first ultras group to be established in the country. Since its inception, this group has set many new records and broken older ones. Though initially, people were skeptical about the group, now they have seen in what ways this group is benefitting Indian football. Though all these achievements came along with some controversies. As in the past, there have been fights and hooliganism among the fans of the rival clubs, the administration does not completely trust the group's functioning.[91][92]
Unlike East Bengal, Mohun Bagan is a club mainly supported by the native population of the present-day state of West Bengal. The match that takes place between these two clubs is eminently called the Kolkata Derby. The Kolkata Derby has its name taken from the Old Firm Derby between Celtic and Rangers and dates back to the 1920s.[95] After Indian independence and the partition of Bengal, the huge influx of immigrants from the eastern part of Bengal led to a socio-economic crisis in the state. This led to rivalries in jobs, business, schools, and even on the football pitch among the immigrants and native population. This rivalry became fierce, and the Kolkata Derby grew in popularity and reached its peak during the 1960s and 1970s.[96][97] The Kolkata Derby holds a record of 130,000 spectators, the most attended sporting event in India.[98][12]
Ownership
East Bengal is mainly organized as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, which means one can avail of membership in the club. There are around 12,000 members.[43] Although, a limited company, named East Bengal Club Pvt. Ltd., was later formed, and both are governed by the club parallelly. Sponsorships and investments happen via this corporate company.[99] The club is governed by its own set of rules and regulations. Amendments and resolutions are passed via extraordinary or annual general meeting.[100][101]
Currently the football rights are with a new limited company, Emami East Bengal FC Pvt. Ltd. jointly owned by East Bengal and Emami Group.[102]
Stadiums
The club has used several stadiums at Kolkata, Howrah and Barasat, including the Eden Gardens, which has been reserved for cricket since Salt Lake Stadium opened in 1984.[103] The first ground used by the club was Kumartuli Park in north Kolkata.[104][105]
Salt Lake Stadium
Main article:
Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan
The Salt Lake Stadium, also known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), is a multi-purpose stadium in Kolkata, built in 1984. The stadium is the largest non-auto racing in India. It is currently used mainly for football matches. The stadium includes a unique running track, long jump track, electronic scoreboard, natural turf, floodlighting arrangement, conference hall, medical room, and a doping control Room. The Salt Lake Stadium hosts the home games of East Bengal in the Indian Super League and AFC competitions. The total capacity of the stadium was 85,000, before it was changed to 68,000.[106]
The East Bengal Ground is located in Kolkata and is the club's historical home ground. The stadium lies in the Maidan (Kolkata) area on the northern side of Fort William and near the Eden Gardens. This stadium is used mostly for Calcutta Football League matches and by the academy, women's, and hockey teams.[107] The total capacity of the stadium is 23,500.[106]
Other grounds
Barasat Stadium is also used by the club for some regional matches, especially in cases where the Salt Lake Stadium or East Bengal Ground cannot be used.[108]Kanchenjunga Stadium, a multipurpose stadium based in Siliguri, has also been used several times to host club football matches.[109] It also hosted the 2012 Federation Cup. Kalyani Stadium, situated on the outskirts of Kolkata at Kalyani, was used by East Bengal as their home turf during the 2019–20 I-League.[110]
The team also trains at one of the VYBK practice grounds.[111]
2019-20 I-League was cancelled after 16 Rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. East Bengal FC was at the second place when the league was cancelled.[143]
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