Kolkata derby will turn over another chapter as reserve sides of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan Super Giant will play an exhibition match in Lucknow on September 2.
What would have been the first senior derby on August 18 in the 2024 Durand Cup was abandoned due to security concerns. Since then, East Bengal bowed out in the quarterfinals while Mohun Bagan reached the final set to played on August 31.
The two biggest names in Indian football had met each other several times in other parts of the country, but never had an opportunity to fight it out in Lucknow. In fact, East Bengal, in its 104 years of rich history, never played in the Uttar Pradesh capital.
Mohun Bagan, established in 1889, will take the pitch in Lucknow after 69 years. The only time the side played there was on August 30, 1955, when it drew an exhibition match 1-1 with the Lucknow XI.
Deggie Cardozo, the head coach of Mohun Bagan, said, “This is a great initiative by the AIFF President to popularise football in Uttar Pradesh. I hope this match will inspire more youngsters to take up football, and in the future, we get a lot more quality players from UP.”
Bino George, East Bengal head coach, said, “We often stress on grassroots development, and it becomes all the more important for a state like Uttar Pradesh. It is such a big state with so many districts, that if we can popularise football there even a bit, we could see so many talented players coming through. I really appreciate this initiative by the AIFF to bring such a big match to Lucknow.”
Here’s what happened in the last Kolkata Derby
East Bengal 2-1 Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Calcutta Football League - July, 2024
The first Kolkata derby of the season, which saw both sides fielding its reserve players, was played in the Calcutta Football League on July 13.
A 10-man East Bengal prevailed over its traditional rival Mohun Bagan Super Giant 2-1 in the new season’s first meeting, in the Calcutta Football League’s top division fixture, at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Saturday.
Despite getting the derby tag, this was a match with a difference as both the teams fielded their reserve players under an Indian coach, who generally serves as an assistant to an overseas head coach in the Indian Super League.
With a recent regulation by the national federation – AIFF – barring the employment of foreign players in the domestic football leagues, the CFL derby saw the two sides with only Indian names locking horns in the battle of prestige.
This was also the first meeting between the two rivals in CFL after a break of five years (they last met in the local league in 2019). The CFL also put in place a rule that mandated every participating team to have a minimum of four ‘sons of soil’ in the playing eleven.
East Bengal scored once in each half - two young Kerala recruits, P.V. Vishnu and substitute Jesin Thonikkara, found the net in the 51st and 65th minutes.
Mohun Bagan SG managed to pull one back late in injury time (90+6 minutes) through its Kashmiri recruit, Suhail Bhat. East Bengal was reduced to 10 men in the 77th minute when Joseph Justin was marched off following his second booking.
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