Mohun Bagan A.C.

History

Mohun Bagan was established in 1889 by three famous aristocratic Bengali families of North Kolkata. Bhupendra Nath Bose was the first ever president of the club. The team won its first trophy in 1904, when they won the Coochbehar Cup. 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.

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

Mohun Bagan played their first match in first division of Calcutta Football League on 15 May 1915 against Calcutta Club. In 1939 Mohun Bagan won their first ever Calcutta Football League title. Mohun Bagan got incredible success from 1933 to 1939 where they won 29 trophies. During that phase, out of 23 derbies, they beat East Bengal 12 times (including 1 walk over win), drew 10 matches and lost only 1 to their archrivals. 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. In 1954 the Green & Maroons became the first ever club to clinch the double crown of Kolkata — the IFA Shield and Calcutta Football League. In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first ever Indian football club to win the triple crown (IFA Shield, Durand Cup and Rovers Cup) in the same year.

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

In the 1978 IFA Shield Final, Mohun Bagan were up against FC Ararat Yerevan of Soviet Union. The match ended 2-2 and both the clubs were declared winners. 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.

In 1998 Mohun Bagan won the treble by winning the IFA Shield, Federation Cup and the National Football League for the first time in one football season. In 2007 Mohun Bagan won their first Super Cup title by defeating Dempo by a score of 4–0. An year later in 2008 Mohun Bagan players got the opportunity to play against German international, Oliver Kahn in his official testimonial for Bayern Munich. Along with Kahn, stars like Ze Roberto were also present in the Bayern team. The match was played on 27 May 2008 at the Salt Lake Stadium.

On 31 May 2015, Mohun Bagan claimed their first ever I-League title (in addition to their previous 3 National Football League titles) after a 1–1 draw with Bengaluru FC, in the league's final match. Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to qualify to the second round of AFC Champions League qualifiers when they defeated Singapore based club Tampines Rovers on 27 January 2016. 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 4–0 in Hong Kong on 9 March 2016.

Colours

The colours of Mohun Bagan have traditionally been green and maroon. In recent times though the club has used a more white dominant away kit for use in away matches.

The current home and away jersey of Mohun Bagan

Crests

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 and 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.

Salt Lake Stadium

Salt Lake Stadium or Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan is a multipurpose stadium in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, with a current capacity of 68,000. It is the largest stadium in India by capacity.

Before its renovation in 2011, it was the second largest football stadium in the world, having a seating capacity of 120,000. 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 will be installed in the stadium before the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in India.

The record attendance of 131,000 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. East Bengal emerged victorious by a margin of 4–1.

The stadium is situated approximately 10 kilometres to the east of the Kolkata downtown. The roof is made of metal tubes and aluminum sheets and concrete. 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.

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, It also houses 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.

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

Mohun Bagan Ground

The Mohun Bagan Ground is a football stadium located in the maidan region of central Kolkata, just opposite the Eden Gardens stadium. The stadium is owned by Mohun Bagan who currently uses the stadium as a training ground only. The stadium has a capacity of around 22,000 spectators at present. The office and club tent of Mohun Bagan are adjacent to the stadium.

This ground, till date, is mainly used by Mohun Bagan for Calcutta Football League matches against smaller and local Kolkata sides. The stadium has galleries on three sides and a rampart on the fourth side. The north side gallery is the member's gallery and is the most modern gallery of the stadium, having bucket seats installed. The east side and south side galleries are still made of a temporary wooden structure and are designated for non-member supporters. The playing pitch is about 100 x 60 in dimension. Just adjacent the stadium, the club tent and main office are located. The club tent consists of a beautiful lawn, with benches known as the Mohun Bagan lawn.

In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first club in maidan to have floodlights installed in their stadium. The floodlights operated till the mid-90's, after which they became fully dysfunctional. The lights were later repaired and renovated and were inaugurated on 25 February 2016 with an IFA Shield match between Mohun Bagan U19s and DSK Liverpool academy.

From the 2016–17 season, Mohun Bagan has decided to pitch for hosting I-League matches at their home club ground, especially with modern facilities like bucket seats and properly functional floodlight towers.

Barasat Stadium

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 featuring local Kolkata sides. 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 different air conditioned function and changing rooms. The artificial turf at the stadium has achieved a two-star rating from FIFA. The pitch is 110 x 70 metres in dimension.

Since the 2014–15 season, 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 under 17 world cup.

Supporters

Mohun Bagan have historically enjoyed the privilege of possessing the biggest fan base in India and one of the biggest, globally. The fans known as Mariners have the distinction of the highest attendance in I-league matches. There are several fan clubs dedicated to Mohun Bagan in different parts of India.

As per official statistics, Mohun Bagan had the highest average attendance in the 2013-14 season. AIFF reported an average home crowd of 17,068. In the 2014-15 I-League season, their vocal support in away matches in Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru was a phenomenon previously unseen in Indian football. The Economic Times, a leading Indian newspaper, reported that the club had an average attendance of over 35,000 in their home matches, possibly an I-League record. Over 21,000 attended the league decider of the 2014-15 I-League between Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC in Bengaluru, of this ".. over 8,000 were away fans, travelling from as far as Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune to watch the game", noted Sunando Dhar, chief executive officer of the I-League in the same article. Their grand reception when, by some estimates, over 200,000 fans gathered to greet the 2014-15 I-League clinching squad (on their way back to Kolkata from Bengaluru) has been dubbed as "legendary" "unparalleled" and "surreal" by the press as well as football historians.

Mohun Bagan fans have also provided financial help to the club during times of struggles. In early 2000s, a Mohun Bagan fan mortgaged his house to raise funds for signing Brazilian superstar Jose Ramirez Barreto. In 2013 another fan donated his entire monthly salary to the club.

Celebrity Mohun Bagan fans include Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Premendra Mitra, Hemendra Kumar Ray, K.C.Nag, Manna Dey, Jyoti Basu, R. D. Burman, Sourav Ganguly, Amitabh Bachchan, Satyajit Ray, Uttam Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Srijit Mukherji, Babul Supriyo, Bimal Kar and many more.

Mohun Bagan Day

Mohun Bagan Day has been celebrated since 2001 on 29 July each year in honour of Mohun Bagan's victory over East Yorkshire Regiment in the 1911 IFA Shield Final.

Mohun Bagan Ratna

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

Rivalries

Mohun Bagan's biggest rivalry is with city rivals East Bengal and is popularly known as the Kolkata Derby. Mohun Bagan also had a keen rivalry with Mohammedan SC till 2000s but the importance of this match has fizzled out in past one and half decades.

Kolkata Derby

Kolkata Derby is the football match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. The two clubs currently meet at least 3 times a year, twice in I-League and once in the Calcutta Football League. Apart from these two leagues, the clubs may face each other in the Federation Cup or other smaller competitions. The rivalry between the two teams started from 1921 and features in the FIFA's classic derby list. The first derby got played in the knock out round of Coochbehar cup on 8 August 1921 which ended in a goalless draw. In the replaye match, which was played on 10 August 1921 Mohun Bagan outplayed East Bengal 3–0 courtesy goals scored by Rabi Ganguly, Paltu Dasgupta and A.Ghosh. Till 12th feb 2017, 359 kolkata derbies got played, out of which Mohun Bagan won 114 matches, drawn 113 matches and lost 127 matches. Mohun Bagan has had several milestones in the derby. They won the replay match of the first ever derby played on 10 August 1921 by 3–0. Mohun Bagan holds the record of scoring the fastest goal in a derby (24 July 1976, a 17-second goal from Md Akbar on behalf of Mohun Bagan). They won 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). Mohun Bagan recorded big victory margins of 3 or more goals over their archrivals on numerous occasions. A few notable victories include the Darbhanga Shield match on 5 September 1934, when they won 4–1 (Amiyo Deb scored all the 4 goals); the 4–0 victory in the Raja Memorial Shield on 6 August 1937 (Asit Ganguly scored a hattrick), and the 5–3 win in an I-league encounter on 25 October 2009 (Chidi Edeh scored 4 goals).

First-team squad

As of 4 January 2017.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Honours

Till 2016, Mohun Bagan has won 248 trophies, which is highest by any Indian Club. The following lists the AIFF run national titles that Mohun Bagan have won.

National

I-League

Winners (1): 2014–15 Runners-up (2): 2008–09, 2015–16

National Football League (until 2006–07 season)

Winners (3): 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2001–02 Runners-up (1): 2000–01

Federation Cup

Winners (14): 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2015–16 Runners-up (5): 1997, 1983, 1985, 2004, 2010

Super Cup

Winners (2): 2007, 2009 Runners-up (2): 1998, 1999

International

AFC Champions League

Group Stage (2): 1987, 1988-89 Preliminary Rounds (4): 1994-95, 1995, 1999-2000, 2016 Preliminary Qualifiers (1): 2002-03

AFC Cup

Group Stage (2): 2007, 2009 Round of 16 (1): 2016

Last updated: 24 May 2016
Source: mohunbaganac.com