Mohun Bagan rope in Nilkamal as their new co-sponsors

Mohun Bagan have roped in furniture giants Nilkamal as their new co-sponsors for the upcoming football season for a sum of Rs. 2 crores, league sources tell Sportskeeda. The Mariners are though still without a primary sponsor and Nilkamal will only find its name at the back of the shirt.

Bagan are slated to wear the name of Nilkamal when they take to the field for the first time against Rainbow AC, in their sixth game of the CFL season. The Mariners have so far gained all 15 points from their opening five games.

Mohun Bagan, who have won the Federation Cup and the I-League once apiece in the last three years, have surprisingly found it hard to find a sponsor for the team in the last three seasons ever since breaking up with United Breweries.

A source close to the situation told Sportskeeda, "Yes, it was a bit tough for the club to get any kind of sponsor as it was under the umbrella of United Mohun Bagan Football Club Pvt. Ltd. However, for the upcoming season, Mohun Bagan is going to register in the I-League under a newly formed company Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Ltd."

This would be the last step in severing all ties with the former UB group under whom they had earlier changed their name to McDowell's Mohun Bagan. The newly formed company will help the club get all the revenue promised by the new sponsors and make financial management much easier according to the people involved in the process.

Mohun Bagan had, in 1997, founded the company United Mohun Bagan Football Club Pvt. Ltd. along with the UB Group. However, with the present secretary not having a big say in the decisions of the executive committee at that point in time, a rival faction within the club had questioned the legality of the formation of this company. A legal battle soon ensued.

After winning a historic election in 2005, the company ran smoothly till 2015 - the year Vijay Mallya became embroiled in a scandal. And with the UB Group still having 50% of the share in the parent group, the club found themselves in choppy waters when it came to finding new sponsors.

Sportskeeda, have, in recent days learnt that the club hierarchy have gone a long way in registering the new company with one person claiming that around 85% of the work is already done.