East Bengal Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal, which competes in Indian Super League, the top tier of Indian football. The club was formed when the vice-president of Jorabagan, Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri, resigned when Jorabagan sent out their starting eleven but with the notable exclusion of defender Sailesh Bose who was dropped from the squad for reasons not disclosed when they were about to face Mohun Bagan in the Cooch Behar Cup semi-final on 28 July 1920. He along with Raja Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri, Ramesh Chandra Sen and Aurobinda Ghosh, formed East Bengal, in Jorabagan home of Suresh Chandra on 1 August 1920; 99 years ago. East Bengal started playing in the Calcutta Football League 2nd division from 1921 and in 1925 they qualified for the first division for the first time and since then they have won numerous titles in Indian Football.

East Bengal joined the National Football League since its inception in 1996 and is the only club to play all seasons of top flight Indian football till date. East Bengal have won the top tier League four times: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, and 2025–26 and became runners-up 7 times, the most of any Indian clubs. Among other trophies, East Bengal have won the Calcutta Football League 41 times, IFA Shield 29 times, Federation Cup 8 times, Super Cup 1 time, and the Durand Cup 16 times.

History

On 28 July 1920, Mohun Bagan was scheduled to play Jorabagan in the Cooch Behar Cup. Jorabagan 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 Jorabagan, 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 Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri, Ramesh Chandra Sen and Aurobinda Ghosh, formed East Bengal on 1 August 1920, named after the region they hailed from. East Bengal Club played their first match in the 1920 Hercules Cup, which was a 7-a-side tournament that they won. After the tournament, the club became affiliated with the Indian Football Association. They won their first-ever full tournament in 1921, lifting the Khogendra Shield. The red and gold brigade qualified for the Calcutta Football League 1st division in 1925. They won their first 1st title in 1942. East Bengal won their first IFA Shield in 1943. In 1945, East Bengal won their first double of winning both Calcutta Football League and IFA Shield. From 1949 to 1951, East Bengal became the first team to make a hat-trick of wins in IFA Shield. In 1970, the club defeated Asian giants PAS Tehran to win the IFA Shield trophy. In 1972, East Bengal won Calcutta Football League, IFA Shield, Durand Cup and Rovers Cup in a single season, thus becoming the first team to do so. In 1972, East Bengal also made a record of being the first and till date only Indian team winning the Calcutta Football League without conceding a single goal, which they again repeated in 1991. In 1973, the club defeated Pyongyang City SC to lift the IFA Shield title and went on to defeat another North Korean team Dok Ro Gang to lift the DCM Trophy in the same season. In 1975, East Bengal broke the record by winning the Calcutta Football League consecutively for the 6th time (1970–75), bettering the record held by Mohammedan Sporting of winning it 5 times (1934–38). In 1975, East Bengal also created history as they defeated their arch-rivals Mohun Bagan by a record margin of 5–0, which is still being held today, in the IFA Shield final at the Mohun Bagan Ground. In 1976, East Bengal made a record of winning the IFA Shield 5 times in a row. In 1978, East Bengal participated in the Federation Cup for the first time and became joint champions with Mohun Bagan. In 1985, East Bengal won the Federation Cup and qualified for Asian Club Championships for the first time. East Bengal won the Coca-Cola Cup held in Colombo as a preliminary tournament for Central Asia Zone, and reached the group stages held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 1991 East Bengal qualified for the Asian Cup Winners' Cup for the first time and reached the quarter-finals. In 1993, East Bengal won their second tournament on foreign soil as they won the Wai Wai Cup in Nepal. In 2000–01, East Bengal won their maiden NFL title, winning it again in 2002-03 and 2003–04. In 2003, they won a major international trophy at Jakarta when they defeated BEC Tero Sasana to lift the 2003 ASEAN Club Championship. The club won their third trophy outside of India when they defeated South Korean Hannam University to lift the San Miguel Cup in Nepal. Between 2007 and 2012, East Bengal won the Federation Cup 4 times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012). From 2010 to 2017, East Bengal again bettered their own record as they won the Calcutta Football League for 8 consecutive times.

In 2020, the club joined the Indian Super League and rebranded as SC East Bengal. They finished ninth in their debut season, having won three of the twenty league matches. The team finished eleventh, at the bottom in the 2021–22 season, winning just one game in the entire campaign. In 2022, the club rebranded itself as East Bengal FC and finished ninth again, having won six of the twenty league matches. In 2024, East Bengal won the Super Cup defeating Odisha in the final to break a twelve-year wait for a national cup trophy. In 2026, East Bengal won the Indian Super League, thus finally ending a twenty-two year long wait for a top tier national league title.

Honours East Bengal Club has won honours both domestically and in international competitions. They have won the National Football League title three times and the Federation Cup eight times. They also won the Calcutta Football League a record forty-one times and the IFA Shield a record twent-eight times. East Bengal Club has also won the Durand Cup sixteen times and the Rovers Cup ten times. Till date, the club has won more than one hundred fifty trophies including major and minor tournaments, which are listed below:

Shared record + East Bengal Club honours Tournament No. Years Ref. Central Asia Champions' Cup 1985 ASEAN Club Championship 2003 Wai Wai Cup 1993 San Miguel International Cup 2004 Total4 National Football League/Indian Super League 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2025–26 Federation Cup 1978, 1980, 1985, 1996, 2007, 2009–10, 2010, 2012 Super Cup 2024 Durand Cup 1951, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1967, 1970, 1972,1978, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2004, 2026 Indian Super Cup 1997, 2006, 2011 Calcutta Football League 1942, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1961, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2024, 2025 IFA Shield 1943, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1958, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002–03, 2012, 2018 Rovers Cup 1949, 1962, 1967, 1969,1972. 1973, 1975, 1980, 1990, 1994 Total113 DCM Trophy 1950, 1952, 1957, 1960, 1973, 1974, 1983 Bordoloi Trophy 1968, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1992 All Airlines Gold Cup 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001 Darjeeling Gold Cup 1976, 1981, 1982, 1985, 2018 McDowell's Cup 1995, 1997, 2000 Sait Nagjee Football Tournament 1968, 1986 Stafford Cup 1981, 1986 Sanjay Gandhi Gold Cup 1984 Kalinga Cup 1993 SSS Trophy 1989, 1991 Independence Day Cup 2002 Dr. H. K. Mookherjee Shield 1957, 1961 ATPA Shield 1992 P. K. Nair Gold Cup 1956 Kerala FA Shield 1968 Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup 2010 Hercules Cup 1920 Khogendra Cup 1921 Chandannager Cup 1920 Sachin Memorial Shield 1921 Cooch Behar Cup 1924, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1960 Trades Cup 1960, 1966, 1975, 1976 Gladstone Cup 1929 Griffith Shield 1929, 1946 Lady Hardinge Shield 1940, 1975 Lakshmibilas Cup 1920, 1968, 1969 Bardwan Cup 1938 S.C.I.S.T. Cup 1947 William Younger Cup 1969, 1976 Girija Shield 1942 Raja Memorial Shield 1960, 1975 Chandicharan Shield 1975 Madhyamgram MLA Cup 2023 Kulodakanta Memorial Shield 2023, 2025 Total 74 All Total 191m m Including minor trophies

Player records

Goalscoring records

Most goals in all competitions: Bhaichung Bhutia, 148. Most goals in Indian Super League: Cleiton Silva, 20. Most goals in National Football League / I-League: Bhaichung Bhutia, 49. Most goals in Calcutta Football League: Somana, 85. Most goals in Federation Cup: Bhaichung Bhutia, 14. Most goals in IFA Shield: K. P. Dhanraj, 27. Most goals in Durand Cup: Mohammed Habib and Surajit Sengupta, 17. Most goals in Rovers Cup: Tulsidas Balaram, 10. Most goals in D.C.M. Trophy: Moosa Ghazi, 12. Most goals in Continental competitions: Bhaichung Bhutia, 11. Most goals in a single Calcutta Football League campaign: Swami Nayar, 36 (During the 1946 season). Most goals in a sinymgle NFL / I-League campaign: Tolgay Ozbey and Chidi Edeh, 18 (During the 2011–12 and 2012–13 season respectively). Most goals in a single Indian Super League campaign: Cleiton Silva, 12 (During the 2022–23 season). Most goals in a single match: Fred Pugsley, 8 (against B.B & C.I. Railway, 23 September 1945, Rovers Cup). Most goals in a single match in NFL / I-League: Ranti Martins, 5 (against Dempo, 1 March 2015). Most goals in a single match in Continental competition: Biswajit Bhattacharya, 4 (against New Road Team, 2 August 1985, Coca-Cola Cup). Most goals in a single match against Foreign opponent: Bhaichung Bhutia, 6 (against Philippine Army FC, 16 July 2003, ASEAN Club Championship). Fastest goal: Cristiano Júnior, 15 seconds (against Tollygunge Agragami, 20 December 2003, 2003–04 NFL). Fastest goal in Indian Super League: P. V. Vishnu, 32 seconds (against Odisha, 29 February 2024, 2023–24 Indian Super League). Fastest goal in AFC competitions: Dimitrios Diamantakos, 33 seconds (against Bashundhara Kings, 29 October 2024, 2024–25 AFC Challenge League). Most hat-tricks in NFL / I-League: Ranti Martins, 3. Most hat-tricks in a single NFL / I-League campaign: Ranti Martins, 2 (During the 2015–16 season). Most hat-tricks in a single Calcutta Football League campaign: Swami Nayar, 4 (During the 1946 season). Fastest hat-trick: K. P. Dhanraj, 4 minutes 30 seconds, (against Maharana Club, 27 August 1949). Fastest hat-trick in NFL / I-League: Ranti Martins, 19 minutes, (against Aizawl, 12 March 2016). Most consecutive matches scored: Chima Okorie, 11 (During the 1987 Calcutta Football League season). Most consecutive matches scored in NFL / I-League: Cristiano Júnior, 7 (During the 2003–04 season). Most consecutive matches scored in Indian Super League: Cleiton Silva, 3 (During the 2022–23 season). Saúl Crespo, 3 (During the 2023–24 season).

Hat-trick on debut

Hat-trick on debut for East BengalDateNationalityNameOpponentTournamentScoreRef21 May 1963 IndiaAshim MoulikSporting UnionCalcutta Football League3–019 June 1967 IndiaShibram SarkarSporting UnionCalcutta Football League4–06 November 2004 NigeriaErnest JeremiahSporting Club de GoaDurand Cup4–031 August 2010 IndiaBikash NarzinaryMohammedan ACCalcutta Football League5–012 August 2017 IndiaSuhair VadakkepeedikaNBP Rainbow ACCalcutta Football League4–1

Top goalscorers Competitive, professional matches only.

All time top scorers

All-time top scorers of East BengalRankingNationalityNameGoalsRef.1Bhaichung Bhutia1482K. P. Dhanraj1243Chima Okorie1224Mohammad Habib1125A.C. Somana105Ashim Moulik1057Tulsidas Balaram1008Sunil Ghosh94Surajit Sengupta9410Mohammed Akbar9011Parimal Dey8512P. Venkatesh80Subhash Bhowmick8014Kuljit Singh7415Jamshid Nassiri72

Top scorers in Indian Super League

Players in Bold are part of the current squad.