68 Facts About Mohun Bagan

1.

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal.

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2.

Mohun Bagan was inducted into the Club of Pioneers, a network of the oldest existing football clubs around the world, on 29 July 2019 as the club celebrated its 130th year in existence.

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3.

ATK FC as a football club dissolved on 1 June 2020 and ATK Mohun Bagan FC continues playing with the existing registration of Mohun Bagan with AIFF and IFA.

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4.

In 1900, Mohun Bagan became the partner of Presidency College and shared their ground at Maidan, where they would continue to play for 15 years.

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5.

In 1906, Mohun Bagan won the Minto Fort tournament by defeating one of the major English clubs in India, Calcutta.

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6.

Mohun Bagan won the Trades Cup four consecutive times between 1906 and 1909, which was the second most prestigious tournament in India after IFA Shield.

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7.

Mohun Bagan won Coochbehar Cup in 1907 and 1908, and then both the Laxmibilas Cup and the Gladstone Cup in 1909 and 1910.

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8.

In 1911, Mohun Bagan formed a dominant side for the IFA Shield, which included Hiralal Mukherjee, Bhuti Sukul, Rev Sudhir Chatterjee, Monmohun Mukherjee, Rajen Sengupta, Nil Madhav Bhattacharya, Kanu Roy, Habul Sarkar, Abhilash Ghosh, Bijoydas Bhaduri and captained by Shibdas Bhaduri.

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9.

Mohun Bagan played their first match on 15 May 1915 against Calcutta, which was drawn.

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10.

Mohun Bagan finished fourth in their league debut, while a junior team of the club made the semi-finals of the Trades Cup and Coochbehar Cup.

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11.

The next year, Mohun Bagan reached the second position in the league and the following year, narrowly lost the IFA Shield final to Middlesex Regiment.

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12.

In 1922, Mohun Bagan played exhibition matches of cricket and football against a team of Indians from South Africa.

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13.

The next year, Mohun Bagan became the first civilian Indian team to be invited to the oldest football tournament in Asia, Durand Cup, where they lost to Sherwood Foresters in the semi-finals.

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14.

In 1938 the tradition of Mohun Bagan players leading IFA teams continued with Karuna Bhattacharya captaining a side to Australia, where he scored against Australia as well as Football Queensland team during the tour.

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15.

Mohun Bagan broke a 29-year-old barren run in Trades Cup, in 1938.

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16.

Significantly, Mohun Bagan celebrated its golden jubilee the same year, which was marked with celebrations across the city, match organized featuring renowned former players and medals and jerseys were distributed to the players.

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17.

In 1947, Mohun Bagan got invitation to Madurai Cup but was beaten by Hyderabad Police in the final.

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18.

That year, Mohun Bagan successfully defended the IFA Shield against Bhawanipore in the final.

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19.

Mohun Bagan invited Swedish club Helsingborgs to play three friendlies, along with many other exhibition matches of cricket, hockey and football.

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20.

In 1952 Summer Olympics three Mohun Bagan players including Manna as the captain and Mohammad Abdus Sattar, who joined the club from Mohammedan in 1950.

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21.

In 1954 Mohun Bagan became the first club ever to clinch the double crown of Kolkata — CFL and IFA Shield, courtesy to Badru's solitary goal against the formidable side of Hyderabad City Police.

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22.

Mohun Bagan defended the CFL title successfully till 1956 and won the IFA Shield and its first Rover's Cup in 1956.

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23.

The following years were mostly unsuccessful as the club failed to win several major trophies, but during this time, Mohun Bagan obtained the services of a tough and tackling defender Jarnail Singh Dhillon from Rajasthan Club.

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24.

In 1967 and 1968, Mohun Bagan won just two trophies, the Shield and Rover's Cup, respectively.

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25.

Mohun Bagan struggled to assert dominance in the first half of the 1970s and failed to match their arch-rivals regarding team building.

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26.

Mohun Bagan failed to beat East Bengal even once between 1969 and 1974 and lost to their arch-rivals in Durand Cup and IFA Shield finals multiple times.

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27.

The ignominy surrounding the heavy defeat was that several Mohun Bagan players spent the night holed up on a boat in the Ganges as the supporters laid siege to the club tent.

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28.

Mohun Bagan did recruit a number of young players in 1974 and 1975 so as to steer the team back to success.

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29.

In 1976 the wheel had finally turned as Mohun Bagan assembled their best team in years under the helm of Chandra Madhab Roy.

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30.

Under him, 1976 turned into one of the best years in the club's history when Mohun Bagan won their first CFL and IFA Shield titles since 1969 and added Rover's Cup to their success.

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31.

On 24 September 1977, through the efforts of Dhiren Dey Mohun Bagan played a friendly match against the American club New York Cosmos which featured Brazilian World Cup winners like Pele and Carlos Alberto Torres, and Serie A icon Giorgio Chinaglia.

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32.

The following year, Mohun Bagan squad saw the arrival of Xavier Pius who became popular for his individual flair.

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33.

Mohun Bagan had a cent percent success record winning all four trophies they participated in, including CFL, Durand Cup, and IFA Shield.

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34.

Mohun Bagan established a statue honoring Gostho Pal at Maidan.

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35.

Mohun Bagan won twice in the group stage of ACC with 12 goals, half of which were scored by Sisir.

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36.

Mohun Bagan became the first club to be honored by a postage stamp from the Government of India on this historical year.

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37.

Centenary celebrations continued till 1990 when Mohun Bagan played against an assembled team that featured Cameroonian World Cupper Roger Milla.

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38.

In 1991 Mohun Bagan made their first-ever foreign recruitment, which was a Nigerian striker Chima Okorie from East Bengal, and later the second foreign signing was another Nigerian striker Bernard Operanozie, who would play as a defender.

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39.

Mohun Bagan famously won over Croatian club Varteks that year in the group stage of DCM Trophy.

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40.

Mohun Bagan failed to win any major trophy for the following two years.

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41.

In December 1996, National Football League began as the top-tier league in the country, and Mohun Bagan finished at the bottom in the group stage with just one win and was relegated in the next season, which was later revoked by the organizers.

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42.

The Indian contingent in the club was kept almost intact from the last season with the addition of the striker R C Prakash and full-back Dulal Biswas, Mohun Bagan comfortably won the league along with Durand Cup and Rover's Cup with former club player Subrata Bhattacharya at the helm.

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43.

Mohun Bagan captured the 2001 Federation Cup due to the heroics of goalkeeper Bibhas Ghosh and Barreto, who was awarded the tournament's best player.

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44.

Mohun Bagan's squad was joined by another Nigerian, Abdulatif Seriki replacing Omollo.

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45.

Under Subrata Bhattacharya, Mohun Bagan became the first club to win Federation Cup and NFL in a season.

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46.

In 2004, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to launch a credit card in association with ICICI Bank.

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47.

FIFA formed an elite task force the same year and Mohun Bagan was one of only eleven clubs selected globally along with names like River Plate, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

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48.

On Mohun Bagan Day, the club became the first in India to launch an official mascot which was a tiger named "Baggu".

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49.

The following season, Mohun Bagan appointed Moroccan coach Karim Bencherifa, who led the team to a record 10-match winning run in the league and a Federation Cup victory.

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50.

In 2008, Mohun Bagan players got the opportunity to play against German icon Oliver Kahn in his official testimonial match for Bayern Munich, which featured Brazilian star Ze Roberto.

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51.

Mohun Bagan struggled for supremacy in the first five years of the new decade, and the seasons were marked by poor team recruitment, which lacked balance and overpaying for players.

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52.

On 29 December 2012, Mohun Bagan was barred from competing in I-League for two years following a decision taken by the league's core committee.

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53.

The suspension came because Mohun Bagan had refused to take the field in the second half of the match against East Bengal on 9 December 2012, citing crowd violence and an unsuitable atmosphere for the continuation of the match.

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54.

However on 15 January 2013, Mohun Bagan appealed against the decision and were reinstated, but a hefty amount was fined, their officials were suspended from all the AIFF meetings for a year and, the team would start with 0 points and would play out only the remaining 16 fixtures in the league.

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55.

Mohun Bagan had reached their quasquicentennial year of existence in 2014, therefore club organized a huge rally in North Kolkata chiefly to celebrate the anniversary on 1 June 2015.

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56.

On 28 September 2018 in the Clash of Legends, Mohun Bagan Legends hosted Barcelona Legends at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, that was attended by a crowd of 45,000, along with one of the directors of Barcelona Pau Vilanova and the mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee.

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57.

The following three seasons since the title win, Mohun Bagan continued their strong contest for trophies, but succeeding to win only the 2016 Federation Cup, though foreigners like Yusa and Norde continued to make their presence felt with strong performances, along with single season signings like Darryl Duffy and Cornell Glen.

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58.

Mohun Bagan believed in playing a possession-based game and incorporated build-up from the back, for which he used Baba Diawara at the front and supported by Joseba Beitia with Nongdamba Naorem and V P Suhair running down the flanks.

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59.

Mohun Bagan Ground is a football stadium located in the maidan region of central Kolkata, just opposite the Eden Gardens.

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60.

In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first club in Maidan to have floodlights installed in their stadium.

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61.

Mohun Bagan fans have provided financial help to the club during times of struggle.

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62.

You will see Mohun Bagan running in my veins, and nothing will ever change that.

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63.

Mohun Bagan had an intense rivalry with Mohammedan SC but the importance of this match has fizzled out in the past two decades because the teams only meet once a year in the Calcutta Football League.

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64.

Till 29 January 2022,381 matches have been played between the two teams out of which Mohun Bagan has won 124 matches and East Bengal have won 132 times and rest of the matches ended in draws.

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65.

Mohun Bagan holds the record of scoring the fastest goal in a derby.

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66.

Mohun Bagan AC is registered as a society under Societies Registration Act, 1860 and West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961.

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67.

The tournament continued for the next 19 days, with Mohun Bagan eventually becoming the champions by defeating the East Yorkshire Regiment team.

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68.

Mohun Bagan Ratna is an award presented each year on Mohun Bagan Day to outstanding former players, irrespective of the sports played.

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