Glory of Bengal Football

The popularity of Bengal football and the emotional attachment of Bengali people to football are quite well-known all over the world. Bengal football has many glorious histories, like the existence of one of the oldest football clubs in the world and the oldest of India “Mohun Bagan Athletic Club”. The enormous success of the club along with its famous rivalry with East Bengal is certainly one of the primary reasons for the fame of the Bengal football. The remarkable victories of Mohun Bagan AC in 1911 over the British team “East Yorkshire Regiment’ in the IFA Shield final was indeed a historic event for the Indian Football. Besides, being the first club of the country and based in Bengal, Mohun Bagan’s contribution to Indian football definitely shined up the popularity of Bengal football.

In 1977, the exhibition match between Mohun Bagan AC and New York Cosmos and the visit of Football King “Pele” in Kolkata, was an evening to be remembered forever in Indian football and a golden moment for Bengal football as well.

Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, which was the second largest football stadium having a seating capacity of 1, 20,000 before its recent renovation in 2017 has a significant role in popularising Bengal and Indian Football in the football arena. Taking into consideration of the U-17 FIFA world, which was also a remarkable sports event that took place in India this year, the seating capacity of “Salt Lake Stadium” was restricted to 66,687.

Another Kolkata giant East Bengal too has some significant contribution to football, making the histories of Bengal and Indian football even more illustrious. East Bengal is the first football club in India who brought International success to the country by winning the ‘Asean Cup’ in 2003 defeating Thailand’s BEC Tero Sasana by 3-1 in the final. It was undoubtedly a very special moment and will always be cherished fondly by any football fan in India.

In addition to the recently concluded U-17 FIFA world cup final which was held at Kolkata “Salt Lake Stadium” on 29/10/2017, certainly something to be memorized for lifelong. Having the opportunity to host the biggest sports event of India for all time was something really special for Bengal. FIFA president “Gianni Infantino” lauded Indian for organizing the tournament in such an organised manner, he has also added, “so far it was the highest attended U-17 FIFA world cup”. Javier Ceppi the LOC on the other hand gave 10 out of 10 for Salt Lake Stadium and extended thanks to West Bengal Government for their enormous effort to arrange all the work in time and best possible manner.

The Kolkata derby between the two giants is something without which not only Bengal but the Indian football will remain insignificant. Around 80,000 – 1, 10,000 people general turn on to witness the biggest derby of Asia.  The clash between the top rivalries of Kolkata is considered to be one of the best derbies in the world.

Besides, Bengal’s very own IFA Shield, which is organised by Bengal Football Association excessively, has a very significant history in the globe. As the IFA Shield, is the Fourth Oldest Cup in the world starting from 1893.

Calcutta Football League (CFL) which is too organized by The Bengal football association, regarded to be one of the oldest football competitions in the world. In 1898 for the first time CFL was organized by IFA and ever since it takes place once in a year. There are around six divisions in the CFL League based on the quality of the teams. On an average 200 teams from Kolkata every year take part in the League. Participation wise CFL is quite popular and is considered to be one of largest Football competition of the nation.

The recent triumph of Bengal football team in India’s one of the most prestigious national football tournaments “Santosh Trophy” after six long years was definitely something to be noted. The top most rivalries of Indian football “Bengal and Goa” clashed in the 2017 Santosh trophy final at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim, Goa. After having a goalless full time match, finally on the two hours mark in the extra time Manvir’s perfect left footed shot was good enough to lift the 71^st Santosh Trophy by the Bengal team.

Winning the 71^st Santosh Trophy and for the 32^nd time in the history of the tournament certainly proved Bengal, worthy and the best in Indian football. The outstanding performance of Provat Lakra the defender and Sankar Roy the custodian of Bengal took them to a different level and expected to be the future star of Indian football.