5 moments in Indian football that you probably don't know of!

#3 Pele playing at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Pele played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 1977

Making it to top of the list of legends who have played in India, Brazilian legend Pele’s visit to India is marked as one of the momentous occasions in the history of the sport in the country.

Pele visited India in 1977 with his side New York Cosmos on his farewell tour to play against Kolkata club Mohun Bagan.

In the 1977 campaign, the Mohun Bagan went through a rough patch with back to back defeats in the hands of arch-rivals East Bengal in the IFA shield. After facing the slack, the onus came to the club authorities to compensate on the damage done and the then club secretary Dhiren Dey came up with the idea of inviting Pele and New York Cosmos for a friendly match against his side.

Even though negotiations took a while to agree on the finances it is believed it was Pele who convinced the Cosmos management to add India to the list as the request came from “the country where Mahatma Gandhi was born”.

Upon his arrival, Pele was greeted with gatherings outside the airport and outside the team hotel. However, on the match-day rain played a spoilsport as Eden gardens hosted the match with a dampened pitch and conditions not suitable for play. On the request of the authorities, Pele did take the field and ended the match with a 2-2 draw against Mohun Bagan.

This would be the first of the two times that the legend greeted the Indian soil as he would come back again after 38 years as a guest of honour.