2000s: The Club Today

The club’s biggest international triumph came when they won the ASEAN Cup in Jakarta in 2003, becoming the only Indian club till date to win any international tournament. It has unarguably been India’s best performing club on foreign soil.

The club also tasted their maiden triumph on the Indian National Football League, which they went on winning on 2 other occasions under the tutelage of its former star, Mr. Subhash Bhowmik.

No club has won the Calcutta League, the I.F.A. Shield, the Durand Cup, the Rovers Cup and the National Football League (instituted in 1996, EB winning it thrice) more often than East Bengal. The only major tournament where it is not the most frequent winner is the Federation Cup. The club has won it on 6 occasions (including the last edition held in 2009), with Mohun Bagan winning it on 12 occasions. Statistics sometimes do tell a telling tale- and the ones mentioned here cement East Bengal’s place as India’s most successful football club in India.

Today, East Bengal is one of the country’s biggest clubs, with a fan base spread across major cities, towns and villages – not just in West Bengal, but all over India, a feat well acknowledged by the governing body of the Asian Football, the AFC.. It commands support amongst a significant portion of the Bengali Indian Diaspora as well, which gave birth to the formation of EAST BENGAL the Real POWER, a first of its kind fan club with its presence all over the world. It is hence only fitting to have an unofficial website dedicated to its fans, without any official baggage thrusting unwanted political correctness.

Compiled by: Ranadurjay Talukdar