History
On 28 July 1920 Mohun Bagan were scheduled to play Jorabagan in the Coochbehar Cup. Mohun Bagan sent out their starting eleven but with the notable exclusion of defender Sailesh Bose who was dropped from the squad for reasons not disclosed. The vice-president of Mohun Bagan, Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri, asked for Bose to be included in the line-up but the club coaches did not listen. Chaudhuri left the club due to this and, along with Raja Chaudhuri, Ramesh Sen, and Aurobinda Ghosh, formed East Bengal on 1 August 1920.
The club then participated in their first tournament in the same month of their formation in the Hercules Cup which was a 7-a-side tournament. East Bengal won the tournament. After the tournament the club became affiliated with the Indian Football Association who are the top footballing organization in the state of West Bengal. The club then entered league play in the IFA Second Division. The club finished in third place in the first season in the Second Division.
In 1924 the club won the Second Division to gain promotion to the IFA First Division after finishing in second place to Cameroons "B". Due to Cameroons "A" being in the First Division already the "B" team could not gain promotion and thus East Bengal were next in line for promotion. However more controversy arrose after it was found out that the IFA only allowed two Indian based clubs in the IFA First Division (back then the IFA was British organization) and during the governing body meeting the nine British clubs approved of allowing East Bengal but the two Indian clubs (Mohun Bagan and Aryans Club) did not approve but majority votes allowed East Bengal into the IFA First Division. After this the IFA removed the Indian club limit rule.
It took the club till 1942 to win their first IFA First Division title. Then in 1943 the club won their first IFA Shield. The club then achieved the double in 1945 by winning both the Calcutta Football League and IFA Shield. The club then went on to win the 1949 Rovers Cup and the Durand Cup in 1951. Within that time the club also won three straight IFA Shields (1949, 1950, and 1951). The club then partook in a tour to the Soviet Union and Romania in 1953. The club then went on to win the 1973 IFA Shield against Piyong Young Club of South Korea.
The club then grew their reputation after winning the Calcutta Football League for six straight years from 1970 to 1975. They also won the IFA Shield, Rovers Cup and Durand Cup during those years. They even won the quadruple in 1972 by winning the Calcutta League, IFA Shield, Rovers Cup and Durand Cup in one season. Then in 1984 Dipak Das came into the club and revamped it. He brought in professionalism and turned the club into a professionally ran company. The club also went on to win the second edition of the Federation Cup in 1978 and then again in 1980 and again in 1985. They also became the first Indian club to play in the newly redone Asian Club Championship in 1985-86. The club then won the triple again in 1990 by winning the IFA Shield, Rovers Cup, and Durand Cup in one season. The club also won the Wai Wai Cup in Nepal in 1993.
In 1998 Das signed with Vijay Mallya's United Breweries Group which then formed a new Private Limited Company called "United East Bengal Football Team Private Limited". The club also renamed itself as Kingfisher East Bengal from then on. The club then became the first Indian club to win an international competition in 2003 after they won the ASEAN Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 1996 the club became the founding members of the first naton-wide football league in India, the National Football League.
The club then entered the 21st century in style winning the 2000–01 National Football League season. They then became the first club to win back to back titles after winning the 2002–03 and 2003–04 versions of the league. The club then went on to win the Federation Cup again in 2007, 2009, and in 2010. They also won the Indian Super Cup twice in 2006 and 2011. The club has not won anything since the 2011 Indian Super Cup.
Read more about this topic: East Bengal F.C.
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