Hyderabad: East Bengal, which is counted among India’s most historic football clubs, is celebrating its centenary year in 2020.
“A centenary of spunk” was the tagline of the club’s celebrations, which started last year. Being aggressive and having a desire to prove naysayers wrong are leitmotivs that run through East Bengal, a club whose emblem is the ‘Mashal’ or torch. East Bengal is more than a football club, specially for the supporters from ‘Purba Bangla’ (eastern Bengal, now Bangladesh). Even the people of Bangladesh connect emotionally with the club.
Origin
On July 28, 1920, when Jorabagan Club dropped two players from the team against Mohun Bagan, ostensibly because they were from eastern Bengal, its official Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri decided to start a new club. The motto behind the creation of EBFC was to stop the discrimination against players from different part of Bengal. Suresh along with the Maharaja of Santosh (after whom the Santosh Trophy is named) and Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri formed East Bengal on August 1, 1920.
East Bengal's first major trophy was ‘Hercules Cup’ and the players wore red and gold jerseys in the event.
They entered the second division of Indian Football Association’s (IFA) league in place of Tajhat Club and ended their season at the third spot.
Major Achievements
In 1924 East Bengal became joint winners of the Second division along with Cameroon’s B. However, Cameroon's B was promoted in the top division and East Bengal had to stand in contention for promotion. During those days, only two Indian clubs were allowed to play in the top division and with Mohun Bagan and Aryans already in it, the chances of being promoted were very dim. And later when the rules changed, East Bengal had to face opposition from Mohun Bagan and Aryans for their inclusion.
After getting promoted in the first division, East Bengal defeated Mohun Bagan 1-0 in the first match between the teams on May 28, 1925.
East Bengal won their maiden league title in 1942 and followed it up with the IFA Shield in the next. They completed their double – league title and IFA shield in 1945 and recorded their highest margin of victory 11-0 against B.B.C.I. Railway with Pagsley scoring eight goals. The club won IFA shield thrice between 1949-51.
The club acquired the status of defeating foreign teams with ease as they downed Chinese Olympic XI 2-0 in 1948, FC Gotheburg (Sweden) 1-0 in 1951 and in 1956 an IFA XI. Their best achievement has been beating PAS Club (Iran) 1-0 in the I.F.A. Shield final 1970 and also beating Pyongyang City (North Korea) in 1973.
On July 13, 1997, 1.31 lakh people watched Bhutia score a hattrick as East Bengal destroyed Mohun Bagan 4-1 at the Salt Lake stadium.
In the National Football League which started in the 1996-97 season, East Bengal finished third. They finished runners-up in the next two seasons. They won their first NFL I the fifth edition under Manoranjan Bhattacharya.
The club beat Iraq's Al Zawara in Asian Cup winners Cup football tournament at Kolkata by a 6-2 margin. They won the ASEAN Cup by beating Tero Sassana in Jakarta 2003. East Bengal have made three appearances in the AFC Cup and reaching the quarterfinals stage was their best achievement in 2004.
East Bengal become the first team to win the Calcutta League six times in a row from 1970, a record they bettered to eight from 2010-17.
Club crisis in recent time
Blindly rushing into an agreement with Quess Corp that transferred all sports rights to the corporate partner, East Bengal faced the humiliating prospect of being denied the right to play football at all. The Quess-East Bengal three-year deal looked trendy and fashionable. In reality, the ‘marriage’ proved highly unsuccessful and worst. The company wanted East Bengal to buy out the 70 per cent shares Quess are holding – worth around Rs. 8-10 crore. East Bengal and their investors Quess parted ways on May 31. But the sporting rights are still with Quess East Bengal Football Club Private Limited. It was learnt that Quess will transfer the sporting rights back to the club soon.
East Bengal received the No Objection Certificate (NOC) on 17th July from its previous investor Quess Corp, thereby allowing the club to bring new investors on board.
East Bengal has for long been eager to enter the Indian Super League (ISL), after its arch-rival Mohun Bagan merged with ATK to join the ISL, and Friday's development could prove to be a major boost in that regard.
Players with the most matches played for East Bengal
- Mehtab Hossain - Current club: Retired
- Lalrindika Ralte - Current club: East Bengal
- Arnab Mondal - Current club: Without Club
- Cavin Lobo -Current club: Punjab FC
- Harmanjot Khabra - Current club: Bengaluru FC
Recent Top players of the club
- Samad Mallick - Position: Right-Back
- Abhishek Ambekar - Position: Left-Back
- Asheer Akhtar - Position: Right-Back
- Mirshad K. Michu - Position: Goalkeeper
- Mithun Samanta - Position: Goalkeeper
