East Bengal: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

East Bengal is a football club in India. This club is based in Kolkata and as of 2004 had recently won top honors in its National Football league two years running, as well as the ASEAN Cup championship.

The birth of East Bengal Club in 1920 was as dramatic as its roller-coaster ride for the last eight decades.

The club played its maiden tournament in the same month of its establishment, August 1920. The tournament was called the Hercules Cup, a seven-a-side competition that the club won easily. The club set up its first managing committee with Prof. S. Roy, Principal of Vidyasagar College who assumed the post of President.

Winning the ASEAN Cup in Jakarta in 2003, remaining undefeated for eight international games in a row and being the first team to win the coveted National Football League in consecutive years (2000-2001 & 2002-2003) are just some of the most savoured moments.

The club has represented India in Asian Club tournaments eight times. Masood Fakri, a player of East Bengal Club was the first Asian footballer to play professional football in England. Later, Bhaichung Bhutia of the same club played professional football in England as the first Indian footballer. Apart from winning ASEAN Club Cup in 2003 the club also won the Wai Wai Cup at Nepal in 1993.

Great Indian footballers like Ahmed Khan, Byomkesh Bose, Appa Rao, Salleh, P. Venkatesh, Taj Mohammed, Balaram, Sanat Sett, Prasanta Sinha, Arun Ghosh, Md. Habib, Syed Nayeemuddin, Subhas Bhowmick, Sudhir Karmakar, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Bhaskar Ganguly, Krishanu Dey and many others who represented the country in the Olympic games and in other International Football Tournaments played for the club for years.

Some eminent members of this club: Dr Amartya Sen, Lata Mangeshkar, Dr Vijay Mallya, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Subhash Chakroborty, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Asoke Bhattacharya, Prosanto Sinha, P.K Banerjee, Subhash Bhowmick, Subroto Mukherjee.