In a turn of events that can potentially alter Indian football, Mohun Bagan are likely to participate in the ISL post the merger with the I-League. The club from Bengal, will be participating in the competition from Howrah, the city across the Ganges from Kolkata to preserve the one city, one team rule which is the rumoured mantra for the proposed League.
The Howrah Municipal Stadium, which is also called the Sailen Manna stadium, named after legendary Indian International defender Sailendra Nath Manna who represented the Green and Marron Brigade from 1942 to 1960, has a capacity of 15,000 at the moment. The club in coordination with the Howrah Municipal Corporation aim to make the stadium close to a 26,000 capacity one by the end of 2017.
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The Howrah Stadium is approximately three kilometres away from the Mohun Bagan’s Ground, on the other side of the river Ganges, ideal for the club’s players and staff to communicate in case of game.
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This may go a long way in sorting out issues with the AFC Licensing criteria that the club failed to meet this year, as I-League CEO Sunando Dhar put it, “A few failed on the infrastructure and stadium counts while some did not have pro licence coaches like Mohun Bagan. Not only that, Mohun Bagan showed Cooperage Stadium as the venue for AFC Cup matches, which was not sufficient. Mumbai FC also failed on that count”.
So if they have a ground which caters to the AFC Licensing Criteria, the only issue which remains unsolved will be the head coach or manager not having a Pro-License, which they might have to address anyway in case they are in the Indian Super League, given, all managers are foreigners.
The club though, was unavailable to comment on the situation.
Mohun Bagan are one of seven teams to have confirmed their participation in the I-League, and have to play AFC Cup Qualifiers to qualify for the group stages. Earlier in the year, they finished second to East Bengal and Bengaluru FC in the Calcutta Football League and I-League respectively. But, they’re the 2016 Federation Cup champions, making them 14-time winners.
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