2016–17 East Bengal F.C. season

The 2016–17 season was the club's 97th season in existence. The club had already won the Calcutta Football League and became the runners of 2016 Bordoloi Trophy.

East Bengal F.C.
2016–17 season
ManagerTrevor James Morgan
StadiumSalt Lake Stadium
Barasat Stadium
East Bengal Ground
I-League3rd
Calcutta Premier DivisionChampions
Federation CupSemi Finalists
Top goalscorerLeague: Willis Plaza (7)
All: Do Dong-Hyun
Willis Plaza (7)
Highest home attendance29067
Lowest home attendance6000
Average home league attendance11928

Pre-Season Overview

The club signed Calum Angus, an English defender to strengthen the defence for the Calcutta League. The Red and Gold Brigade are hoping to seal the CFL championship and set a hepta record. With the help of recent performances, the club clinched the 74th spot in the Asian Football Confederation club ranking, the highest among all Indian football clubs.

Season Overview

August

The club started their Calcutta Football League campaign by beating Bhawanipore F.C. by 2–1. Then they went on winning all the matches in the league.

September

Maintaining their winning streak of August, East Bengal went on to win all the matches in the league to win the Calcutta Football League for a record consecutive 7 times, bettering their own record of 1970–75. Mohun Bagan decided not to play the Kolkata Derby and East Bengal got a walk over which ensured the hepta league win.
East Bengal were crowned champions for a record 38th time in history and for the 7th consecutive season. This is also the 3rd time that they have won the league without dropping a single point.

October

The club went to play the 2016 Bordoloi Trophy. The team draw set East Bengal in Group B on the fixture of this tour. Due to the absence of almost all the main and first team players of the club (all out on loan in different clubs of Indian Super League), the junior and reserve bench players had taken part in it. The club brought Oluwaunmi Somide Adeleja on loan for the tournament. East Bengal started off well by defeating Bangladesh club Bongobi Agragami by 6–0. The club kept its winning streak by defeating United Sikkim F.C. by a comfortable margin of 2–0 and then ASEB SC by 3–0. Then the club went into the semis where they defeated Shillong Lajong F.C. by 1–0 to enter into the final. East Bengal FC played the final against Three Star Club (Nepal) where they lost 1–2 in extra time. The brilliant performance of the junior players throughout the tournament came to an end with the defeat in final match. But the fight of the junior brigade was appreciated wholeheartedly by the supporters of the club.

January

The club roped in Haitian Wedson Anselme from Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Bangladesh and Willis Plaza from Trinidad and Tobago to strengthen the forward line along with Robin Singh, Jackichand Singh, Thongkhosiem Haokip, Rowllin Borges and Romeo Fernandes to strengthen the squad. East Bengal also brought Ivan Bukenya from Uganda to fortify their defence.
The team played against Aizawl F.C. in the 2016-17 I-League opener, but drew the match on the dying minutes thanks to a late equalizer from Ivan Bukenya. Then they went to Pune to play DSK Shivajians where the forward line sparkled and East Bengal won 2–1. Then they defeated Churchill Brothers S.C. by 2–0. Then on 22 January 2017, East Bengal faced the defending champions Bengaluru FC. The defending champions went ahead early by a goal from C.K. Vineeth but East Bengal rallied from behind to win it 2–1 with the goals scored by Ivan Bukenya and Robin Singh. East Bengal continued their winning streak and won 6 games on the trot to lead the league table. They face their arch Rivals Mohun Bagan on 12th Feb at Siliguri.

February

The month of February didn't start too well for the Red and Gold brigade. Draws against arch rival Mohun Bagan and Shillong Lajong F.C. and then a 1–0 loss away to Aizawl F.C. halted the victory march. The team looked out of shape and confidence when they faced Bengaluru FC away on 25 February at Sree Kanteerava Stadium. However, East Bengal turned all predictions aside and won the match 3–1 thanks to a brace from Robin Singh and a wonder strike from Wedson Anselme. With 7 matches to go, East Bengal currently sits at the top of the table for now.

March

By the time March came, East Bengal started bottling, like they always do.[1] East Bengal were leading at the beginning of the March, but ended the season in the third position.

Transfers

In
No. Pos. Name Signed from Month Ref.
10 FW Wedson Anselme Free Agent December
9 FW Willis Plaza Free Agent January
4 DF Ivan Bukenya Free Agent December
11 FW Jackichand Singh Salgaocar F.C. December
24 FW Robin Singh (footballer) Free Agent January
15 FW Chris Payne Free Agent January

Out
Pos. Name Sold to Month Ref.
DF Harmanjot Khabra Bengaluru FC N/A
MF Do Dong-Hyun N/A

Kit

Supplier: Shiv Naresh / Sponsors: Kingfisher Premium, Peerless

Home
Away

First-team squad
As of 15 January 2017.[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 GK Subhasish Roy Chowdhury
2 DF Robin Gurung (on loan from NorthEast United)
3 DF Arnab Mondal
4 DF Ivan Bukenya
5 DF Rahul Bheke
6 FW Chris Payne
8 MF Mohammed Rafique
9 FW Willis Plaza
10 FW Wedson Anselme
11 MF Jackichand Singh
12 MF Rowllin Borges
13 GK Rehenesh TP (on loan from NorthEast United)
14 MF Mehtab Hossain
16 DF Gurwinder Singh
No. Position Player
17 DF Narayan Das
18 MF David Lalrinmuana
19 DF Robert Lalthlamuana
20 MF Lalrindika Ralte
21 FW Thongkhosiem Haokip
22 DF Mehtab Singh
23 MF Bikash Jairu
24 FW Robin Singh (on loan from FC Goa)
25 MF Cavin Lobo
27 MF Nikhil Poojari
28 MF Romeo Fernandes (on loan from Goa)
30 GK Luis Barreto
31 GK Dibyendu Sarkar
34 MF Abhinas Ruidas
50 DF Anwar Ali

Technical Staff
PositionName [3]
Head coach Trevor Morgan
1st Assistant Coach Warren Hackett
Goalkeeper Coach Abhijit Mondal
Club Doctor Dr. Shantiranjan Dasgupta
Team Media Officer Gautam Roy

Statistics

Goal Scorers
No. Pos. Nat. Name CFL Bordoloi I-League Total
9 FW Willis Plaza --7 7
21 FW Do Dong-Hyun 43- 7
10 FW Wedson Anselme --6 6
FW Oluwaunmi Somide 14- 5
24 FW Robin Singh --4 4
20 MF Lalrindika Ralte 3-1 4
26 FW Jiten Murmu 31- 4
6 FW Chris Payne --3 3
4 DF Ivan Bukenya --3 3
3 DF Arnab Mondal 2-- 2
33 MF Prohlad Roy -2- 2
21 FW Thongkhosiem Haokip --1 1
8 MF Mohammed Rafique 1-- 1
5 DF Rahul Bheke 1-- 1
27 MF Nikhil Poojari -1- 1
DF Calum Angus 1-- 1

Competitions

Overall
Competition First match Last match Final
position
Calcutta Football League 1st
2016 Bordoloi Trophy 2nd
I-League 7 January 2017 – currently on 2nd

Last Updated: 7 March 2017

Overview
Competition Record
Pld W D L GF GA GD Win %
CFL 10 10 0 0 19 6 +13 100.00
2016 Bordoloi Trophy 5 4 0 1 13 2 +11 080.00
2016-17 I-League 18 10 3 5 33 15 +18 055.56
2016–17 Indian Federation Cup 4 1 2 1 3 3 +0 025.00
Total 37 25 5 7 68 26 +42 067.57

Last updated: 1 May 2017

Source: Competitions

I-League
Main article: 2016–17 I-League

Table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Aizawl (C) 18 11 4 3 24 14 +10 37 Qualification to Champions League qualifier
2 Mohun Bagan 18 10 6 2 27 12 +15 36
3 East Bengal 18 10 3 5 33 15 +18 33
4 Bengaluru FC 18 8 6 4 30 15 +15 30 Qualification to AFC Cup qualifying play-off[lower-alpha 1]
5 Shillong Lajong 18 7 5 6 24 23 +1 26
Source: IndiaFooty.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. Bengaluru FC qualified for the 2018 AFC Cup by winning the 2016–17 Federation Cup.

Matches

  Win   Draw   Loss

I League
Main article: 2016–17 I-League

Fixtures & results
7 January 2017 1East Bengal1–1Aizawl F.C.Barasat Stadium
Ivan Bukenya 88' Gurwinder Singh(o.g.) 46'
14 January 2017 2DSK Shivajians F.C.1–2East BengalBalewadi Stadium
Gouramangi Singh 60' Wedson Anselme 20'(P)
Willis Plaza  77'
18 January 2017 3Churchill Brothers S.C.0–2East BengalTilak Maidan Stadium
Thongkhosiem Haokip 33'
Ivan Bukenya 44'
22 January 2017 4East Bengal2–1Bengaluru FCBarasat Stadium
Ivan Bukenya 28'
Robin Singh 75'		 C.K. Vineeth 22'
29 January 2017 5Minerva Punjab F.C.0–5East BengalGuru Nanak Stadium
Wedson Anselme 8' 63'(P) 66'
Willis Plaza 20'
Robin Singh 65'
1 February 2017 6East Bengal2–0Mumbai F.C.Barasat Stadium
Willis Plaza 9' 16'
5 February 2017 7East Bengal3–0Chennai City F.C.Barasat Stadium
Wedson Anselme 51'
Willis Plaza 75'
Lalrindika Ralte 90+6'(P)
12 February 2017 8East Bengal0–0Mohun BaganKanchenjunga Stadium
Attendance: 29067
15 February 2017 9East Bengal1–1Shillong Lajong F.C.Kanchenjunga Stadium
Willis Plaza 45' Lalmuanpiua 26'
20 February 2017 10Aizawl F.C.1–0East BengalRajiv Gandhi Stadium
Chullova
25 February 2017 11Bengaluru FC1–3East BengalSree Kanteerava Stadium
C.K. Vineeth 84' Wedson Anselme 22'
Robin Singh 54' 58'
4 March 2017 12Shillong Lajong F.C.1–2East BengalJawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Aser Pierrick Dipanda 65' Chris Payne 20' 34'
7 March 2017 13East Bengal1–2Churchill Brothers S.C.Barasat Stadium
Chris Payne 67' Anthony Wolfe 9'
Ansumana Kromah 34'
12 March 2017 14Chennai City F.C.2–1East BengalJawaharlal Nehru Stadium
S Nandhakumar 57'
K Prasanth 92'		 Willis Plaza 42'
9 April 2017 15Mohun Bagan2-1East BengalKanchenjunga Stadium
Sony Norde
Azharuddin Mallick		 Rowlin Borges
16 April 2017 16East Bengal0-1DSK Shivajians F.C.Barasat Stadium
17Mumbai F.C.0-4East BengalCooperage Ground
Willis Plaza
Bikash Jairu
Wedson Anselme
18East Bengal3-1Minerva Punjab F.C.Barasat Stadium

See also

References
  1. "Goal.com".
  2. "Senior Team". East Bengal Football Club. Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  3. "Welcome to the home of Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club". Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
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