 | |||
| Full name | Mohun Bagan Super Giant | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Mariners; The Green & Maroons; Sobuj Maroon[1] | ||
| Short name | MBSG | ||
| Founded | 15 August 1889; 136 years ago (1889-08-15) (asMohun Bagan Sporting Club)[2] | ||
| Ground | |||
| Capacity |
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| Owners | RPSG Mohun Bagan Pvt. Ltd.: | ||
| Chairman | Sanjiv Goenka | ||
| Head coach | José Francisco Molina | ||
| League | Indian Super League | ||
| 2024–25 | Indian Super League, 1st of 13 (champions) Playoffs:Winners | ||
 Current season | |||
Mohun Bagan SG, commonly referred to asMohun Bagan, is an Indian professionalfootball club based inKolkata,West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs inAsia. The club competes in theIndian Super League, the top tier ofIndian football league system. Mohun Bagan is the most successful club in India winning a record cumulative number of265 trophies in their 135 years of existence.They have won more than 5000 matches in their football history, which is highest for an Asian club. The club is most notable for its victory over theEast Yorkshire Regiment in the 1911IFA Shield final, when its players played barefooted. This victory made Mohun Bagan the first all-Indian club to win championship over a British club and was a major moment during India's push forindependence.[3]
The club was founded asMohun Bagan Sporting Club in 1889, which was later changed toMohun Bagan Athletic Club and often shortened to just Mohun Bagan. From 1998 to 2015 the club took on the nameMcDowell Mohun Bagan due to sponsorship reasons. In 2017Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Pvt Ltd was created as the legal footballing entity of Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. On 16 January 2020, it was announced that theRPSG Group (KGSPL), the owners ofATK FC, along with former cricketer Sourav Ganguly and businessmen Utsav Parekh, acquired an 80% stake in Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Pvt Ltd.ATK FC was officially disbanded on 1 July 2020, and Mohun Bagan entered theIndian Super League in the2020-21 season with the nameATK Mohun Bagan FC. In 2023, after severe protests from the Mohun Bagan supporters all around, KGSPL removed the term"ATK" and changed the name toMohun Bagan Super Giant.
Mohun Bagan have won a record 7 Indian League titles — theNational Football League 3 times, theI-League 2 times and theIndian Super League Shield 2 times. They are the most successful Indian club in the history of theFederation Cup, having won the championship a record 14 times.[4] The club has also won several other trophies, including theISL playoffs (also known as the ISL Cup) 2 times, theDurand Cup a record 17 times, theIndian Super Cup 2 times, theIFA Shield 23 times, theRovers Cup a record 14 times and theCalcutta Football League 30 times.[5][6][7] Mohun Bagan have also won theTrades Cup a record 11 times, theSikkim Gold Cup a record 10 times, theBordoloi Trophy a record 7 times and theAll Airlines Gold Cup a record 8 times. The first trophy won by Mohun Bagan was theCooch Behar Cup in 1904, which they have won a record 18 times.
In the2024–25 Indian Super League, Mohun Bagan became the first club to successfully defend theLeague Shield and 7th Indian League title. Mohun Bagan achieved the league and cup double for the first time. In the same season, Mohun Bagan became the 1st ISL club to cross the50 seasonal points.
The club annually contests in Asia's oldest and biggest rivalry, theKolkata Derby against its long-time local rivalEast Bengal,[8] with the first derby match being played on 8 August 1921.[9] Mohun Bagan was one of the founding members of National Football League in 1996, and has never been relegated from the top-tier league of the country. On 29 July 2019, during its 130th year, the club was inducted into the "Club of Pioneers", a network of the oldest existing football clubs around the world.[10]
Mohun Bagan was established on 15 August 1889, withBhupendra Nath Bose becoming the first president of the newly founded club and Jyotindra Nath Bose the first secretary of it. Mohun Bagan played their first match in 1889 against the team ofEden Hindu Hostel students and lost 1–0.[11][12] The initial players to play for the club were Girin Basu, Pramatha Nath Chattopadhyay, Sachin Bandhyopadhyay, Ram Goswami, Sarat Mitra, Hem Nath Sen, Nalin Basu, Upen Ghosh, Manindra Nath Basu, Manomoham Pandey, Probhas Mitra, and the captain Manilal Sen.[13] The first tournament that the club participated in was the 1893Coochbehar Cup, where the team suffered to perform against theBritish Indian Army teams and the clubs likeAryan, National, Town Club, Kumurtuli, Fort William's Arsenal and the famed Sovabazar, which was founded by theFather of Indian footballNagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari himself.[11][13]
The early exits from major tournaments suffered in the 1900s evoked ridicule from its local rivals, including Sovabazar.[11] Soon after the appointment ofSubedar-major Sailen Basu as the secretary, the club adopted European playing methods and players underwent rigorous physical training and followed austere fitness regime similar to that in the army.[13][11] The club also began recruiting players from other clubs, especially from National, where footballers played in boots rather than barefoot.Rev.Sudhir Chatterjee was one of the notable recruitments from National, who was also the only player in the club to play in boots at that time.[13] As a result, the club achieved its first success by winning the 1904 Coochbehar Cup.[14][13]
The following year Mohun Bagan won the Coochbehar Cup once again and reached the Gladstone Cup final, held inChinsurah, where they defeated the reigningIFA Shield championsDalhousie 6–1,[11][13] withShibdas Bhaduri scoring four goals.[15]Maharaja Rajendra Bhup Bahadur ofCoochbehar, impressed by the team, would become a chief patron of the club.[14] In 1906, Mohun Bagan also won the Minto Fort Tournament by defeating one of the majorEnglish clubs in India,Calcutta.[13] But they were disqualified for the 1906 IFA Shield because P.K. Biswas, who had played for both National and Mohun Bagan in the same year, which was considered illegal by theIndian Football Association, the thende facto governing body of Indian football.[13]
Apart from team building, Subedar-major Basu had a remarkable contribution in arranging a new club tent and ground after the demolition of Mohun Bagan Villa in 1891. The club did not have a permanent club tent, but the number of club members increased due to minimal membership fees of at most 8annas.[13] During this period a major meeting was held among the club officials including Jyotindra Nath Basu, Subedar-major Sailen Basu, Dwijendra Nath Basu,Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra and Dr. Girish Ghosh and soon the club tent within Mohun Bagan's premises inMaidan was constructed.[13][11] Mohun Bagan won the Trades Cup four consecutive times between 1906 and 1909, which was the second most prestigious tournament in India after IFA Shield. Mohun Bagan won Coochbehar Cup in 1907 and 1908, and then both the Laxmibilas Cup and the Gladstone Cup in 1909 and 1910.[13][11] In 1909 and 1910, among only a few other native clubs, the team had the honor to play in the IFA Shield for its consistent performances over the recent years. However, they would struggle to match theregimental teams ofBritish andBritish Indian armies in the first two years of participation.[11]
In 1911, Mohun Bagan formed a dominant side for the IFA Shield,[16] which includedHiralal Mukherjee, Bhuti Sukul, Rev. Sudhir Chatterjee, Monmohun Mukherjee, Rajen Sengupta, Nil Madhav Bhattacharya, Kanu Roy, Habul Sarkar, Abhilash Ghosh, Bijoydas Bhaduri and captained byShibdas Bhaduri.[17][18] They battled out against the professionally equipped teams ofSt. Xavier's College, Calcutta Rangers Club,Rifle Brigade andMiddlesex Regiment to reach the IFA Shield final without conceding a goal. The enthusiasm for the final on 29 July 1911 was such that people came from otherdistricts ofBengal as well as from neighboring provinces ofBihar andAssam.[11] TheEast Indian Railway Company ran a special train and additional steamer services were pressed into service to ferry spectators toCalcutta from themofussil areas.[11] Tickets for the match, originally priced at₹1 and₹2, were sold at₹15 due to its immense demand in the region.[11] After trailing by a goal fromSgt. Jackson ofEast Yorkshire Regiment team within the first 15 minutes of the 50 minute-match, Shibdas Bhaduri soon scored an equalizer in the first half and then set up Abhilash Ghosh to score the winner with just two minutes remaining.[17][19] The club became the first native team to lift the IFA Shield, that too in front of an estimated crowd of 80,000, although the referee, H.G. Pooler, estimated approximately 20,000 to be the number.[17][20] Mohun Bagan supporters and the public at large went berserk, even supporters ofMuslim representative clubs like Moslem andMohammedan went to the streets to celebrate and the Muslims fromDharmatala joined the victory procession ofHindus near theThanthania Kalibari.[11][21][22] Based on a popular legend, after the match ended, aBrahmin, pointing to theUnion Jack fluttering atopFort William, asked Rev. Chatterjee, "When will that come down?" and was predicted that the flag would come down only when Mohun Bagan wins the shield next time, which coincidentally came true.[21]
"For the first time in the history of Indian football an Indian team, the Mohun Bagan, consisting purely of Bengalees, has won the Indian Football Association Shield beating crack teams of English regiments. About 80,000 spectators were present on the ground, but most of them could not see the match. By noticing the flying of kites, they were following the actions of the match. And when they came to know about the win of their team, they started tearing off their shirts, waving them, tearing their hairs."[11][17]
"What the Congress failed to achieve, Mohun Bagan has. In other words, they have succeeded in degrading the English."
"The team comprising of the Bengalis won the IFA Shield by defeating three top military teams. 80,000 Indians will remain witnesses to this event. There is nothing to be surprised at. The team that is physically more fit, has sharp surveillance and intelligence, wins."[17]
"The Japanese victory over the Russians did not stir the East half as much as did the match between Mohun Bagan and East York."[23]
"Mohun Bagan is not a football team. It is a tortured country, rolling in the dust, which has just started to raise its head."[24]
After a comparatively disappointing year in 1912, Shibdas Bhaduri handed the captaincy to Habul Sarkar the following year, but they failed to win any trophy that year.[17] The same yearGostha Pal joined the club as adefender at the young age of 16 and soon became known as the"Chinese Wall" for his defensive prowess.[25] In 1914, Mohun Bagan for the first time played inCFL 2nd Division and finished third, but got promoted after a team from the 1st Division withdrew.[17] Mohun Bagan played their first match on 15 May 1915 against Calcutta, which was drawn.[26] Meanwhile, Subedar-major Basu had to leave for his commitments in the military service for theWorld War I and Dwijendra Nath Basu, nephew of Bhupendra Nath Basu and brother of Subedar-major Basu, replaced him as the club's secretary.[27] Mohun Bagan finished fourth in their league debut, while a separate team of the club made to the semi-finals of the Trades Cup and Coochbehar Cup.[27] The next year, Mohun Bagan reached the second position in the league and the following year, narrowly lost the IFA Shield final toMiddlesex Regiment.[28]
On 8 August 1921, the club played its first match againstEast Bengal in the Coochbehar Cup semi-final, which ended in a goalless draw, but Mohun Bagn went on to beat them in the replay by 3–0 and gave rise to theKolkata Derby. In 1922, Mohun Bagan played exhibition matches of football andcricket against a team ofIndians from South Africa.[29] The following year, Mohun Bagan was invited toRovers Cup inBombay,[30] where they lost toDurham Light Infantry by 4–1.[31] After 35 years of long association of Bhupendra Nath Basu with Mohun Bagan came to an end with his demise in 1924, and was succeeded by Sir Rajendranath Mukherjee.[27] The next year, Mohun Bagan became the first civilian Indian team to be invited to the oldest football tournament in Asia,Durand Cup, where they lost toSherwood Foresters in the semi-finals.[32][33] That year Mohun Bagan also failed to win the league and finished second. During this period, the club attended as well as hosted numerous charity-matches all over the country for fundraising as the earnings from memberships were not enough to run the club over a long period.[27] On 28 May 1925, the club played its first official derby and lost by 1–0. In 1929, due to a clash during the match of Mohun Bagan and Dalhousie, all the native teams withdrew their names from the IFA registration, until it was negotiated on the condition that there would be equal number of European and Indian teams in the association.[34]
Renownedbarrister Shailendra Nath Banerjee became the secretary of the club with the turn of the decade.[35] In 1931 the club acquired the services of highly skilled players like,Karuna 'Habla' Bhattacharya andSyed Abdus Samad.[35][36] In 1933, Gostho Pal, who lead the club for 5 years from 1921, got selected as the captain of IFA XI representingIndia for anaway match againstCeylon, but the following year, due to injury, his partner in defence Dr. Sanmatha Dutta led the tour toSouth Africa for a series of matches.[37] 1935 saw a great change in Mohun Bagan's tradition of playing with bare-feet when on the behest of Abdul Hamid, a renowned player fromQuetta, the club decided to use boots mandatorily for the first time.[35][38][39] In 1937, Mohun Bagan originally faced off against a foreign team – an English amateur clubIslington Corinthians, who were on a world tour; but narrowly lost by 1–0.[40] In 1938 the tradition of Mohun Bagan players leading IFA teams continued with Karuna Bhattacharya captaining a side toAustralia, where he also scored againstAustralia as well asFootball Queensland team during the tour.[41][35][36][42] In the late-1930s bothUmapati Kumar and Gostha Pal retired, but the squad got competent reinforcements – Anil Dey in half back position and Satyen 'Mana' Guin in attack, who a right winger was nicknamed"Racing Deer" for his speed along the flanks.[35][43] Mohun Bagan also broke a 29-year-old barren run in Trades Cup, in 1938.[35] Captained by Bimal Mukherjee, Mohun Bagan broke their long wait for a major trophy in 1939 when they won their first ever Calcutta Football League title.[43] Significantly, Mohun Bagan also celebrated itsgolden jubilee the same year, which was marked with celebrations across the city, match organized featuring renowned former players and, medals and jerseys were distributed to the players. From 1933 to 1939 the club won 29 trophies, also out of 23derbies, was victorious 12 times, including 1walkover win, drew 10 matches and lost only once.[44]
In 1941, the secretaryship was given to another famed barrister, B.C. Ghosh replacing Sailen Banerjee, who was elected as the club's vice-president, and the following yearinsurance policies were incepted for the medical aid of the injured players during matches, and a medical board composed of reputed doctors was formed to oversee the medical issues.[45] Atrust board was also formed on the initiative of asolicitor B.K.Ghosh and a barrister Dr. S.K.Gupta for the monetary support of the club.[45] In 1943 and 1944, Mohun Bagan won CFL in succession. In 1944, Secretary Ghosh became the club's vice-president, and Dr. Gupta took charge of the general secretary's office. Meanwhile, a junior football team was formed under the guidance of a former Mohun Bagan player,Balaidas Chattopadhyay, and also efforts were taken to introduce sports likerugby andbaseball among the youth.[45] In 1945,George Curtis, who was anArsenal player stationed in India as a part ofRoyal Air Force in theWorld War II, took charge of the team on request as a mentor for a brief stint.[45][46]
Mohun Bagan won its second IFA Shield on 15 November by defeating its arch-rival East Bengal in the year ofIndia's independence, as foretold in 1911, becoming the first club to win the Shield in post-independent India.[47][45]
In the first year after the independence the club handed the captaincy for two years toTalimeren Ao, who had been a part of the club since 1943 after leaving Maharana Club inGuwahati.[45][48] Ao went on to lead the national team in1948 Summer Olympics inLondon, along with teammatesMahabir Prasad andSailen Manna.[49][50] The club's secretary, Balai Das Chattopadhyay too had to leave for London as the team's head coach and trainer, while Gostho Pal filled in for his duties in the club. Anil Dey was called for the national team as well but stayed behind, and Dhanadaranjan 'Bokai' Sen carried out the captain's duties in the absence of Ao.[51] In the same year, theAfghan monarch invited Mohun Bagan on the occasion of theirindependence celebrations but the club could not attend because of its preplanned agenda.[45] That year, Mohun Bagan successfully defended the IFA Shield againstBhawanipore in the final. Ao's on-field excellences for the club and country caught the eyes ofArsenal and was offered a one-year contract but was turned down by him to later pursueMBBS.[48][52]
"I am proud and delighted that, fortunately, I have witnessed the IFA Shield tournament of 1911. During the freedom struggle, Mohun Bagan's existence inspired the youth. In the sports world of Bengal, Mohun Bagan has still maintained its excellence. Even after 60 years, Mohun Bagan has kept its youth unaffected. I pray that on our beloved Motherland, Mohun Bagan's sporting spirit may survive forever."
On the club'sdiamond jubilee,West Bengal's Chief MinisterDr. Bidhan Chandra Roy was invited to exhibition matches hosted by the club, that included three friendlies againstSwedish clubHelsingborg.[45]Runu Guha Thakurta, a renowned forward, was acquired by the club that year. In 1950, India had received a direct qualification to theFIFA World Cup, with club captain Manna being leading the team, butAll India Football Federation refused to play. Despite acquiring the services of some of the famed players the club failed to dominate in major tournaments, where they were regularly outshined by thePancha Pandav led East Bengal andSyed Abdul Rahim'sHyderabad City Police team.
"Mohun Bagan was my favorite team from my childhood. I was a regular visitor of all Mohun Bagan matches when I was a student at Kolkata. Sometimes, when I didn't have money to buy the ticket, I could not stop myself. I watched the match from the outside. I was always aware of the up-to-date news of the club."
S Manna, T Aao, Abhay Ghosh, and R Guhathakurta got their call for the national team to play theAsian Games, and Manna led the team to thegold medal.[53] In1952 Summer Olympics three Mohun Bagan players including Manna as the captain andMohammad Abdus Sattar, who joined the club from Mohammedan in 1950, was called for the national team. Mohun Bagan won the CFL in 1951 after a wait of seven years, the IFA Shield in 1952, and its first Durand Cup in 1953 by 4–0 againstNational Defence Academy team in the presence ofPresidentDr. Rajendra Prasad.[53] That yearSamar 'Badru' Banerjee joined the team and formed an important attacking duo with Md. Sattar.[53] During Manna's spell as the captain, he was named among the top 10 captains around the world byThe Football Association in 1953, becoming the first Asian to have the honor.[54] In 1954 Mohun Bagan became the first club ever to clinch thedouble crown ofCalcutta — CFL and IFA Shield, and beat theAustrian clubGrazer AK by 2–1 and beat the visitingAfghanistan by 3–0.[53][55] The same yearSubimal 'Chuni' Goswami joined the senior team from the club's youth ranks.[53] Mohun Bagan defended the CFL title successfully till 1956 and won the IFA Shield and its first Rovers Cup in 1956.[56][53] In December 1954, Mohun Bagan lost a match againstAIK featuringKurt Hamrin, by 3–1 and in March 1955, played against the visitingSoviet Union featuringLev Yashin and lost by 3–0.[57][53][58] Mohun Bagan also played againstAustria in 1955, but lost by 2–0, and the following year Mohun Bagan, as a representative from India, touredIndonesia,Singapore,Hong Kong andMalaya, which was organized solely by the assistant secretary of the club Dhiren Dey.[53] For the1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne, Badru captained the national team. While Krishnachandra 'Kesto' Pal was included in the main squad, Chuni, S Chatterjee, and Sushil Guha were selected as reserved players.[53] The following years were mostly unsuccessful as the club failed to win several major trophies, but during this time, Mohun Bagan obtained the services ofJarnail Singh Dhillon from Rajasthan Club andMariappa Kempaiah. The arrival ofThazhatheri Abdul Rahman at the back partnering Singh with Sanath Sett in goal, enhanced the team, resulting CFL and Durand Cup championships in 1959.[53]
Mohun Bagan in 1960, won CFL, IFA Shield, and Durand Cup, losing just once in the 42 matches played in these three tournaments.[59] Based on their dominative performance, they were invited to a number of matches inEast Africa travelling toUganda,Kenya,Zanzibar andTanganyika.[60] On the recommendations of Chuni and Kempiah, Isaiyah Arumayinayigam had joined the team before the tour, and soon earned the nickname"Baby Taxi" for his pace. During the tour, out of nineteen matches 15 were won, 3 were drawn and only 1 was lost, while domestically Mohun Bagan won the Shield consecutively in 1961 and 1962. Under Dhiren Dey, a strict regime was reinstated in the club and under the coaching of Arun Sinha, the archaic2–3–5 formation was replaced by 3-defenders system.[61] Sinha was primarily responsible for properly grooming the likes of Chuni and Jarnail.[61] On 27 April 1962, Gostho Pal received thePadma Shri, becoming the first footballer to do so.[60] The club won its tenth CFL title and IFA Shield that year. Chuni was selected to lead the national team in1962 Asian Games and won thegold medal, with Jarnail Singh playing a pivotal part in the campaign.Ashok Chatterjee, a well-built forward, was another vital addition to the team in 1962. In 1963, Mohun Bagan won CFL again and added Durand Cup to their cabinet after a 2–0 victory againstAndhra Pradesh Police. A new club tent was inaugurated this year by theChief of Army StaffJayanto Nath Chaudhuri and theChief MinisterPrafulla Chandra Sen.[62] 1964 saw Mohun Bagan celebrate itsplatinum jubilee with a year-long celebration involving numerous sporting events.[60] PopularHungarian clubTatabánya was invited to play a series of friendly matches. Fittingly, the club enjoyed massive success in cricket by winning CAB Cricket League, in hockey by winningAga Khan Gold Cup, in football by winning the IFA Shield, the CFL and the Durand Cup by defeating East Bengal.[60] In this period of five years, the star-studded team of Mohun Bagan won twelve major trophies; excluding Coochbehar Cup and Trades Cup.[63]
In the following years additions like Chandreshwar Prasad in 1965, Pungam Kannan in 1967 andSukalyan Ghosh Dastidar in 1969 were made, and Jarnail was made the new captain of the team in 1965. Yet the team lost the consistency soon and, in 1967 and 1968 Mohun Bagan won just two trophies, the Shield and Rovers Cup, respectively. Chuni retired from football in 1968 after spending his whole career at Mohun Bagan; thus, the golden team slowly came to a conclusion.
In 1969Amal Dutta joined and introduced the concept of overlappingfull-backs in4–2–4 to Indian football, for which Bhabani Roy was the primary candidate. With the new strategy in place, Mohun Bagan played scintillating football and captured CFL and IFA Shield with a 3–1 victory againstEast Bengal in the Shield final.[60] Mohun Bagan struggled to assert dominance in the first half of the 1970s and failed to match their arch-rivals regarding team building. Although they won Rovers Cup from 1970 to 1972, they fared poorly in other major tournaments.[64] With foreign recruits becoming common in East Bengal, Mohun Bagan failed to beat them even once between 1969 and 1974 and lost to their arch-rivals in Durand Cup and IFA Shield finals multiple times. The lowest point of their decline came in1975 IFA Shield final when Mohun Bagan lost 5–0 to East Bengal, the biggest margin of defeat in the derby till then.[65] The ignominy surrounding the heavy defeat was that several Mohun Bagan players spent the night holed up on a boat in theGanges as the supporters laid siege to the club tent.[66]
In May 1972, Mohun Bagan toured to newly independentBangladesh to play exhibition matches, where they defeatedDhaka Mohammedan in their first match, but lost toShadhin Bangla.[67] Mohun Bagan did recruit a number of young players in 1974 and 1975 so as to steer the team back to success.Subrata Bhattacharya,Prasun Banerjee andNarayanswami Ulaganathan made the team in 1974 and in 1975, Compton Dutta and Dilip Palit joined. By 1976 Mohun Bagan assembled their best team in years under the helm of Chandra Madhab Roy with the inclusion of a host of players from their two local rivals, including the attacking brothers–Mohammed Habib and Mohammed Akbar, andSubhash Bhowmick.[68] Prasun's elder brother,P.K. Banerjee was employed for the managerial post after his immensely successful spell at East Bengal. Under him, 1976 turned into one of the best years in the club's history when Mohun Bagan won their first CFL and IFA Shield titles since 1969 and added Rovers Cup to their success. Most significantly, Mohun Bagan ended a seven-year wait to win the Derby in 1976 with a 17s header from Akbar, assisted by Ulanganathan. Along withShyam Thapa, other iconic names like Sudhir Karmakar andGautam Sarkar, who was affectionately called"IndianBeckenbauer", also joined Mohun Bagan in the following year.[69] With a domineering squad, Mohun Bagan yet suffered a shocking defeat of1–0 againstITI team in theinauguralFederation Cup, which became the most prestigious title in the country, and also lost the first Derby of that year. But they successfully became the first club to win the"Triple Crown" – the IFA Shield, the Durand Cup, and the Rovers Cup, in that year and as per club traditions, they invited East Bengal for dinner.[64][70]
On 24 September 1977, through the efforts of Dhiren Dey, Mohun Bagan played a friendly match against theAmerican clubNew York Cosmos which featuredBrazilian World Cup winners likePelé andCarlos Torres, andSerie A iconGiorgio Chinaglia.[71] The game, which took place atEden Gardens, had a match attendance of 80,000 along with the Chief Minister of West BengalJyoti Basu.[71] NY Cosmos had taken a lead through Alberto, but it was soon equalized by Thapa, then took the lead through Habib but late in the game, Chinaglia's goal kept the final scoreline at 2–2. One of the remarkable instances in the game wasShibaji's brilliant save to deny a Pelé free-kick.[71][64] This match become one of the prominent events in the history of the club since the 1911 IFA Shield final.
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After the further additions of Manas Bhattacharya and Shyamal Banerjee, Mohun Bagan continued their dominant run in 1978, consisting of a CFL win with record 78 goals in 22 matches and a Federation Cup joint-win with East Bengal. In the IFA Shield final, Mohun Bagan was up against theSoviet clubArarat Yereven featuringArkady Andreasyan andKhoren Oganesian.[72] The visitors with an early lead, struggled with the wet climatic conditions, Mohun Bagan raced to a 2–1 lead with the goals from Habib and Manas, but a late goal from Oganesian prevented a famous win for Mohun Bagan, and both the clubs were declared winners.[73][64] 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.[74]
The dominance in Durand Cup and Federation Cup continued in 1980, meanwhile CFL and IFA Shield was called off after a tragic incident that took place during the Derby on 16 August where sixteen people died in a riot among the supporters insideVivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan.[75][76][77][78]
In 1981 Mohun Bagan won their first standalone Federation Cup after beating Mohammedan by 2–0 with goals fromUlaganathan andThapa and added IFA Shield and Rovers Cup to the collection as well.[75][76] The club made some impactful signings likeKrishanu Dey,Krishnendu Roy andSudip 'Tulu' Chatterjee.1983 was a comparatively unsuccessful year. After six successful years, the club only managed to win Calcutta League, with Manas Bhattacharya being the league's top scorer.[75] As a result, a host of new players were recruited in 1984, and the most notable names beingPrasanta Banerjee,Babu Mani and Tanumoy Basu, and that led to major successes, including Durand Cup and the Calcutta League title. Later,Sisir Ghosh was brought in and he made a successful attacking duo with Mani. In 1986 players likeSatyajit Chatterjee,Aloke Mukherjee and Amit Bhadra were to the squad, and the year ended with the Calcutta League, third consecutive Durand Cup and the Federation Cup after a four-year wait and also qualifying for the1987 Asian Club Championship.[75] Mohun Bagan won twice in the group stage of Asian Championship with 12 goals, half of which were scored by Sisir. However, finishing second in the group failed to progress to the semi-final group. They qualified for ACC once again for the1988–89 season by winning the 1987 Federation Cup and displayed outstanding performance in the group stage, including a 6–0 defeat ofPakistani teamCrescent Textile Mills with a hat-trick from Sisir. Still, in the semi-final group, they lost every game and finished at the bottom.[75] At the domestic level, the club failed to win any major tournament except Rovers Cup.[75]
Mohun Bagan celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1989 with a grand torch rally starting from Basu Bati inNorth Kolkata and covered several important places in Mohun Bagan's history before reaching theMohun Bagan Ground.[43] ThePrime Minister of IndiaRajiv Gandhi arrived for the celebrations and during his speech, he referred to Mohun Bagan as"The National Club of India".[79] Mohun Bagan became the first club to be honored by a postage stamp from theGovernment of India on this historical year.[80]
The centenary celebrations continued till 1990 when Mohun Bagan played against an assembled team that featuredCameroonian World CupperRoger Milla.[81] The club invested significantly to bring back Krishanu Dey and Babu Mani and along with other major signings likeBikash Panji and especiallyI. M. Vijayan, who was being approached by every major club in the country.[82] In 1991 Mohun Bagan made their first-ever foreign recruitment, which was a Nigerian strikerChima Okorie from East Bengal, and later the second foreign signing was another Nigerian striker Bernard Operanozie, who would play as a defender.[83] With the arrival ofSyed Nayeemuddin on the bench, Mohun Bagan defended their Rovers Cup and won another Federation Cup in 1992.[83] The following year Oparanozie got the captain's responsibilities after Bhadra got out with injury, and being the club's first foreign captain, he led the team to win Federation Cup again.[84] Mohun Bagan also famously won overCroatian clubVarteks that year in the group stage ofDCM Trophy.[85] 1994 was a decorative year with four trophies including Federation Cup for the third consecutive time, Durand Cup after an eight-year wait, and the CFL.[86] While in1993–94 Asian Club Championship, Mohun Bagan easily thumpedClub Valencia andRatnam in the preliminary stage, but after a 4–0 away loss toThai Farmers' Bank in the 1st leg of the second round, Mohun Bagan was ejected out of the tournament for refusing to play the 2nd leg inMalaysia. India was amidplague outbreak and Mohun Bagan failed to win any major trophy for the following two years.[87]
In December 1996 theNational Football League began as the top-tier league in the country and Mohun Bagan finished at the bottom in the group stage with just one win and was relegated in the next season, which was later revoked by the organizers.[88] The club appointed their former coach, Amal Dutta and under him, Mohun Bagan began to play in an innovative3–4–3 "Diamond System", which was bolstered by the likes of Abdul Khaliq and Okerie in the front, Mohun Bagan played very offensively, which was rare in Indian football.[89] The glamorous success achieved by Amal Dutta and P.K. Banerjee, who was now coaching East Bengal, had given birth to a significant coaching rivalry between them during the 80s, which reached its peak at the1997 Federation Cup semi-final. It was one of the most anticipated matches in Indian football history, pitting two fierce rivalries – Mohun Bagan and Amal Dutta against East Bengal and P.K. Banerjee – at one stage. With a record 131,000 attendance at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Mohun Bagan's defensive frailties were exposed byBhaichung Bhutia, who scored a hattrick in a 4–1 victory for East Bengal.[90] Despite the loss, fans lauded Mohun Bagan's impressive style of play under Dutta's Diamond System. Regardless, the club steered back to win the1997–98 National Football League with ten matches unbeaten run and only two losses in the league, under the mentorship ofT. K. Chathunni after Dutta left midway due to internal strife with the club officials. Players like Okorie,Dipendu Biswas, Reazul Mustafa andSri Lankan winger Roshan Pereira played pivotal roles in the team.[91][92]
In 1998,United Spirits, a subsidiary ofVijay Mallya ownedUnited Breweries Group, entered into a partnership with Mohun Bagan by buying a 50% stake in the club's football division and formed ajoint-venture entity namedUnited Mohun Bagan Private Limited.[93] For the first time the club was transformed into acorporate establishment from asociety status, and the name of the club's football division was thus changed toMcDowell's Mohun Bagan FC.[94] That season saw them defeatUzbek giantPakhtakor Tashkent in the IFA Shield group stage, and eventually win the Shield. Mohun Bagan signed a host of foreigners for the1999–00 National Football League. Renowned internationals likeUzbek strikerIgor Shkvyrin,Nigerian forward Stephen Abarowei,Thai full-backDusit Chalermsan andKenyan defenderSamuel "Pamzo" Omollo, andBrazilianJosé Ramirez Barreto joined the club. The Indian contingent in the club was kept almost intact from the last season with the addition of the striker R.C. Prakash and full-backDulal Biswas, Mohun Bagan comfortably won the league along with Durand Cup and Rovers Cup with former club player Subrata Bhattacharya at the helm. But at the continental stage, got eliminated with an 8–0 defeat againstJúbilo Iwata in the second round of the1999–00 Asian Club Championship.
In the2001–02 season Mohun Bagan's bid to win back-to-back league titles was shattered when they finished second by just a point behind East Bengal. However, Barreto finished as the league's top scorer.[91][92] Mohun Bagan captured the2001 Federation Cup due to the heroics of goalkeeper Bibhas Ghosh and Barreto, who was awarded the tournament's best player.[95] Mohun Bagan also triumphed in the Bordoloi Trophy after thrashingThai clubRajpracha 4–0 in the final.[96] Mohun Bagan's squad was joined by another Nigerian, Abdulatif Seriki replacing Omollo. On the final matchday, in a must-win situation against the title contender –Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan clinched their third league title with a 73rd-minute header by the Nigerian defender Abdul Wastu Saliu assisted by Basudeb Mandal's corner kick. Under Subrata Bhattacharya, Mohun Bagan became the first club to win Federation Cup and NFL in a season.Bhaichung Bhutia, who had joined the club in 2002 missed out on most of the season to injuries producing a negligible impact on the team.[97] As a result, Mohun Bagan's on-field form slumped remarkably with the club winning just one major trophy in the form of the IFA Shield in these two years. To make matters worse, in 2004 Mohun Bagan's most influential foreigner – Barreto also left the club and Mohun Bagan finished 7th and 9th in2002–03 and2003–04 seasons respectively. The barren period of major trophies also continued next season, as they finished 8th in the league and runner-up in Federation Cup. In 2004, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to launch acredit card in association withICICI Bank.[98]
_Kolkata_India_-_FC_Bayern_Munich_Mohun_Bagan_Oliver_Kahn_1.jpg)
With internal problems slowly subsiding, Mohun Bagan assembled a strong side in 2006 that included Barreto and Bhaichung's return, along with a combative Brazilian midfielderDouglas Silva. The team was further bolstered with top Indian players likeSangram Mukherjee,Deepak Mondal as well as youngsters likeLalawmpuia Pachuau,Lalkamal Bhowmick andSushil Kumar Singh. With the sudden resignation of coach Biswajit Bhattacharya, the Brazilian physio of the team, Robson Mattos was hastily promoted as the team's coach. Bhutia and Sangram's collective heroics led them to their 12th Federation Cup. While the2006–07 league season did not go well with as many as three foreign coaches taking part during the campaign in the form of Robson Mattos and former players – Chima Okorie and Bernard Oparanozie.FIFA presidentSepp Blatter came to Kolkata and attended Mohun Bagan's won 2–1 Derby win on 15 April 2007.[99] On Mohun Bagan Day, the club became the first in India to launch an official mascot which was a tiger named"Baggu". In 2007 Mohun Bagan sealed their first-everIndian Super Cup with a 4–0 victory over the league championsDempo, with Bhutia scoring a hattrick. In2007–08 season, where NFL got rebranded asI-League, Brazilian coachCarlos Roberto Pereira took the reins of the team but failed to win any significant accolade. The following season, Mohun Bagan appointedMoroccan coachKarim Bencherifa, who led the team to a record 10-match winning run in the league and a Federation Cup victory. Still, poor performance in his second league resulted in him being sacked midway through the2009–10 season and putting Satyajit Chatterjee as the interim coach. The only highlight of his second campaign was the 5–3 Derby victory on 25 October 2009.[100]
In 2008, Mohun Bagan players got the opportunity to play againstGerman iconOliver Kahn in his officialtestimonial match forBayern Munich, which also featured Brazilian starZé Roberto. The match was played on 27 May 2008 at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan and finished with Bayern Munich comfortably winning by 3–0.[101] The same yearArgentine World Cup winnerDiego Maradona paid a visit to the club tent during a tour to India.[102]
Mohun Bagan emerged as third ranked Indian team and 611th position worldwide, in the international rankings of clubs during the first ten years of the 21st century (2001–2010) issued by theInternational Federation of Football History & Statistics in 2011.[103] The club though struggled for supremacy in the first five years of the new decade, and the seasons were marked by poor team recruitment, which lacked balance and overpaying for players. The management focused only on recruiting big names while ignoring essential areas of the team which needed bolstering. Some of the foreign stars recruited during this period wereOdafa Onyeka Okolie from Churchill Brothers, with a record salary of₹1.4 crores per year in 2011,Muritala Ali fromMahindra United andTolgay Özbey from East Bengal.[104] These players failed to replicate their form shown at their former clubs and as a result Mohun Bagan teams which were often built around them also suffered. After an illustrious career at Mohun Bagan, Barreto finally made his exit in 2012. A crowd of over 50,000 turned up at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on 6 May 2012 as Barreto played his last match for the club againstPune, where he scored his final goal for the team.[105] The Brazilian ended his career at the club as the first foreigner to score over 200 goals in India for a club with his final tally reading 228 goals in 371 matches.[106]
The club endured a phase of five years without a major trophy between 2010 and 2015, the longest such phase since the nation's independence. Although Mohun Bagan won the 2012Airlines Cup, it wasn't a major trophy anymore. On 29 December 2012, Mohun Bagan was barred from competing in I-League for two years following a decision taken by the league's core committee. The suspension came because Mohun Bagan had refused to take the field in the second half of the match againstEast Bengal on 9 December 2012 due to crowd violence and an unsuitable atmosphere for the continuation of the match.[107] All their results in the2012-13 season were declared null and void and all their remaining fixtures were cancelled.[108] However, on 15 January 2013, Mohun Bagan appealed against the decision and were reinstated, but a hefty amount was fined, their officials were suspended from all the AIFF meetings for a year and, the team would start with 0 points and would play out only the remaining 16 fixtures in the league. This did not affect their win-loss and goal difference record in the table.[109] This led the team in a dire relegation fight but were successful to avoided it. In the following season, the team performed disastrously and finished 8th in the table, scarcely avoiding relegation. A constant incoming and outgoing of coaches saw established names like Subrata Bhattacharya,Subhash Bhowmick and Karim Bencherifa, along with younger coaches likeStanley Rozario andSantosh Kashyap failing to end the precarious state of the team.
Mohun Bagan started the 2014–15 season with Subhash Bhowmick on the bench. However, after finishing as runners in CFL and Bhowmick's lack of mandatory AFC Pro license sawSanjoy Sen taking over the reins before Federation Cup. Mohun Bagan's Cup campaign did not go well as they crashed out of the tournament after a 4–1 loss againstSalgaocar. With the likes ofKatsumi Yusa,Sony Nordé andBalwant Singh often making the headlines, Mohun Bagan made into the final league match away against the title contenderBengaluru with just a point advantage, that ended in a draw, thereby winning their first major trophy in five seasons and the first league title in eleven years. Mohun Bagan had reached theirquasquicentennial year of existence in 2014, therefore club organized a huge rally in North Kolkata chiefly to celebrate the anniversary on 1 June 2015.[110] The celebration was capped off with their league victory achieved the previous month. The victory parade saw around 200,000 supporters, by some estimates, lined up along the streets, with prominent former club associates like P.K. Banerjee, Manas Bhattacharya, Bidesh Bose, Compton Dutta, Shibaji Banerjee, and Satyajit Chatterjee involved with the celebrations.[111] FIFA president Sepp Blatter also congratulated Mohun Bagan in a special letter.[112] At the continental stage, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to win a match inAFC Champions League and qualify for the second preliminary round ofACL qualifying play-offs, when they defeatedSingaporen clubTampines Rovers by 3–1.[113] Mohun Bagan also recorded the biggest margin of victory by an Indian club in anAFC Cup away match when they defeatedHongkongese clubSouth China by 4–0.[114][115] In that edition, the team also reached the round of 16 but got eliminated by Tampines Rovers.
After a breakaway from United Breweries in 2015, Mohun Bagan was once again re-established as a society. Still, in 2017Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Private Limited was registered as a legal entity on 31 July 2017. The new legal entity created was exclusively for all football activities of Mohun Bagan.[116] On 28 September 2018 in theClash of Legends (a match between the teams of retired former players of the respective clubs), Mohun BaganLegends hosted BarcelonaLegends at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, that was attended by a crowd of 45,000, along with one of the directors of Barcelona Pau Vilanova and themayor of KolkataSovan Chatterjee.[117] The fixture concluded with a heavy defeat for the hosts by a score-line of 6–0.[118] The following three seasons since the title win, Mohun Bagan continued their strong contest for trophies, but succeeding to win only the2016 Federation Cup, though foreigners like Yusa and Norde continued to make their presence felt with strong performances, along with single season signings likeDarryl Duffy andCornell Glen. Among the Indians,Jeje Lalpekhlua,Pritam Kotal, andPrabir Das produced some of their best performances for the team. In 2018, the team managed to reach the semi-final of theinauguralSuper Cup that replaced Federation Cup as the country's top knock-out tournament. The followingseason was considerably poor under the new coachKhalid Jamil, as the team finished 5th on the table. The club also pulled out of Super Cup along with the other participating I-League clubs in protest against the unfair schedule favoring theIndian Super League clubs. Therefore, the season concluded with no national trophies in three consecutive seasons. The management appointedKibu Vicuña for the next season, and he gave the leadership duties toDhanachandra Singh andGurjinder Kumar. He promoted several players likeSubha Ghosh,Sk. Sahil andKiyan Nassiri from the youth ranks to the first team and assembled a squad with a blend of youth and experience. Vicuña brought a brand of football to India, which was very similar to that commonly seen inSpain. He believed in playing a possession-based game and incorporated build-up from the back, for which he usedBaba Diawara at the front and supported byJoseba Beitia withNongdamba Naorem andV.P. Suhair running down the flanks. The midfield was dictated byFran González while the defense was held by the strong pair ofDaneil Cyrus andFran Morante. With record 14 matches unbeaten run, Mohun Bagan sealed their second I-League title and fifth national league title on their 16th matchday with a 1–0 win overAizawl at theKalyani Stadium. With four matches still to be played,2019–20 season was terminated by the AIFF due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[119]
During this period, the organizers of ISL, as well as the club managements themselves, made efforts to include Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in the league. Accordingly, on 16 January 2020, it was announced that the RPSG Group (KGSPL), the owners of ATK FC, along with former cricketer Sourav Ganguly and businessmen Utsav Parekh, acquired an 80% stake in Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Pvt Ltd, the legal entity owning the football division of Mohun Bagan. ATK FC was officially disbanded on 1 July 2020 and Mohun Bagan entered the Indian Super League in the 2020–21 season with the name ATK Mohun Bagan.[120] In 2023, after severe protests from the Mohun Bagan supporters, KGSPL removed ATK and changed the name to Mohun Bagan Super Giant.[121]
Mohun Bagan performed well in their first two ISL seasons underAntonio Lopez Habas, but it was in the2022–23 season when they won their 1stISL Cup title underJuan Ferrando by defeatingBengaluru FC 4–3 on penalties.[122] After the win,Mr. Sanjeev Goenka himself announced the removal of ATK and the change of name to Mohun Bagan Super Giant.[123]
Mohun Bagan started the 2023–24 season by winning the2023 Durand Cup after defeating arch rivalsEast Bengal 1–0 in the Final and this was their record 17thDurand Cup win.[124] They started the2023–24 Indian Super League very well but their form declined and Antonio Habas replaced Ferrando as the head coach.[125] After this, they turned things around with strong performances from the players and won their 1stISL League Shield by defeating Mumbai City 2–1 on the last match day of the 2023–24 season.[126] This was the 6th Indian League title for Mohun Bagan. In the2024–25 Indian Super League Mohun Bagan became the first team to successfully defend their League title as they won their 2nd consecutive League Shield and 7th Indian League title with a 1–0 win againstOdisha FC with two matches left.[127] Mohun Bagan ended their league stage campaign with a win overFC Goa with 2–0, shattering numerous ISL and Indian football team records, notably being the first Indian club to reach 1000 points in cummulative Indian top division leagues competitions.[128] As of March 2025, Mohun Bagan have never lost aKolkata derby to arch rivals East Bengal in the ISL and have dominated the fixture significantly.[129] They defeated Bengaluru FC in thefinal to win their second ISL Cup.[130]
The club's crest is circular and consists of a sailing country boat painted in green and maroon colors. The boat perhaps signifies the club's place of establishment; northernKolkata, on the banks of theGanges. The city was the capital during the later 19th century and a prime trade center ofBritish India, and the primary mode of transportation was through the waterways.
The initial crest of the club varied much due to the lack of any requirement for logo registration, hence any club could use any logo during any tournament. Initially the club crest consisted of the picture of aRoyal Bengal tiger laying either amidst a dense jungle, probably indicating the famousSundarbans, or simply apalm tree.[131] The crest with the tiger lying under a palm tree was used during the famous 1911 IFA Shield. A similar logo was used by anotherMaidan based club Rajasthan Club, which incited confusions among the locals, henceforth, in 1920s the club came up with a new logo with the iconic sailing boat.[132]
The club's crest is used for all sporting activities other than the football division of the club. The crest for the football division of the club has changedmutatis mutandis from time to time due to ownership changes, all the while retaining the signature Green and Maroon colours and the sailboat.
After the 2020 rebranding to ATK Mohun Bagan, for the first time the football team crest did not mention the foundation year –1889, which fueled the ongoing controversy over the ownership deal.[133] Later, in 2023, when the football team undergo another rebrand, the new crest incorporated1889.[134]
Priyanath Mitra, the successor of one of the founding families' head Kirti Mitra, had the club's firstgreen-maroon jerseys stitched by a renowned European tailoring shop, Messrs. Rankin on Old Court House Street and since then the primary colours for the homekit has ever been green and maroon.[11] The patterns for the home kit had many variations including halves,stripes and diagonals. Theaway colours of the team is predominantly white with green-maroon imprints.
      1889–1930[a] |  1930–1960 | 1960–1990 |      1990–2010 |
   2010–2014 |    2014–2019 |     2019–2023 |     2023–present |
Note:In numerous seasons, the sponsors have varied according to the tournament the team participated in. The following list includes only the kit sponsors during the national league games.
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Primary sponsor | Back sponsor | Chest sponsor | Sleeve sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–94 | Power | ||||
| 1994–95 | Emami | ||||
| 1995–96 | Pepsi | ||||
| 1996–97 | McDowell's No.1 | ||||
| 1997–98 | Tata Tea | ||||
| 1998–01 | McDowell's No.1[93] | Coca-Cola | |||
| 2001–06 | |||||
| 2006–11 | Reebok | ||||
| 2011-12 | Adidas | ||||
| 2012–13 | Fila | Amra | |||
| 2013–15 | Shiv Naresh | Ripley | |||
| 2015–17 | |||||
| 2017-18 | SRMB Steel | ||||
| 2018-19 | Officer's Choice Blue | ||||
| 2019-20 | |||||
| 2020–21 | Nivia | SBOTOP[135] | TV9 Bangla | CESC | |
| 2021–22 | CESC | BKT | |||
| 2022–23 | Parimatch News[136] | Gigabyte | CESC | ||
| 2023–24 | 1xBat | ||||
| 2024–25 | Skechers | Arun Icecreams | |||
| 2025–26 |
Mohun Bagan plays most of its home matches atVivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, commonly called Salt Lake Stadium, located in the suburb of Kolkata inBidhannagar.[137]
_Kolkata_India_-_FC_Bayern_Munich_Mohun_Bagan_Oliver_Kahn_15.jpg)
Amulti-purpose stadium owned by theGovernment of West Bengal under Youth Affairs and Sports Department, the VYBK primarily hosts football matches, apart from occasionaltrack and field events. The stadium was built in 1984, predominately for matches likeKolkata Derby that featured attendance too huge for the grounds inMaidan to accommodate.
Before its renovation in 2011, it was the largest football stadium in the world, with a capacity of 120,000. Before the construction and opening ofRungrado 1st of May Stadium in 1989, it was the largest football stadium in the world. It is currently the fourth-largest sports stadium in Asia by capacity. The gigantic stadium features three tiers of concrete galleries with nine entry gates, including aVIP gate and 30 ramps for the spectators to reach the viewing blocks.
The Mohun Bagan Ground is a football stadium located in the Maidan region of central Kolkata, just opposite theEden Gardens.[138] The stadium is operated by Mohun Bagan uses it as a training ground, although in2017 it had been used for a few of their I-League matches. The office and club tent is adjacent to the stadium.
This ground is mainly used forCalcutta 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.[139]
In 1977Mohun Bagan became the first club inMaidan 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 anIFA Shield match between Mohun Bagan U19s andDSK-Liverpool Academy.[140] After coming in as the principal investor, KGSPL renovated the stadium in the lines of Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan withartificial turf and upgraded amenities so that it can be used for practice and home matches in Indian Super League and other big tournaments as and when required.
The fans, known asMariners, have the reputation of being very loyal and respectful of the club, whom they often consider to be a mother-like figure in their lives. They have had the distinction of the highest attendance during the club's tenure inI-League.[141] There are severalfanclubs dedicated to the club in different parts ofWest Bengal and beyond. Mohun Bagan had the highest average attendance with an average home crowd of 17,068 in the 2013–14 season, as per theAIFF reports.[142] In the2014-15 I-League season, their vocal support in away matches inPune,Mumbai andBengaluru was arguably unseen in Indian football until then.The Economic Times, a leading Indian newspaper, reported that the club had an average attendance of over 35,000 in their home matches, possibly anI-League record. Over 21,000 attended the league decider of the2014-15 I-League between Mohun Bagan andBengaluru inBangalore, of this"...over 8,000 were away fans, traveling from as far asKolkata,Mumbai andPune to watch the game", noted Sunando Dhar, the CEO ofI-League.[143] Their grand reception when, by some estimates, over 200,000 fans gathered to greet the2014-15 I-League clinching squad (on their way back toKolkata from Bengaluru) has been dubbed as"legendary","unparalleled" and"surreal" by the press as well as football historians.[144] After the induction intoISL, Mohun Bagan continued its reputation of consistently high attendance, and in2023–24 ISL created the records for highest ever total attendance in any single Indian football season, highest average attendance of the season and highest attendance in anISL final.[145]
In 2015 an all-female supporters' group calledLady Mariners, was established which became India's first all-female football supporter's club,[146] and around 2016, anultras calledMariners' Base Camp was formed with its various wings all aroundIndia to modernize fan movement throughtifos,chants,slogans andpyrotechnics.[147][148] The fanclubs have regularly taken part in social causes, such as holding periodicblood donation camps, distributing clothes and blankets to the poor or collecting funds and providing relief during theCOVID-19 lockdown andCyclone Amphan.[149] In an unprecedented event, Mohun Bagan and its arch-rivalEast Bengal's respective fanclubs called for a unified mass protest on 18 August 2024, after the cancellation of the scheduledderby ofDurand Cup on security grounds fearing a civil unrest surrounding therape and murder incident at R.G. Kar Medical College.[150][151][152]
Mohun Bagan fans had historically been noted for lending financial helps to the club during times of struggle. In the early 2000s, a Mohun Bagan fanmortgaged his house to raise funds for signingJosé Barreto.[153] In 2013,Lt. Col. Abhishek Mukherjee donated his entire monthlysalary to the financially distressed club.[154] The passion for the club had at times been found crossing bounds, for instance, in 1975, an ardent fan named Umakanto Palodhi had infamously committed suicide and had written in his suicide note that he will be born as a Mohun Bagan footballer in the next life to take revenge for that0–5 defeat.[155] In 2020, adisabled fan named Tinku Das also had committed suicide for unknown reasons with the Mohun Bagan flag draped around him.[156]
| FIFA (@FIFAcom) tweeted: |
🤩 When you make a billboard of skyscraping prestige & dazzling beauty at@TimesSquareNYC, you know you have become way more than just a club 👏
🇮🇳 Happy #MohunBaganDay2020 to one of the most passionately-supported clubs on the planet 🌏
29 Jul 2020[157]
The impassioned fans of Mohun Bagan time and again has been seen expressing their love and respect for the club on various media and at numerous occasions. On 29 July 2020 (Mohun Bagan Day), Mariners abroad took an initiative to feature the club on the billboards ofNASDAQ atTimes Square, in order to celebrate the day during the times ofpandemic when all the fans in India were under a lockdown.[158][159] This made Mohun Bagan the first ever Indian sports entity to be featured on theNASDAQ billboards atTimes Square.[160] Renowned football fan couple, Pannalal and Chaitali Chatterjee, who traveled abroad to 10FIFA World Cups to representIndia's footballing passion, was quoted on agame show,"You can cut open mywrist. You will see Mohun Bagan running in myveins, and nothing will ever change that."[161]
The takeover of KGSPL of the football division of Mohun Bagan met with a harshly negative response from the Mariners, followed by numerous protests around the city, digitally and on the streets.[162][163] The supporters believed that this takeover, which was popularly termed as"the merger of ATK and Mohun Bagan" would become a mark of conclusion for their 'mother club' and its century-old legacy. Gradually as the air of doubts were cleared, the resentment thawed. However, most of the ultras continued to voice their demands with hard statements.[164][165][166] Ultimately, the principal owner of the football team Sanjiv Goenka announced the removal of"ATK" from the team's name at the end of the season and renaming it as Mohun Bagan Super Giant officially on 1 June 2023 and i.e., how the club again got its name back.[167]
Mohun Bagan had been backed by numerous celebrities among whom includesHemendra Kumar Ray,[168]Manna Dey,[169]Jyoti Basu,[170]R. D. Burman,[171]Sourav Ganguly,[172]Amitabh Bachchan,[173]Uttam Kumar,[174]Mithun Chakraborty[175] and many more.
Mohun Bagan's biggest rivalry is with city rivalsEast Bengal, popularly known as theKolkata Derby.[176] The rivalry dates back to pre-independence India and transcends sports.[177] Culturally, the rivalry has a lot of significance to the people of Kolkata. Mohun Bagan represents people existing in thewestern part ofBengal (known asGhotis), while East Bengal is primarily supported by people hailing from the eastern part of pre-independenceBengal (known asBangals).
Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal, termed as the Kolkata Derby, is the biggest derby in India and is also considered one of Asia's most heated rivalries. Matches between the two teams are often sold out. The celebrations of a derby win are traditionally marked with dishes prepared from eitherilish orgolda chingri, depending on which team wins. The East Bengal supporters celebrate their win withilish courses, being associated to the eastern region of Bengal (nowBangladesh), whereas the Mohun Bagan fans celebrate with courses ofgolda chingri.
Till 11th january 2025, 392 matches have been played between the two teams out of which Mohun Bagan have won 131 matches and East Bengal have won 135 times[178](including all competitive matches and exhibition games) and rest of the matches ended in draws.[179]
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. Rabi Ganguly scored the first-ever derby goal in that match, and the other two goals were scored by Poltu Dasgupta and Abhilash Ghosh.[180]
The firstCFL match between the sides was played on 28 May 1925 in CFL, where East Bengal FC beat Mohun Bagan 1–0. Mohun Bagan holds the record of scoring the fastest goal in a derby (24 July 1976, a17-second goal from Md Akbar of Mohun Bagan). They have the record of winning two consecutive derbies on two successive days (7 and 8 August 1935) andhadthe unique distinction of losing only one derby in7 years (1933 to 1939). During this phase, they won29 trophies. Out of23 derbies they won12, drew 10 and lost only 1 against their arch-rivals. It was a golden period in the history of the club.
A few notable victories include the Darbhanga Shield match on 5 September 1934, when Mohun Bagan won4–1 (Amiya Deb scored all four goals, the only time a player scored four goals in this derby), and a5–3 win in anI-League encounter on 25 October 2009 (Chidi Edeh scored four goals). They have won several derbies scoring four goals against East Bengal FC. One such instance was in Raja Memorial Shield final played on 6 August 1937 at the common ground of both the clubs (Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan), where Mohun Bagan beat East Bengal FC4–0 and Asit Ganguly scored three goals in that match.[181]
.jpg)
Mohun Bagan also has a significant rivalry againstMohammedan.[182] The feud dates back to the early 1930s, when Mohammedan came out as one of the top contenders in theCalcutta Football League, winning seven titles from 1934 to 1941. After that, until 1958, all the CFL titles were won by the three rival clubs, often referred to as theBig Three ofMaidan (Bengali: ময়দানের তিন প্রধান).[183] They also competed against each other in major tournaments likeDurand Cup,Rovers Cup andIFA Shield.[184][185][186]
The rivalry had a communal background in the beginning, with Mohammedan being aMuslim-only club representing theMuslim population of Kolkata, leading to theHindus in the city to show their support for Mohun Bagan and East Bengal despite them not having communal backgrounds. The communal tension faded by the 1960s when Mohammedan began to sign non-Muslim players regularly.[187]
However, by then the club had lost their dominance in Indian football. After the inception of national tournaments likeFederation Cup andNational Football League, Mohammedan was no longer seen as an elite club as they played in the lower tiers of Indian football. Thus, the club rarely met Mohun Bagan and East Bengal at major tournaments as the latter were competing in the top tier.
After winning the2023–24 I-League, Mohammedan was promoted to theIndian Super League and the2024–25 will be the first time in 10 years that the three Kolkata giants will be competing in the same national league.[188] Unlike the ever-flirting East Bengal-Mohun Bagan feud termed theKolkata Derby, the matches including Mohammedan and Mohun Bagan or East Bengal, are commonly termed as Mini Kolkata Derby.[189][190][191]
Presently, a consortium calledRPSG Mohun Bagan Private Limited, whose 80% shares are owned byKolkata Games and Sports Private Limited and 20% shares byMohun Bagan Athletic Club Private Limited, jointly controls the football department ofMohun Bagan AC.[192]RPSG Group founder and chairmanSanjiv Goenka is the principal owner of the consortium.[193]
| Year | Ownership | Football team name |
|---|---|---|
| 1889–1890 | Mohun Bagan Society[194] | Mohun Bagan Sporting Club |
| 1890–1998 | Mohun Bagan Athletic Club | |
| 1998–2015 | United Mohun Bagan Private Limited[b] | McDowell's Mohun Bagan Football Club |
| 2015–2017 | Mohun Bagan Society | Mohun Bagan Athletic Club |
| 2017–2020 | Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Private Limited[116] | Mohun Bagan Football Club |
| 2020–2023 | RPSG Mohun Bagan Private Limited | ATK Mohun Bagan Football Club |
| 2023–present | Mohun Bagan Super Giant |
| Office | Name |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Sanjiv Goenka[196] |
| Board members | Utsav Parekh[196] |
| Gautam Roy[196] | |
| Sanjeev Mehra[196] | |
| Debasish Dutta[196] | |
| Soumik Bose[197] | |
| Sourav Ganguly[198] | |
| Vinay Chopra[198] |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  José Francisco Molina |
| Assistant coach |  Igor Taševski |
 Bastob Roy | |
| Goalkeeping coach | Francisco J. Martinez |
| Fitness coach | Sergio Garcia Toribo |
| Team doctor | Nelson Pinto |
| Team manager | Abhishek Bhattacharjee |
| Physiotherapist | Abhinandan Chatterjee |
| Kaushik Bhuiya | |
| Academy head coach | Deggie Cardozo |
[199]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
| Ranking | Nationality | Name | Years | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Brazil | José Ramirez Barreto | 1999–2004, 2006–2012 | 94[200] |
| 2 |  Nigeria | Odafa Onyeka Okolie | 2011–2014 | 51[200] |
| 3 | India | Bhaichung Bhutia | 2002–2003, 2006–2009 | 25[200] |
| 4 |  Haiti | Sony Nordé | 2014–2019 | 24 |
| 5 |  Australia | Dimi Petratos | 2022– | 23 |
| 6 | India | Manvir Singh | 2020– | 21 |
| Nigeria | Chidi Edeh | 2009–2011 | ||
 Cameroon | Aser Pierrick Dipanda | 2017–2019 | ||
| 7 |  Fiji | Roy Krishna | 2020–2022 | 19 |
| Ranking | Nationality | Name | Years | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | Jason Cummings | 2023– | 5 |
| 2 | Australia | Dimi Petratos | 2022– | 3 |
| Australia | David Williams | 2020–2022 | 3 | |
| 3 | Fiji | Roy Krishna | 2020–2022 | 2 |
| India | Manvir Singh | 2020– | 2 | |
| 4 | India | Sahal Abdul Samad | 2023– | 1 |
 France | Hugo Boumous | 2021–2024 | 1 | |
| India | Apuia | 2024– | 1 | |
| Australia | Jamie Maclaren | 2024– | 1 |
Note: Only senior team players with more than 50 goals have been listed below.
| Ranking | Nationality | Name | Years | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | Chuni Goswami | 1954–1968 | 145 |
| 2 | India | Sisir Ghosh | 1985–1992, 1995–1996 | 67 |
| 3 | India | Manas Bhattacharya | 1977–1980, 1982–1984, 1986–1988 | 64 |
| 4 | India | Nanda Ray Chowdhury | 1935–1943 | 63 |
| 5 | India | Ashok Chatterjee | 1961–1968, 1972 | 58 |
| India | Subhash Bhowmick | 1970–1972, 1976–1978 | ||
| 7 | Brazil | José Ramirez Barreto | 1999–2004, 2006–2012 | 57 |
| India | Kesto Pal | 1954–1959 | ||
| 9 | India | Samar Banerjee | 1952–1959 | 55 |
| India | Shyam Thapa | 1977–1983 | ||
| 11 | India | Mohammad Akbar | 1976–1978 | 51 |
| India | Poongam Kannan | 1966–1968, 1971, 1973–1975 |
As of 31 October 2025[update]
Note: Data collected from 2020
| Ranking | Nationality | Name | Years | Goals | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | Dimitrios Petratos | 2022– | 34 | 95 |
| 2 | India | Liston Colaço | 2021– | 33 | 134 |
| 3 | Australia | Jason Cummings | 2023– | 32 | 76 |
| 4 | India | Manvir Singh | 2020– | 31 | 151 |
| 5 | Fiji | Roy Krishna | 2020–2022 | 24 | 46 |
| 6 | Australia | Jamie Maclaren | 2024– | 17 | 34 |
| 7 | Australia | David Williams | 2020–22 | 16 | 46 |
The eleven players of the 1911IFA Shield winning team are often regarded as theAmar Ekadash (transl. Immortal Eleven).[201][202]
| 
|
Note: The club's competitive record only since 1996, when the first national-level league was incepted, is listed below.
| Season | National Football League (till 2007) I-League (2007–2020) Indian Super League (2020– ) | ISL Play–Offs (2020–) | Federation Cup (till 2017) Super Cup (2018–) | Durand Cup | Asian club competition | Calcutta Premier Division | Other major honours | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts. | ||||||||
| 1996–97 | 5th[c] of 6 (First phase) | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6 | N/A | Quarterfinalists | DNP | DNQ | 2nd | Bordoloi Trophy | |
| 1997–98 | 1st | 18 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 34 | Semifinalists | Runners-up | 1st | ||||
| 1998–99 | 4th | 20 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 19 | 17 | 27 | Winners | Semifinalists | 2nd | IFA Shield | |||
| 1999–00 | 1st | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 36 | 17 | 47 | Cancelled | Semifinalists | Asian Club Championship | Qualifying round 2 | 2nd | IFA Shield | |
| 2000–01 | 2nd | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 40 | 19 | 45 | Winners | DNQ | 2nd | Rovers Cup | |||
| 2001–02 | 1st | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 31 | 19 | 44 | Winners | 2nd of 3 (Final group stage) | 1st | Bordoloi Trophy | |||
| 2002–03 | 7th | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 35 | 25 | 33 | Semifinalists | DNP | AFC Champions League | Qualifying round 4 | 3rd | All Airlines Gold Cup | |
| 2003–04 | 9th | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 23 | 24 | 24 | Cancelled | DNQ | 2nd | IFA Shield | |||
| 2004–05 | 8th | 22 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 19 | 23 | Runners-up | Runners-up | 2nd | All Airlines Gold Cup | |||
| 2005–06 | 3rd | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 10 | 30 | Pre-quarterfinalists | DNP | 1st | All Airlines Gold Cup | |||
| 2006–07 | 8th | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 21 | 21 | Winners | Semifinalists | AFC Cup | 2nd of 4 | 2nd | Indian Super Cup | |
| 2007–08 | 4th | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 22 | 17 | 30 | Semifinalists | DNP | DNQ | 1st | |||
| 2008-09 | 2nd | 22 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 30 | 20 | 43 | Winners | AFC Cup | 4th of 4 | 1st | Indian Super Cup | ||
| 2009-10 | 5th | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 48 | 43 | 36 | Semifinalists | Runners-up | DNQ | 1st | |||
| 2010-11 | 6th | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 34 | 32 | 34 | Runners-up | DNP | 2nd | ||||
| 2011–12 | 4th | 26 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 51 | 32 | 47 | 4th of 4 | 2nd | |||||
| 2012–13 | [d]10th | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 40 | 34 | 29 | 2nd of 4 | 2nd | All Airlines Gold Cup | ||||
| 2013–14 | 8th | 24 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 23 | 24 | 28 | Semifinalists | 2nd | |||||
| 2014–15 | 1st | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 33 | 16 | 39 | 3rd of 5 | 2nd | |||||
| 2015–16 | 2nd | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 32 | 16 | 30 | Winners | Cancelled | AFC Champions League | Qualifying round 2 | 3rd | ||
| AFC Cup | Round of 16 | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–17 | 2nd | 18 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 27 | 12 | 36 | Runners-up | DNP | AFC Cup | 3rd of 4 | 3rd | ||
| 2017–18 | 3rd | 18 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 28 | 14 | 31 | Semifinalists | Cancelled | DNQ | 2nd | |||
| 2018–19 | 5th | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 27 | 28 | 29 | DNP[e] | 1st | |||||
| 2019–20 | 1st | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 13 | 39 | Cancelled | Runners-up | 2nd | ||||
| 2020–21 | 2nd | 20 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 28 | 15 | 40 | Runners-up | Cancelled | AFC Cup | Inter-zone play-off semifinal | Cancelled | ||
| 2021–22 | 3rd | 20 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 37 | 26 | 37 | Semifinalists | DNP | AFC Cup | Inter-zone play-off semifinal | DNP | ||
| 2022–23 | 3rd | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 17 | 34 | Winners | 3rd of 4 | 3rd of 5 | — | |||
| 2023–24 | 1st | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 47 | 26 | 48 | Runners-up | 2nd of 4 | Winners | AFC Cup | 3rd of 4 | 5th of 6 | |
| 2024–25 | 1st | 24 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 47 | 16 | 56 | Winners | Semi Finalists | Runners-up | AFC Champions League Two | Withdrawn | 7th of 13 | |
All stats as per Mohun Bagan official site[203][204][205]
Win Draw Loss
Mohun Bagan have won a record cumulative number of265 trophies in their135 years of existence.Note: The following honours are only theAIFF certified titles that Mohun Bagan have won.[206]
| Type | Competition | No. | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | National Football League/I-League[t 1]/Indian Super League | 7 | 1997–98,1999–2000,2001–02,2014–15,2019–20,2023–24,2024–25 |
| ISL Cup | 2 | 2022–23,2024–25 | |
| Federation Cup | 14 | 1978,1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1992,1993, 1994,1998,2001, 2006,2008,2015–16 | |
| Durand Cup | 17 | 1953,[207] 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1994, 2000,[208]2023 | |
| IFA Shield | 23 | 1911, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2003,2025 | |
| Indian Super Cup | 2 | 2007, 2009[209] | |
| Rovers Cup | 14 | 1955, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2000[210] | |
| Regional | Calcutta Football League | 30[211] | 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 |
| Cooch Behar Cup | 18 | 1904, 1905, 1907, 1912, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1928, 1931, 1935, 1936, 1941, 1944, 1948, 1949, 1962, 1972 | |
| Sikkim Gold Cup | 10 | 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2017[212] | |
| Trades Cup | 11 | 1906, 1907, 1908, 1938, 1939, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1965[213] | |
| All Airlines Gold Cup | 8 | 1989, 1991, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2012 | |
| Bordoloi Trophy | 7 | 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1984, 1996, 2001[214] | |
| Bolded denotes that the tournament is an activeAIFF /IFA recognised competition. Italicised denotes that the tournament is discontinued. Record
| |||
On 10 July 1911, Mohun Bagan had begun their third IFA Shield campaign. The tournament continued for the next 19 days, with Mohun Bagan eventually becoming the champions by defeating the East Yorkshire Regiment team. Thus, for the first time, a native club defeated the British and the British-Indian teams in a football tournament.[215]
Since 2001, 29 July is celebrated asMohun Bagan Day in honor of the club's victory over East Yorkshire Regiment in the 1911 IFA Shield Final. To commemorate the day, the club organises the seasonal award distribution ceremony and, in collaboration with various Mohun Baganfan clubs, numerous programmes, rallies,blood donation camps,charity andexhibition matches, including an annualShibdas Bhaduri XI v Bijoydas Bhaduri XI football match that features former retired Mohun Bagan players.[216]
| Mohun Bagan | 2–1 | East Yorkshire Regiment |
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| Report |
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| Home Stadium | |
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| Training Ground | |
| Rivalries | |
| Culture | |
| Media |
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| Other Sports | |
| Seasons | |
