With the ISL organisers FSDL’s official announcement this morning, East Bengal have made it to the Indian Top flight, and have thus, become the 11th team to compete in the upcoming Isl season in late November.
Founded in August 1920 by Mr. Suresh Chandra Choudhary, the Kolkata based franchise East Bengal have been a footballing powerhouse for many years, when it comes to club football in India. It is one of the most decorated clubs in Indian football, with the club hailing 3 Super Cups, 16 Durand cups, 29 IFA Shield Titles, etc. With the club celebrating 100 years of its existence, its entry into the ISL has added tons and tons of happiness to the celebration.
When the FSDL sent invites to clubs for entrance in the 2020-21 ISL season a few weeks ago, East Bengal were the only club to Bid for their insertion. But in order to fulfill the financial requirements posed by the ISL, East Bengal needed an investor at the earliest in order to make their move into the league possible.
Added to this problem was the present situation due to the covid-19 pandemic, which made it more difficult for East Bengal to find a new investor. But the club authority did a great job as they managed to make Shree Cement their investors along with the help of the West Bengal government and after finding the investors they fulfilled all the legal works at the earliest and finally joined the ISL in its 7th edition that is set to be held in Goa.
With East Bengal joining the league, the standard and the difficulty of the league has now now rised to a new level, as there will be more teams to compete against and also East Bengal will be a really tough competitor for any team who will play against them.
The best thing about East Bengal joining the I league would be that for the first time ISL history, there would be the prestigious Kolkata Derby, though there will be no fans in the stadium due to the covid-19 pandemic, the excellence and the quality of the Derby would not fall short by any means as both teams would play with the same intensity and the same fierceness.
All in all the entry of East Bengal into the Indian super league is is a big boon for club football in India as the Indian top flight now has one of the biggest names in Indian club football and we hope that the club brings its greatness and glory to the league and help in the growth of Indian football.