2015–16 East Bengal F.C. season

The 2015-16 season is the club's 96th season in existence. The club had won the Calcutta Football League this season and became the runners of 2015 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup.

East Bengal F.C.
2015–16 season
ManagerBiswajit Bhattacharya
StadiumSalt Lake Stadium
Barasat Stadium
East Bengal Ground
I-LeaguePre-season
Calcutta Premier DivisionChampions
Top goalscorerLeague: Ranti Martins (12)
All: Do Dong-hyun (16)

Pre-Season Overview

The club signed Do Dong-hyun, a South Korean attacking mid-fielder to support the stricking part. With the arrival of veteran defender Bello Razaq from Mohun Bagan, the team became stronger and the Red and Gold Brigade are hoping to seal the CFL championship and set another hexa record. With the help of recent performances, The Club clinched to the 74th spot in the recent AFC Club Ranking, the highest among all Indian football clubs.

Season Overview

August

The club started their Calcutta Football League campaign on 8 August by beating SVF Tollygunge Agragami FC by 1-0. In the next match, against Aryan F.C., the club managed a draw, the only draw of this CFL campaign. Then they went on winning all the matches against Bengal Nagpur Railway, Army XI, Mohammedan S.C. (Kolkata), Police AC and Sports Authority of India.

September

Maintaining their winning streak of August, East Bengal started their September by beating Kalighat Milan Sangha F.C. by 4-3. This fixture was their toughest in this campaign as at a time, the team was trailing by 0-2 and then they managed to win it.
The next fixture of the club was a prestigious Kolkata Derby against their arch rivals Mohun Bagan in which the team managed an easy 4-0 win with two stunning free kicks by Do Dong-hyun, the top scorer of the club, one of which came in just after 82 seconds from the kick off. This win sealed their league victory and their 118th win against their arch rivals. Moreover, it was the club's 6th consecutive CFL championship which is itself a record and they hold a similar 6 consecutive CFL League wins between the period 1970-75.
The last fixture was against Southern Samity on 10 September. East Bengal with their reserved squad managed to win it and became the unbeatable champions of this CFL. Do Dong-hyun became the top scorer of both the club and the CFL.

October

The club went to play an international tournament in Bangladesh named 2015 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup. 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 Orok Essien and Subodh Kumar on loan for the tournament. East Bengal started off well by defeating Bangladesh club Abahani Limited (Chittagong) by 2-1 on 21st Oct 2015. Young Prohlad scored on the match along with Mohammed Rafique. After that the most important player of midfield, Do Dong-hyun, had a knee injury which couldn't let him play for the rest of the tour. The club kept on its winning streak by defeating the current best club of Pakistan K-Electric F.C. by a comfortable margin of 3-1. Then the club had its first draw of the tournament which was against Abahani Limited (Dhaka). Then the club went into the semis where they defeated (on 28th oct 2015) Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka) by 3-0 to enter into the final. Ranti Martins scored a couple on the semis. On 30th Oct 2015, East Bengal FC played the final against Abahani Limited (Chittagong) once again after the very first match. But the young brigade could not seal the victory at the end in spite of taking a lead on the 9th minute by the goal scored by Avinabo Bag. This time East Bengal lost to the Bangladeshi club by 1-3. 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 were appreciated whole heartedly by the supporters of the club.

Transfers

In
No. Pos. Name Signed from Month Ref.
21 MF Do Dong-hyun Free Agent N/A
6 DF Bello Razaq Mohun Bagan June
43 FW Orok Essien (on loan) October
MF Subodh Kumar (on loan) SVF Tollygunge Agragami FC October

Out
Pos. Name Sold to Month Ref.
DF Safar Sardar Mohun Bagan N/A
MF Raju Gaikwad Mohun Bagan N/A

Kit

Supplier: Shiv Naresh / Sponsors: Kingfisher Premium, Peerless

Home
Away

Cabin Lobi

Technical Staff
Position Name
Chief Coach Biswajit Bhattacharya
Assistant Coach Debjit Ghosh
Goalkeeping Coach Sanjay Majhi
Defence Coach Sammy Omollo
Physiotherapist Rajesh Basak
Club Doctor Dr. Santiranjan Dasgupta
Team Manager Manish Banerjee
Team Media Officer Gautam Roy

Statistics

Calcutta Football League Stats

  Win   Draw   Loss

Opposition Score
Tollygunge Agragami 1-0
Aryan Club 0-0
Bengal Nagpur Railway 6-0
Army XI 3-2
Mohammedan S.C. (Kolkata) 2-1
Police A.C. 4-1
SAI Darjeeling 3-1
Kalighat M.S. 4-3
Mohun Bagan 4-0
Southern Samity 2-1

Last Updated: 12 September 2015

2015 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup Stats

  Win   Draw   Loss

Opposition Score
Abahani Limited (Chittagong) 2-1
K-Electric F.C. 3-1
Abahani Limited (Dhaka) 0-0
Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka) 3-0
Abahani Limited (Chittagong) 1-3

Last Updated: 3 November 2015

I-League Stats
Main article: 2015–16 I-League

  Win   Draw   Loss

Opposition Home Score Away Score
Aizawl 2-0
Bengaluru 0-1
Mohun Bagan 1-1
Mumbai 0-0
DSK 1-0
Salgaocar 2-1
Shillong 4-0
Sporting Goa 3-1

Last Updated: 12 September 2015

Goal Scorers
No. Pos. Nat. Name CFL Sheikh Kamal Cup I-League AFC Cup AFC Champions League Total
21 FW Do Dong-hyun 12-3- 15
8 MF Mohammed Rafique 33-- 6
10 FW Ranti Martins 1312- 16
5 DF Rahul Bheke 3--- 3
7 MF Harmanjot Khabra 2--- 2
34 MF Abhinas Ruidas 1--- 1
43 MF Orok Essien 1-- 1
6 MF Bello Razaq 1--- 1
14 DF Mehtab Hossain 1--- 1
29 DF Saumik Dey 1--- 1
40 MF Prohlad Roy 11-- 1
22 MF Avinabo Bag 1-- 1
23 MF Bikash Jairu -2- 2

Competitions

Overall
Competition First match Last match Final
position
Calcutta Football League 8 August 2015 10 September 2015 1st
2015 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup 21 October 2015 30 October 2015 2nd
I-League 10 January 2016 – –
AFC Cup – – 3rd
AFC Champions League – –

Last Updated: 3 November 2015

Overview
Competition Record
Pld W D L GF GA GD Win %
CFL 10 9 1 0 29 9 +20 090.00
2015 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup 5 3 1 1 9 5 +4 060.00
Total 15 12 2 1 38 14 +24 080.00

Last updated: 3 November 2015

Source: Competitions

I-League
Main article: 2015–16 I-League

Table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Bengaluru FC (C) 16 10 2 4 24 17 +7 32 Qualification to Champions League qualifying play-off
2 Mohun Bagan 16 8 6 2 32 16 +16 30 Qualification to AFC Cup qualifying play-off[lower-alpha 1]
3 East Bengal 16 7 4 5 22 18 +4 25
4 Sporting Goa 16 5 7 4 24 20 +4 22 Withdrew[lower-alpha 2]
5 Mumbai 16 4 7 5 20 19 +1 19
Source: I-League
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) play-off match
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. Mohun Bagan qualified for the 2017 AFC Cup by winning the 2015–16 Federation Cup.
  2. Sporting Goa and Salgaocar withdrew from I-League.[1]

Matches

  Win   Draw   Loss

References
  1. "Salgaocar FC, Sporting Clube de Goa withdraw from I-League". The Indian Express. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.

See also
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