Football in Kolkata

Mohun Bagan taking on Bayern Munich at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Association football is one of the most popular sports in Kolkata, West Bengal.^[1] Kolkata is known to be the hub of Indian football with the two most supported teams in the country being based within the city – East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Both teams play against each other in the Kolkata derby.^[2] The city is also home to the biggest stadium in India, the Salt Lake Stadium, which as of 2015 has a capacity of 68,000. The record attendance of 131,000 ^[3] was set in 1997 in a match between East Bengal FC and Mohun Bagan AC where East Bengal FC won 4-1.

Footballers who have visited Kolkata

Being India's football capital,many international footballing personalities have graced Kolkata with their visit. In 1977 Mohun Bagan played a friendly match against the famous North American Soccer League club New York Cosmos which featured Pelé .The match, which took place at Eden Gardens , had a match attendance of 80,000. The match ended 2-2. Others to visit Kolkata were Argentinean footballing legends Diego Maradona and current Argentinean footballing star Leo Messi. German legends like Franz Beckenbauer and Oliver Kahn have also made their visit. Best goalkeeper in football history, Russian footballer Lev Yashin made his first visit in 1955 and then in 1973. English World Cup winning legend Bobby Moore was the chief guest during the 1984 Nehru Cup. Emeka Ezuego,the Nigerian World Cupper played for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting. Majid Bishkar the Iranian World Cupper played for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting from 1980 - 1986. Cameroon footballing legend, Roger Milla came to play for Diamond Club in some exhibition matches in the Centenary Celebration of Mohun Bagan. Uruguay football captain Diego Forlan visited Kolkata in 2010. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge visited in 2010. Julian Caminho visited Kolkata twice—first in 1988 to play for East Bengal and again in 2011. MacDonald Mukansi played for East Bengal in 2007.

Others who also visited were Terry Paine,Carlos Alberto Torres, Enzo Francescoli, Valencia Ramos,Jorge Burruchaga, Ricardo Gareca,László Kiss,Nicky Butt,Włodzimierz Smolarek,Andrzej Buncol, Eusébio,Ronald Koeman,Paul Breitner.

Footballers from West Bengal

The state of West Bengal has contributed many legends to Indian football, such as

• Chuni Goswami, first Padma Shri awardee, awarded best striker of Asia in 1962.
• Gostho Pal , footballer. Member of the Mohun Bagan team that won the IFA shield against a British team in the pre- independence period.
• Krishanu Dey ,footballer, known as the "Indian Maradona".
• Mohammed Salim, first player from the Indian subcontinent to play overseas, in the year 1936 for the Scottish Club Celtic F.C..
• Pradip Kumar Banerjee, named Indian Footballer of the 20th Century by FIFA.
• Shailen Manna , Footballer, the only Asian Footballer ever to be named among the 10 best Captains in the world by the English FA in 1953.
• Subrata Paul , footballer playing for the Indian team,first Indian goalkeeper to play professionally for a foreign club in 1st division.
• Sudip Chatterjee , footballer, considered among the finest in Indian football,declared AIFF player of the decade in 1994.

In international footballing, Robin Dutt is the manager of Bundesliga club, Werder Bremen.

Arjuna award winners

The Arjuna award is the second highest award in the sporting category of India. Players from Bengal form the majority of winners. They are :

1.P.K Bannerjee 2.Chuni Goswami 3.Arun Lal Ghosh 4.Prasun Banerjee 5.Sudhir Karmakar 6.Shanti Mullick 7.S. Bhattacharjee 8.Deepak Kumar Mondal

West Bengal football team

The West Bengal football team is an Indian football team representing West Bengal in the Santosh Trophy.

They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals 43 times, and have won the trophy 31 times, (the most by any team). Prior to 1972, the team competed as 'Bengal'.

Honours

Winners: 31 1941-42, 1945–46, 1945–46, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1962–63, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982-83 (Shared with Goa), 1986–87, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2010–11, 2011-12

Runners-up : 12 1944-45, 1946–47, 1946–47, 1960–61, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1974–75, 1985–86, 2006–07, 2008–09

See also

• Football in Greater Manchester

References