Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club is an Indian football club based in Kolkata. The club was originally known as the East Bengal Club. In 1998, the name of the club was changed from the East Bengal Club to the Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club as United Breweries obtained a 50% stake in the club and renamed it to promote their Kingfisher beer.
East Bengal also has a multi-collaborative tie-in with Leicester City FC, UK for an exchange program with junior footballers, in respect to coaching techniques, sports science, and other developmental programs.East Bengal club was regarded as "The Best Club of India" by F.A(The Football Association)of England in 1951. East Bengal was the first Indian club to win IFA Shield for three consecutive years(1949-'51).
East Bengal has a record of winning Kolkata League for six years in a row(1970-1975).It is the first club in India to win back to back National Football League titles(2003 & 2004).The club has a record of winning 23 trophies from Indian capital New Delhi.(Durand Cup:16 times and DCM Trophy:7 times).
In 1970,East Bengal created a history by defeating Pas Club(Iran) 1-0 in IFA Shield final. It was the first victory of an Indian club over foreign team since the independence. East Bengal has a glorious past record against the foreign clubs. It is the only club in India to participate in Asian Club Championship/AFC Cup 10 times.
In 2003 July,East Bengal created sensation not only in India but in the whole continent also when they won LG Asean Cup from Jakarta beating BEC Tero Sasana in the finals.
Stadium
As its homeground, the club boasts of the enigmatic Yuba Bharati Krirangan, or the Salt Lake Stadium, Asia's biggest composite stadium. It is the biggest of its kind in Asia. The Salt Lake Stadium has seating arrangement for 120,000 people at a time. Its training ground is a smaller East Bengal tent near the maidan.
Rivals
Out of matches East Bengal have played with their arch rival Mohun Bagan, East Bengal have won 108 times and Mohun Bagan have won 80. The very first clash resulted in an 1-0 win for East Bengal with Nepal Chakraborty scoring the all-important goal.[1] The biggest ever margin in this duel is another East Bengal win by a margin of 5-0 in the IFA shield in 1975. Baichung Bhutia has the unique distinction of scoring the only hatrick in the Derby Clashes when he registered the same in East Bengal's 4-1 triumph in 1997 Federation Cup Semi Final.East Bengal has won 108 derby matches against their arch-rival.And Mohun Bagan has tasted victory against the Red & Gold brigade for 80 times.[2]
Players
As of 4 August 2008 [3]
No. Position Player
24 GK Subrata Pal
1 GK Abhra Mondal
31 GK Arnab Das Sarma
GK Avijit Ghosh
27 DF Irungbam Surkumar Singh
20 DF Poibang Poshna
4 DF Suley Musah
33 DF Saikat Saha Roy
2 DF Muttath Suresh
12 DF Anupam Sarkar
DF Saheb Ali Mondal
3 DF Nirmal Chetri
5 DF Khelemba Singh
19 DF Syed Rahim Nabi
29 DF Saumik Dey
17 DF Jiban Singh
14 MF Mehtab Hossain
MF Mumtaj Alam
6 MF Dipankar Roy
22 MF Sanju Pradhan
No. Position Player
26 MF Mehrajuddin Wadoo
7 MF Jayanta Sen
32 MF Goutam Khujur
9 MF Alvito D'Cunha
15 MF Dharamjit Singh
8 MF Renedy Singh
28 MF Kima Malsamma
30 FW Edmilson Marques Pardal
11 FW Sunil Chetri
10 FW Ashim Biswas
25 FW Parveen Kumar
*** Subject to clearance from AIFF Player Status Committee
Coach: Stanley Rozario
Goalkeeper Coach: Debashis Mukherjee
Physical Trainer: Neuzy Jean-Marie
Team Doctor: Dr. S R Dasgupta
Physiotherapist: Rajesh Basak
Team Manager: Swapan Ball
Noted former players
1920s: Mona Dutta, Nepal Chakraborty, Surja Chakraborty, Haran Saha, Dulal Guha Thakurta
1930s: Mohammed Salim, Murgesh, Somana, Lakshminarayan, Majid
1940s: Apparao, Pagsley, Byomkesh Bose, P. Venkatesh, Sunil Ghosh, S.Nayyar, Paritosh Chakraborty, PBA Saleh
1950s: Masood Fakri, T. Balaram, Taj Mohammed, K.P.Dhanraj, Ahmed Khan, Minilal Ghatak, S.Roy-Paltu, Kittu, Gokul, Sanat Sett, Moosa, Hassan, Ram Bahadur
1960s: Aroon Ghosh, Sukumar Samajpati, Peter Thangaraj, Prasanta Sinha, Chandan Bannerjee, Ashim Moulik, Syed Naeemuddin, Parimal Dey, Md. Habib, Santo Mitra, Shyam Thapa, Sudhir Karmakar, Subhash Bhowmick
1970s: Samaresh Chowdhury, Shyamal Ghosh, Ashokelal Banerjee, Gautam Sarkar, Surajit Sengupta, Bhaskar Ganguly, Monoranjan Bhattacharya, Prasanta Banerjee, Harjinder Singh
1980s: Majid Baskar, Jamshed Nassiri, Sudip Chatterjee, Alok Mukherjee, Tarun Dey, Krishanu Dey, Bikash Panji, Emeka Ezeugo, Balai Mukherjee, Cheema Okeri, Swarup Das
1990s: John Devine, Bhaichung Bhutia, Tushar Rakshit, Kuljit Singh, Samuel Omollo, Carlton Chapman
2000s: Dipak Mondal, Suley Musah, Surkumar Singh, Alvito D'Cunha, Muttah Suresh, Subrata Pal, Mike Okoro, Douglas Da Silva
[4]
Performance record
No Tournament Records Championship Years Comments
1 LG ASEAN Club Cup Champions Once Champions: 2003 Only Indian club (as an invitee) to have won this tournament till date
2 National Football League Champions Thrice,
Runners-Up Thrice
Champions: 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04
Runners-Up: 1997-98, 1998-99, 2005-06
Maximum number of times till date
3 Federation Cup Champions 5 times, Runners-Up 7 times Champions: 1978, 1980, 1985, 1996, 2007
Runners-Up: 1984, 1986, 1992, 1995-98
4 Super Cup Champions Twice,
Runners-Up Twice
Champions: 1997, 2005-06
Runners-Up: 2003 , 2008
Tournament Between National league and Federation Cup Champions. Maximum number of times till date
5 Calcutta Football League — Premier Division Champions 31 times Champions: 1942, 1945-46, 1949-50, 1952, 1961, 1966, 1970-75, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1987-89, 1991, 1993, 1995-96, 1998-2000, 2002-04, 2006 Maximum number of times till date
6 IFA Shield Champions 27 times Champions: 1943, 1945, 1949-51, 1958, 1961, 1965-66, 1970, 1972-76, 1981, 1983-84, 1986, 1990-91, 1994-95, 1997, 2000-02 Maximum number of times till date
7 Durand Cup Champions 16 times Champions:1951, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1978, 1982, 1989-91, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2004 Maximum number of times till date
8 Rovers Cup Champions 10 times Champions:1949, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1972-73, 1975, 1980, 1990, 1994
9 DCM Trophy Champions 7 times Champions:1950, 1952, 1957, 1960, 1973-74, 1983 Maximum number of times till date
10 All Airlines Gold Cup Champions 7 times Champions:1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001 Maximum number of times till date
11 Bordoloi Trophy Champions 5 times Champions:1968, 1972-73, 1978, 1992
12 McDowell's Cup Champions 3 times Champions:1995, 1997, 2000 Maximum number of times till date
13 Sait Nagjee Trophy Champions 2 times Champions:1968, 1986
14 Hercules Cup Champions 1 time Champions:1920
15 Darjeeling Gold Cup Champions 1 time Champions:1976
16 Sanjay Gandhi Gold Cup Champions 1 time Champions:1984
17 Stafford Cup Champions 1 time Champions:1986
18 Wai-Wai Cup, Nepal Champions 1 time Champions:1993
19 Coca Cola Cup Champions 1 time Champions:1996
20 Independence Day Cup Champions 1 time Champions:2002
21 San Miguel International Cup, Nepal Champions 1 time Champions:2004-05
Performance in AFC Competitions
Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances
1986: Group Stage
1999: First Round
AFC Cup: 3 appearances
2004: Quarter-Finals
2005: Group Stage
2008: Group Stage, 3rd In Group
Asian Cup Winners Cup: 5 appearances
1991/92: Second Round
1993/94: Second Round
1994/95: First Round
1995/96: Second Round
1997/98: Second Round
Sponsors
Main Sponsor: Kingfisher (Parent Company United Breweries Group is 50% stake holder in the Club).
Co-sponsor: Playwin
Co-sponsor: Peerless General Finance & Investment Co. Ltd
Outfit Sponsor: Reebok
Medical Support: MEDICARE SERVICES
References
1st encounter with Mohun Bagan
East Bengal Football Club - East Bengal Vs. Mohun Bagan
Current squad
Famous Players who played for East Bengal
External links
Official East Bengal Club Website
