Mohun Bagan A.C.

Bhupendra Nath Bose, the first President

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club, founded 15 August 1889, is an Indian sports club best known for its association football team, one of the oldest football clubs in Asia.[8] Mohun Bagan was established by three famous aristocratic Bengali families of North Kolkata. Bhupendra Nath Bose was the first president of the club. The team won its first trophy in 1904,[9] when they won the Coochbehar Cup.[10] In 1905 Mohun Bagan reached the finals of the Gladstone Cup which was held in Chinsurah where they defeated the reigning IFA Shield champions Dalhousie 6–1.

The IFA Shield Winning Team of 1911

In 1911, Mohun Bagan created history by becoming the first Indian club to win the IFA Shield after they defeated the British Army East Yorkshire Regiment 2–1 on 29 July. Most Mohun Bagan players played in bare feet, while the East Yorkshire Regiment played with proper footballing equipment.[11][12] This win was considered a landmark victory in the Indian freedom struggle.

Mohun Bagan played their first match in the Calcutta Football League on 15 May 1915 against Calcutta Club.[13] In 1939 Mohun Bagan won their first Calcutta Football League title. Mohun Bagan then has a successful period from 1933 to 1939, where the club won 29 trophies.[14] During that time, out of 23 derbies, they beat East Bengal 12 times (including 1 walkover win), drew 10 matches and lost only once to their arch rival. It was a golden period in the history of the club.

In 1947, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to win the IFA Shield post-independence.[15] In 1954 Mohun Bagan became the first club ever to clinch the double crown of Kolkata — the IFA Shield and Calcutta Football League.[16] In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first Indian football club ever to win the triple crown (IFA Shield, Durand Cup, and Rovers Cup) in the same year.[15]

In 1977, Mohun Bagan played a friendly match against the American club New York Cosmos which featured the legendary Brazilian footballer, Pelé.[17] The match, which took place at Eden Gardens, had a match attendance of 80,000 and ended in a 2–2 draw.[17]

In the 1978 IFA Shield Final, Mohun Bagan was up against FC Ararat Yerevan of the Soviet Union. The match ended 2–2 and both the clubs were declared winners.[18] Thus, the club became the first Indian team, post-independence, to win the IFA Shield while competing against a non-Asian side in the final.

In 1981 Mohun Bagan won their first standalone Federation Cup title after beating Mohammedan 2–0.[19]

Mohun Bagan celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1989. A grand torch rally was held for the occasion with the rally starting from Basu Bati in North Kolkata and covered several important places in Mohun Bagan's history before reaching the Mohun Bagan Ground.[14] The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi arrived for the celebrations and during his speech, he referred to Mohun Bagan as "The National Club of India".[20] Fittingly, Mohun Bagan again won the IFA Shield during this anniversary by defeating Tata Football Academy in the final by a solitary goal.[20] Mohun Bagan became the first club to be honoured by a postage stamp from the Indian Government on their centenary year.[21]

In 1996, AIFF formed the first national-level professional league, National Football League (NFL). Although Mohun Bagan didn't do well in the inaugural season,[22] they came back and won the league in the next season. Mohun Bagan won the league once again in 1999-00.[23][24]

In 1998, United Spirits, a subsidiary of Vijay Mallya owned United Breweries Group, entered into a partnership with Mohun Bagan by buying a 50% stake in the club. They formed a joint-venture entity named United Mohun Bagan Private Limited.[25] The name and crest of the club's football section was thus changed to McDowell's Mohun Bagan.[26] That same year Mohun Bagan achieved the domestic treble by winning the IFA Shield, the Federation Cup and the National Football League for the first time in one season.[27]

In 2001–02 Mohun Bagan won the league for the third time and made a record of joint-most NFL titles with their local arch rival SC East Bengal.[23][24]

In 2007 Mohun Bagan won their first Indian Super Cup title by defeating Dempo 4–0.[28] A year later in 2008, Mohun Bagan players got the opportunity to play against German international, Oliver Kahn in his official testimonial match for Bayern Munich.[28] Along with Kahn, other stars like Ze Roberto and Toni Kroos were also present in the Bayern team.[28] The match was played on 27 May 2008 at the Salt Lake Stadium and finished with Bayern defeating the hosts 3–0.[28]

Mohun Bagan celebrated their quasquicentennial year of existence in 2014. The club organised a huge rally in northern Kolkata chiefly to celebrate the anniversary on 1 June 2015. The celebration was capped off as the club achieved their 1st I-League title after a 1–1 draw with Bengaluru FC in the final game on 31 May 2015. The victory parade saw around 50,000 Mariners lined up along the streets, with prominent ex-Bagan players like P. K. Banerjee, Manas Bhattacharya, Bidesh Bose, Compton Dutta, Shibaji Banerjee and Satyajit Chatterjee involved with the celebrations.[29]

Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to win a match in AFC Champions League and qualify to the ACL Preliminary 2nd Round when they defeated Singapore based club Tampines Rovers 3–1 on 27 January 2016.[30] Mohun Bagan recorded the biggest margin of victory by an Indian club in an AFC Cup away match when they defeated Hong Kong based club South China by 4–0 on 9 March 2016.[31]

Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Pvt. Ltd. was registered as a separate legal entity on 31 July 2017. The new legal entity created was exclusively for all football activities of the Mohun Bagan Athletic Club.[32]

On 28 September 2018 in the Clash of Legends (a match between the teams of retired former players of the respective clubs), Mohun Bagan Legends hosted the FC Barcelona Legends side at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, with a match attendance of 45,000.[33] The fixture concluded with a heavy defeat for the hosts by a scoreline of 6–0.[34]

On 10 March 2020, Mohun Bagan clinched their second I-League title with a 1–0 win over Aizawl FC at the Kalyani Stadium. They were declared champions on 18 April 2020 with 4 matches remaining, which were eventually cancelled by the AIFF due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[35]

Mohun Bagan and ATK FC decided to merge their respective football divisions in January 2020, a move that allowed Mohun Bagan to play in the ISL (which was promoted to the top flight competition in the Indian football hierarchy in 2017–18) and in the AFC Cup Group Stage for the 2020–21 season (qualification achieved by winning the I-League).[36] On 16 January 2020, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG), bought an 80% share of Mohun Bagan Football Club.[37] It was announced that branding and footballing rights of Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Private Limited, would be transferred to the new company and they would field a football team in the ISL with the name ATK Mohun Bagan Football Club.[36]

The new corporate entity was scheduled to launch on 1 June 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was postponed and didn't officially came into existence until 10 July 2020.[38][39]

The current crest of the club is circular in shape and consists of a sailing country boat painted in green and maroon colours. The boat, perhaps signifies the club's place of establishment; northern Kolkata, on the banks of the Ganges. In fact the city was the capital during the later 19th century and a prime trade center of British India, and the main mode of transportation was through the waterways.

The initial crest of the club however consisted of the picture of a royal bengal tiger amidst a dense jungle, probably indicating the famous mangrove forests of Bengal, the Sundarbans.[41]

The club crest is used for all sporting activities, other than football division, of the club. However, since gaining professional status at the start of the National Football League era in Indian Football the crest of the football division of the club has changed mutatis mutandis from time to time due to change of stake holders, all the while keeping the Green and Maroon sail boat a constant.

Salt Lake Stadium or Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan is a multipurpose stadium in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, with a current capacity of 85,000.[46][47]

Before its renovation in 2011, it was the second largest football stadium in the world, having a seating capacity of 120,000.[48]

Aerial view of the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan

Prior to the construction and opening of Rungrado May Day Stadium in 1989, it was the largest football stadium in the world. Reportedly, a total of 85,000 bucket seats was installed in the stadium before the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India.[49]

The record attendance of 131,000[50] was set in 1997 in a Kolkata Derby match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal when they clashed in a Federation Cup semi-final match.

The stadium is situated approximately 10 kilometres to the east of the Kolkata downtown. The roof is made of metal tubes and aluminum sheets. The stadium was inaugurated in January 1984. There are two electronic score boards and control rooms. The lighting is uniformly distributed to facilitate night kick-offs. There are special arrangements for TV broadcasting.[51]

The stadium covers an area of 76.40 acres (309,200 m2). The stadium has a unique synthetic track for athletic meets. It has a main football arena measuring 105m x 70m, electronics scoreboards, elevators, VIP enclosures, peripheral floodlighting arrangement from the roof-top, air-conditioned VIP rest room, conference hall and much more. The stadium has its own water arrangements and standby diesel generation sets.[51]

The Salt Lake Stadium hosts the home games of Mohun Bagan in ISL, and previously hosted its I-League matches. It is also an AFC accredited stadium and thus suitable for hosting Mohun Bagan's matches in continental competitions.

The Mohun Bagan Ground is a football stadium located in the maidan region of central Kolkata, just opposite to the Eden Gardens stadium.[52] The stadium is owned by Mohun Bagan who currently use the stadium as a training ground, although in 2017 the ground had been used for a few of their I-League matches as well. The office and club tent are adjacent to the stadium.

Mohun Bagan Ground – Panoramic View

This ground is mainly used for Calcutta Football League matches. The stadium has galleries on three sides and a rampart on the fourth side. The north side, a contemporary gallery of the stadium, having bucket seats installed, is for the members.[53]

In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first club in Maidan to have floodlights installed in their stadium. The floodlights operated till the mid-1990s, after which they were renovated and inaugurated on 25 February 2016 with an IFA Shield match between Mohun Bagan U19s and DSK-Liverpool Academy.[54]

The Barasat District Sports Stadium, also known as Vidyasagar Krirangan, is a football stadium located in Barasat city, on the outskirts of Kolkata, West Bengal. It is used mostly for Calcutta Football League matches. It is also used for several district-level, state-level and, infrequently, national level tournaments. The stadium currently holds around 22,000 spectators, has 4 floodlight towers and a number of air conditioned meeting and changing rooms.[55] The artificial turf at the stadium has achieved a two-star rating from FIFA.[56]

During the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, the stadium has hosted the home matches of Mohun Bagan in the I-League as the Salt Lake Stadium was being renovated and reconstructed for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Kolkata Derby or the Boro Match is a football match between Mohun Bagan (now ATK Mohun Bagan) and East Bengal. The two clubs currently meet at least 3 times a year, twice in Indian Super League and once in the Calcutta Football League.

Till 19 January 2020, 371 matches have been played between the two teams (353 competitive matches and 18 exhibition games) out of which Mohun Bagan has won 120 matches and East Bengal have won 129 times[77] (including all competitive matches and exhibition games) and rest of the matches ended in draws.[78]

The First Official Kolkata Derby News Report

The first match between the sides was played on 8 August 1921 in the Coochbehar Cup and the semifinal match ended in a 0–0 draw. Mohun Bagan won the replayed semifinal 3–0. The first ever derby goal was scored in that match by Rabi Ganguly and the other two goals were scored by Poltu Dasgupta and Abhilash Ghosh.

The first CFL match between the sides was played on 28 May 1925 in CFL where East Bengal beat Mohun Bagan 1–0. Mohun Bagan holds the record of scoring the fastest goal in a derby (24 July 1976, a 17-second goal from Md Akbar of Mohun Bagan). They have the record of winning 2 consecutive derbies in 2 consecutive days (7 and 8 August 1935) and had the unique distinction of losing only 1 derby in a span of 7 years (1933 to 1939).

A few notable victories include the Darbhanga Shield match on 5 September 1934, when Bagan won 4–1 (Amiyo Deb scored all the 4 goals, the only time a player scored 4 goals in this derby), and a 5–3 win in an I-League encounter on 25 October 2009 (Chidi Edeh scored 4 goals). They have won several derbies scoring 4 goals against East Bengal. One such instance was in Raja Memorial Shield final played on 6 August 1937 in the common ground of both the clubs (Salt Lake Stadium), where Bagan beat East Bengal 4–0 and Asit Ganguly scored 3 goals in that match.[79]

Gostha Pal 1998 stamp of India

Mohun Bagan Ratna is an award presented each year on Mohun Bagan Day to outstanding former players, irrespective of sports played. The first recipient was former captain Sailen Manna.

• I-League
  • Winners: 2014–15, 2019–20
• Durand Cup
  • Winners (16) (record): 1953, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1994, 2000
• Rovers Cup
  • Winners (14) (record): 1955, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2000
• IFA Shield
  • Winners (22): 1911, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2003
• National Football League
  • Winners (record): 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2001–02
• Federation Cup
  • Winners (14) (record): 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2015–16
• Indian Super Cup
  • Winners: 2007, 2009

• Calcutta Football League
  • Winners (30): 1939, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2018–19

Mohun Bagan had elected Sohini Mitra,[83] daughter of then secretary of the club, Anjan Mitra, to its highest decision making executive committee in November 2000, in order to form a women's team. The Mohun Bagan A.C. (Women) joined the Calcutta Women's Football League in 2001. The team played three seasons and won the league once in 2002 by defeating their local arch-rivals East Bengal Club in the final. The team was disbanded in 2003 due to lack of funds, unavailability of practice fields and women’s dressing rooms.[83]

Calcutta Women's Football League:

• Winners (1):[84] 2002
• Runners-up:[84] 2001, 2003

Mohun Bagan Youth Teams are the Under-18, Under-15 and Under-13 team of Indian professional football club Mohun Bagan. The Under-18 team of the club is generally referred to as the Primary Youth Team as it is the last stage of progression for promotion of youth players into the first team.

The first youth team was setup with the leadership of the famous footballer Balai Das Chattopadhyay in 1944 and presently the youth teams participate in the Hero Elite League (U18s), Hero Junior League (U15s) and Hero Sub-junior League (U13s). The veteran coach, Sanjoy Sen, is the Youth Development secretary.

Mohun Bagan has departments for other sports as well.

The Mohun Bagan AC Cricket team participates in various tournaments for varying age groups conducted by the Cricket Association of Bengal. Currently it participates in the CAB First Division League, CAB Senior Knockout, CAB Super League, Bengal T20 League and JC Mukherjee Trophy. The team plays its home matches mostly at the Eden Gardens. They have won over 100 major state-level trophies so far. In past many big names like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and even Sri Lanakan player Chaminda Vaas had played for the club.[85]

• CAB First Division League (27): 1953–54, 1959–60, 1960 – 61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2017-18
• CAB Super League (2): 2015–16, 2017–18
• CAB Senior Knockout (32): 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1969–1970, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1984–1985, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19
• P Sen Trophy (19): 1972–73, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2008–09, 2011–12
• J C Mukherjee Trophy (23): 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–1997, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018-19
• A N Ghosh Trophy (8): 1993–94, 1994–95, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2009–2010, 2010–11, 2011–12

The Mohun Bagan AC Hockey team was started even before the Independence of India. The club was affiliated to the Bengal Hockey Association and participated in the BHA First Division Hockey League and the Beighton Cup. They had players like Gurbux Singh and Keshav Dutt, and had won 40 major trophies until the team was disbanded in 2000.

• First Division Hockey League (25): 1935, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999
• Beighton Cup (13): 1952, 1958, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979
• Aga Khan Cup (1): 1964
• Bombay Gold Cup (1): 1964