East Bengal have won seven major trophies since Mohun Bagan’s last silverware

By clinching their record 35th Calcutta Football League (CFL) title on Wednesday, East Bengal have ensured that Saturday’s clash against arch-rivals Mohun Bagan will be inconsequential. But additionally, East Bengal’s fourth straight CFL triumph means that they have won seven major trophies since Mohun Bagan’s last silverware.

The last success that the Mariners enjoyed came in May 2010 when they defeated United SC (known as Chirag United back then) under controversial circumstances to lift their 29th local league title. Since then the green-and-maroon brigade have finished runners-up in the CFL thrice and also reached the finals of the Federation Cup and IFA Shield. But silverware has remained elusive although they have had six different coaches in this period.

Mohun Bagan did win the Airlines Gold Cup in 2012 but the whole tournament was conducted like a joke as the Mariners only had to play one game while the final didn’t even take place following several postponements. More importantly it isn’t really a major competition hence in this analysis the Super Cup and Mohammedan Sporting silver jubilee tournament that East Bengal won have also not been considered.

Karim Bencherifa’s side will be looking to end the club’s trophy drought this season with the Federation Cup and IFA Shield being the remaining targets but here Sportskeeda takes a look at the six trophies that East Bengal won before their latest CFL success.

Federation Cup 2010

East Bengal defeated Mohun Bagan in the final

This was Trevor Morgan’s first tournament as East Bengal coach and the Englishman enjoyed instant success as the red-and-gold brigade retained the trophy that they won in 2009 also by beating Mohun Bagan 1-0 in the final. Reisangmi Vashum scored the all-important winner while Mohun Bagan, who were coached by Stanley Rozario, had a couple of goals controversially disallowed. It was the start of the successful Morgan era at East Bengal with the former Hull City development coach later admitting that this first trophy gave him breathing space in Indian football.

Calcutta Football League 2010-11

The two strikers were instrumental in this triumph

There was more success for Morgan’s East Bengal at the expense of Mohun Bagan and Rozario. This time it came in the local league as the red-and-gold brigade triumphed 2-0 thanks to a double from Robin Singh. Around 100,000 witnessed this CFL title decider and Mohun Bagan had the worst possible start as Shilton Paul spilled a routine cross and allowed Robin to open the scoring. The former Tata Football Academy cadet headed the second at the hour mark following a Tolgay Ozbey cross to clinch East Bengal’s first CFL crown since 2006.

IFA Shield 2012

Photo Credit: Goutam Mukherjee

100 years after their historic IFA Shield triumph over East Yorkshire Regiment, Mohun Bagan shockingly didn’t take part in the competition citing injuries to key players although this was their best chance of winning some silverware. Morgan hadn’t won the IFA Shield in his first season so he kept fielding his strongest side despite being in the I-League title race and was duly rewarded as East Bengal defeated United Sports Club (called Prayag United back then) on penalties with young Gurpreet Sandhu making two vital saves in the shootout. It was their record 28th title but only the first since 2002.

Calcutta Football League 2011-12

Tolgay was inspirational but controversially left for Mohun Bagan

Going into the last day of the season all three Kolkata giants were in contention for the title but only East Bengal’s fate was in their hands as they only needed to beat Mohammedan Sporting. Mohun Bagan were hoping for a slip-up from East Bengal but their hopes ended following a 2-0 defeat against Prayag United. Tolgay Ozbey inspired East Bengal to a 6-0 win, scoring four goals, as the red-and-gold brigade retained the local league in emphatic fashion. But there was turmoil at the club after the match as Morgan told the media he has resigned while a few hours later Australian Tolgay joined Mohun Bagan. Eventually though Morgan stayed on for another season while Tolgay turned out to be a major flop at Mohun Bagan.

Federation Cup 2012

Morgan won his second Federation Cup on his 56th birthday

By now Santosh Kashyap had become Mohun Bagan’s fifth different coach since their last major trophy but the former Air India tactician couldn’t change the club’s fortunes as for the second straight season they bowed out from the group stage of the Federation Cup. East Bengal were looking to reach the final for the fourth straight edition and they achieved that despite difficulties in the group stage. Morgan’s side had lost the 2011 final to Salgaocar on home soil but got the better of Dempo this time in Siliguri as they won 3-2 after extra time to clinch their fourth Federation Cup title in five years.

Calcutta Football League 2012-13

Chidi bagged a brace as East Bengal completed a hattrickPhoto Credit: Kingfisher East Bengal

Just like the previous season, East Bengal came into the final day of the campaign leading the table and thus only needed a draw against Mohun Bagan in the final game. The green-and-maroon brigade had successfully avoided relegation from the I-League under Karim Bencherifa despite the 12-point deduction but the Moroccan was determined to grab some silverware. However Morgan had the last laugh as his side triumphed 3-2 with Edeh Chidi netting a brace to help East Bengal bag a hattrick of local league titles for the first time since 2004. It was a fitting farewell for Morgan who became the first foreign coach to complete a hattrick in the CFL.