Diego Armando Maradona, considered by many as the ‘GOD of Football‘, passed away on Wednesday morning in Buenos Aires, at the age of 60.

Maradona, a name that defines emotion and poetry in motion, was going through a spell of I’ll health. Although he had successfully undergone a brain surgery for blood clotting recently, a heart attack caused “El Pibe de Oro‘s” demise.

A national hero for lifting the 1986 World Cup and scoring ‘Goal of the Century’ minutes after the controversial ‘Hand of GOD’ goal, El Diego scored 34 goals in 91 caps for Argentina. His club career began from Argentinos Juniors where he scored 115 goals in 167. From there onwards he went on to play for Boca Juniors (where he ended his professional playing career as well). Then a short and roller coaster stint at Barcelona was followed by Napoli, where he is still considered to be a Martian. He played for other clubs such as Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys.

The limelight of a glittering football career was during his Boca Juniors and Napoli days. He scored 28 goals in 40 matches for Boca Juniors helping them win Argentine trophies and led Napoli to two Serie A titles one Copa Italia and the 1989 UEFA Cup during the 7 seasons he was there.

Maradona went into coaching later in his career. He managed the national team from 2008 to 2010. He lead Argentina to the quarter finals  of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Argentinian Primera Division side Gimnasia de la Plata.

As football fanatics, all we can hope for is that the Golden Boy’s soul rests in peace and his entire lifetime filled with emotion, madness and passion will remain etched in the memory of those who dare.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee has announced publicly that the Red and Gold Brigade will play this year’s Indian Super League. Shree Cement, having headquarters in Kolkata, who became the second largest cement company in India my market cap in two years ago, have made East Bengal “self-sufficient to complete the formalities” according to the CM.

The club had been struggling for a long time to get a spot in ISL 2020-21 and were desperately trying to end their ties with previous majority stakeholders Quess Corp Limited. This ongoing saga for the last few months finally came to an end after the club was handed over the Sporting Rights.

It must be said that without participation from India’s and Bengal’s two biggest football clubs (Mohun Bagan & East Bengal), ISL’s charm and claim of being the biggest tournament would have remained incomplete. In terms of formality completion, the Request For Proposal (RFP) bid remains to be accepted by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

Since yesterday’s breaking news of East Bengal’s ISL hopes, the tensed fans who had been preying for their club’s destiny to take a toll, are ecstatic. Chants of ‘Joy East Bengal’ and desire to see their club lift this year’s ISL Trophy could be witnessed all over social media and elsewhere.

Widespread rumours have been circulating around the merger between Mohun Bagan, the national club of India and 3 time ISL Champions ATK, a franchise owned by Sanjeev Goenka’s RPSG Group. The club name was finalized as ATK Mohun Bagan.

After a long wait, it has been confirmed today itself that the iconic Green and Maroon colours and ‘Pal Tola Nouka’ logo that defines Bagan’s 131 year old illustrious legacy and rich history, has been retained. This news brings a huge sigh of relief to the loyal Mohun Bagan supporters who were pretty tensed about what the new franchise would decide upon when it comes to the club’s insignia.

The Board of Directors of ATK Mohun Bagan Private Limited including Sanjeev Goenka and Sourav Ganguly, met today and the decision to carry on with Mohun Bagan’s original club logo and jersey colours, was taken unanimously. So the initial possibility of incorporating the ‘lion with wings’ logo of ATK was cancelled out. The club officials believe that the die-hard supporters’ pure madness and love for the club would remain as it is as a result of this.

Club’s principal owner Dr. Sanjeev Goenka thanked the legends who have contributed to the club’s rich legacy with folded hands and seemed their blessings in their new journey ahead. He also expressed his dream of establishing ATK Mohun Bagan as a pioneer team that would earn its place in the global football stage.

Sourav Ganguly, the present BCCI president and member of the Board of Directors of ATK Mohun Bagan saluted the merger and said ” ATK Mohun Bagan brand name will create a new history together.”

Initiatives for providing the best infrastructure and training facilities in terms of international level, are also being planned and would be executed in the near future. Investments for upgrading Mohun Bagan’s faculty will be made in due course of time so that ISL and AFC home games can be held here.

The fans who define a club’s existence primarily, are expected to be quite happy after today’s proceedings. Many have expressed their joy and satisfaction on Twitter and other social media channels.

Joy Banerjee | 9 Jul 2022

On this day (09/08/2022) a meeting was held with the teams of Premier Division A group at the IFA office. It was attended by representatives of all parties except Mohun Bagan FC. The teams have been asked to start the league quickly and the IFA has told them that the league will start this month and will end quickly.

Joy Banerjee | 8 Jul 2022

The following awards have been named after famous personalities to be awarded to sportspersons every year henceforth: 

Best Athlete (Pranab Banerjee Award) – Bapi Sekh 

Best Forward in Football (Subhas Bhowmick Award) — Kiyan Nassiri Giri 

Best Sports Journalist (Moti Nandi Award) — Ashok Dasgupta 

Best Sports Official (Anjan Mitra Award) — V.C. Praveen (President, Gokulam Kerala FC) 

Best Cricket Player (Arun Lal Award) — Prinann Dutta 

Best Football Player (Shibdas Bhaduri Award) — Liston Colaco 

Lifetime Achievement Award — Balai Dey 

Mohun Bagan Ratna — Shyam Thapa 

Mohunbagan Athletic Club has formed a committee to deal with the case of beloved fan cum member Mr. Anirban Nandy. We are consulting with Dr. Pratim Sengupta, Renowned Nephrologist for a proper guideline for his treatment

Press Meet At Club Tent

Joy Banerjee | 17 Jun 2022

The Indian men’s team has already made the country proud by qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup. This time the Indian women’s team also made us proud in a special way.

The Indian team has made great strides in the newly released FIFA Women’s Football Rankings. India has risen three places to 56th position. They have 1425.51 points.

In the latest rankings, India has overtaken Panama, South Africa and Ghana. India have just won friendly matches against Egypt and Jordan. And that’s why such improvements.

Joy Banerjee | 16 Jun 2022

Pic courtesy: Ray Sportz

The son-in-law could not go to the Jamai Sasthi because of the national team game. After taking India to the main stage of the Asian Cup, India captain Sunil Chhetri went to his Father in law, legendary footballer Subrata Bhattacharya’s house and celebrated jamai sasthi.

Joy Banerjee | 16 Jun 2022

Behala Sanskritik Sammilani (BSS) wants to start the journey of the upcoming Kolkata Premier Division Football League with former national goalkeeper Hemant Dora as the head coach. This club does not worship on the poila Baishakh. The day this club in Maidan enters the first practice of the season is the day of Bar Pujo. This time Mangalik Puja follows that ritual.

BSS started the new season by worshipping the Goal post (বার পূজো) . BSS will run the preparation of Kolkata Premier Division Football League at Janai of Hughli, not at any ground of Kolkata Maidan. There is an arrangement for the footballers of foreign countries to stay separately. It can be said that Hemant Dora is going to prepare his team in complete silence. As a new coach, he is ready to take up the challenge as always.

Joy Banerjee | 16 Jun 2022

Mohun Bagan is already building a strong team for next season. However, not only the senior team, but also the junior division, Mohun Bagan is desperate to make it a strong team.

Coach Juan Ferrando will select the players from this trial. And he will be assisted by Assistant Coach Bastab and other support staff. Trials of U-13, U-15 and U-18 teams will be held at the practice ground of Yuva Bharati Stadium.

Trials will be held on June 20-22 under 18, June 24-26 under 15 and on June 26-30 under 13. Each trial will begin at 7:30 A.M.

Players must be born after January 1, 2010 for the U-13 team trials. In case of under 15, it should be born between 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2009. In the end, the players will be able to take part from January 1, 2005 to December 31 for the under-18s. And any footballer can take part in this trial if he falls within the age criteria. Only Xerox copy of age certificate and age test must be passed.

Joy Banerjee | 8 Jun 2022

The Blue Tigers begin their Asian Cup Group D qualifiers campaign against Cambodia from today, and the match will be taking place at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium), in Kolkata.

More than 50,000 fans are expected to be present, after Sunil Chhetri’s statement of losing home advantage, if stands remained empty.

Fans would be demanding a much more open football much like AIFF technical committee chairman Shyam Thapa, from Igor Stimac’s men, as opposed to his ultra-defensive approach that has been demonstrated by the team lately.

Some young talents are to be watched out for in Stimac’s squad, who have emerged from this season’s Indian Super League and the I-League –

Liston Colaco (Mohun Bagan)

Akash Mishra ( Hyderabad FC)

Sahal Abdul Samad (Kerala Blasters)

Ishan Pandita (Jamshedpur FC)

Jeakon Singh (Kerala Blasters)

All the opponents are lower ranked than the Indian team and thus they would be the favourites against Cambodia today and would be expected to qualify for the cup.

Joy Banerjee | 18 May 2022

The Supreme Court appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by former top court judge AR Dave to manage the affairs of the All India Football Federation.Press Trust of IndiaUpdated: May 18, 2022 01:22 PM ISTRead Time:3 min

Supreme Court Appoints Committee of Administrators To Manage Affairs Of AIFF

The Supreme Court said the current state of affairs is not in the interest of proper governance of AIFF.© PTI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by former top court judge AR Dave to manage the affairs of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and adoption of its constitution in line with the National Sports Code and model guidelines. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and PS Narasimha said the COA will comprise two earlier members — Dr SY Qureshi, former Chief Election Commissioner and Bhaskar Ganguly, former captain of the Indian Football Team besides Justice (retd) Dave.

The top court said the current state of affairs is not in the interest of proper governance of the federation. It directed the CoA to forthwith take charge of the AIFF and assist the court by providing inputs to the court in facilitating the adoption of the constitution by the AIFF in accordance with the National Sports Code and model guidelines.

The bench said the COA will prepare electoral rolls for the purpose of conducting elections to the executive committee of AIFF as per the constitution to be submitted by the two-member committee (ombudsman) of Qureshi and Ganguly.

“The committee of administrators shall carry out day-to-day governance of the All India Football Federation”, the bench said, adding the COA will be at liberty to take the assistance of the erstwhile committee of the federation in holding of tournaments and selection of players and other affairs.

– Archan Mitter | 13 Sept 2021

Bhabani Roy, a former India footballer and Mohun Bagan captain, passed away following a prolonged illness at the age 75. Roy had been admitted to a city hospital for a few days.

In the 1960s, legendary coach Amal Dutta was the first to use Roy as an overlapping fullback in his 4-2-4 formation. He joined Bagan in 1966 and stayed with the club until 1972. The Bagan legend appeared in three matches for India in the 1969 Merdeka Cup.  Bhabani Roy was instrumental in Mohun Bagan winning the Rovers Cup in 1968, 1970, 1971, and 1972. (Joint Winner). He was a member of the West Bengal team that won the Santosh Trophy in 1968 and 1971.

Praful Patel, president of the All India Football Federation, expressed his condolences, saying, “It is saddening to hear that Bhabani Roy is no longer with us.” His contribution to Indian sports will never be forgotten.” Kushal Das, general secretary of the AIFF, also paid tribute to Roy. Mohun Bagan also expressed their condolences on the death of their former captain.

Joy Banerjee | 26 Apr 2022

A set of issues were discussed at the IFA Governing Body meeting. Anirban Dutt has been elected as the new treasurer of IFA. The post of Treasurer became vacant on the death of the outgoing Treasurer Krishnendu Banerjee. Anirban Dutt was unanimously elected in the last meeting as the current governor of IFA on Tuesday. A total of 14 clubs from different divisions were also given new approval in today’s meeting.

In the first division, Diamond Harbour Football Club, All India Airlines Recreation Club, Belgharia Athletic Club and Bengal Football Academy were approved. Multiple clubs have also submitted their request, but a final decision will be made after inspecting their infrastructure.