SC East Bengal Reserves and Academy

Sporting Club East Bengal Reserves is the reserve team of SC East Bengal. It is the most senior level of the East Bengal F.C. academy beneath the first team. When in 2020, the East Bengal senior team were planning to move into the Indian Super League, the B team or the Reserve team was formed. The team generally consists of Under-21 players at the club but at times senior players also play for the reserves when they are recuperating from injury or not getting game time.

East Bengal

Full name	Sporting Club East Bengal 'B' Sporting Club East Bengal Academy
Ground	East Bengal Ground
Capacity	23,500
Head coach	Ranjan Chowdhury (under-18); Chandan Ray (under-15); Tarun Dey (under-13)
League	Elite League (U18) Sub Junior League (U13)
2019–20	League called-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

East Bengal Academy are the under-18, under-15 and under-13 team of Indian professional football club SC East Bengal. The under-18 team of the club is generally referred to as the primary youth team as it is the last stage of progression for promotion of youth players into the first team.[1]

The youth teams participate in the Elite league of various age groups. SC East Bengal Academy's journey has begun on 20 June 2016 with the motive to establish a strong footprint in Indian football history by producing quality professional players. The main objective of this project has been to supply professional quality players to SC East Bengal senior team & Indian national team.[1]

Reserve team

East Bengal officially did not have a reserve team prior to 2020, however, the club formed a reserve team composed of academy players and few senior team members to participate in minor tournaments like Bordoloi Trophy, Darjeeling Gold Cup etc. In 2018, the East Bengal Reserves team, coached by Ranjan Chowdhury, won the Darjeeling Gold Cup defeating another Kolkata giant Mohammedan Sporting in the final.[2]

The reserve team was formed in 2020 and would play in the I-League 2nd Division along with the Calcutta Football League and the Durand Cup from the 2020–21 season.[3]

The reserve team is managed by Ranjan Chowdhury who is also the head director of the East Bengal Academy setup. The reserve team plays their home games at the East Bengal Ground.[4]

Reserves squad

As of 1 June 2020

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  IND Ayon Roy — DF  IND Sonam Zangpo — MF  IND Dilliram Sanyasi — FW  IND Luntinmang Haokip — MF  IND Jeegesh Jegi — MF  IND Maju Clarance —  IND Manvir Singh —  IND Rashid Ali — MF  IND Freestar Kharbangar

No. Pos. Nation Player —  IND Piyush Sikarwar — MF  IND Dip Saha — MF  IND Bishal Karjee — DF  IND Jay Baz — MF  IND Salam Johnson — MF  IND Shravan Lama — DF  IND Bikash Singh — MF  IND Deep Samanta 4 DF  IND Chandan Oraw 8 DF  IND Ranjit Oraw

Players listed in bold have made at least one senior first-team appearance.

Academy

East Bengal F.C. Academy was founded in the early part of the 21st century and had a major success when the club's Under-15 team qualified for the Manchester United Premier Cup after being champions of India defeating Mahindra United 1–0 in the final,[5] and becoming South-East Asian regional runners up in 2007.[6] The Junior team faced the youth teams of Manchester United F.C., A.S. Roma and Shandong Luneng and FK Austria Wien in the final round held in Manchester, however, they lost all the games in the group stages.[7]

In the 17-20th place play-offs Semi-Finals, the team defeated Bukit Jalil of Malaysia by 3-1 but lost to Central United F.C. of New Zealand in the 17th place play-offs final by 5-3 via tiebreakers after the game ended goalless in regulation time. The U15 team finished 18th[8] among the 20 teams to have reached the World final stage and is till date the best finish by any Indian club in the Nike Premier Cup.[9]

The East Bengal U19 team which was the primary youth team before the Elite League started in 2010. Players like Israil Gurung, Saikat Saha Roy etc. were part of the East Bengal youth setup in the mid-2000s. In 2006, former East Bengal FC legend and National League winning coach Monoranjan Bhattacharya was appointed as the head coach of the East Bengal U-19 team.[10]

The East Bengal Academy started with new endeavours in 2016 as they brought in Ranjan Chowdhury as the head of the project with an aim to produce Indian talents and build up the supply line for the main team of SC East Bengal.[11]

Under-18

The under-18 team participates in the Elite League. The team is coached by former TFA and Pune F.C. Academy coach Ranjan Chowdhury who is also the Project Head of East Bengal Football Academy.[1]

Squad

The SC East Bengal Academy Under-18 squad for 2019-20 season:[12]

As of 4 December 2019

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Mirajuddin Mondal 2 DF  IND Jay Baz 3 DF  IND Saikhom Goutam Singh 4 DF  IND Chandan Oraw 5 DF  IND Arpan Polley 6 FW  IND Salam Johnson Singh 7 MF  IND Deep Samanta 8 DF  IND Ranjit Oraw 9 FW  IND Thokchom Manichand Singh 10 FW  IND Srikumar Karjee 11 MF  IND Akhay Dey 12 MF  IND Akash Mandal 14 MF  IND Bijay Mandal 15 FW  IND Danger Brahma

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 DF  IND Arkaprabha Das 17 MF  IND Shrawan Lama 18 DF  IND Ramesh Limbu Chemjang 19 MF  IND M. Lunminlen Haokip 20 MF  IND Sujit Singh 22 DF  IND Sagolsem Bikash Singh 23 FW  IND Sougata Hansda 24 DF  IND Soumyadip Jyoti 26 FW  IND Rajkumar Kisku 27 MF  IND Veishalou S Pao 29 GK  IND Firaj Molla 38 GK  IND Bacchu Das 41 GK  IND Suros Kumar Das

Performance Record

Performance of SC East Bengal Academy in Youth Leagues
Year	Tournament	Final Position
2010[13]	I-League U-19	Runners up
2011	I-League U-19	Runners up
2012	I-League U-20	Group Stages
2013	I-League U-20	Final Round
2014	I-League U-19	Runners up
2014-15	I-League U-19	Group Stages
2015-16	I-League U-18	Final Round
2016-17	I-League U-18	Runners up
2017-18	Youth League U-18	Semi Finals
2018-19	Elite League U-18	Quarter Finals
2019-20	Elite League U-18	League called-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic[14]

Under-15

The under-15 team participates in the Elite Youth League. The team is coached by Chandan Kumar Ray.[15]

Squad

The SC East Bengal Academy Under-15 squad for 2019–20 season

As of 26 July 2019

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1  IND Firaz Molla 2  IND Avigit Hansda 3  IND Susobhan Naskar 4  IND Rakibul Sk. 5  IND Sagar Porel 6  IND Shib Sundar Tudu 7  IND Akhay Dey 8  IND Chiranjit Ghosh 9  IND Kinkar Golui 10  IND Rupam Biswas 11  IND Jit Halder 12  IND Soumyadip Jyoti 13  IND Sagnik Ray 14  IND Toufik Islam

No. Pos. Nation Player 15  IND Argha Manna 16  IND Rohit Singh 17  IND Tohit Laskar 18  IND Baburam Mandi 19  IND Ajibur Rahaman Molla 20  IND Tritam Lodh 21  IND Rajkumar Kisku 22  IND Silton Bhattacharjee 23  IND Ayan Das 24  IND Mohammad Taha Tanvir 25  IND Barun Sarma 26  IND Sattwick Mandal 27  IND Preetam Roy 28  IND Kaioum Ali

Performance Record

Performance of SC East Bengal Academy in U-15 Youth Leagues
Year	Tournament	Final Position
2005-06	U-15 Nike Premier Cup	Runners[16]
2006-07	U-15 Nike Premier Cup	Champions[5]
2015-16	U-15 Nike Premier Cup	Zonal Round
2016-17	U-15 Nike Premier Cup	Zonal Round
2017-18	U-15 Nike Premier Cup	National Finals[17]
2018-19	U-15 Hero Junior League	National Playoffs[18]
2019-20	U-15 Hero Junior League	Disqualified

Matches at the 2007 Nike Premier Cup

  Win   Draw   Loss

1 August 2007 Group stage	Manchester United U15	5–0[19]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
09:30 BST	Nicholas Jackson  11' David Mellor  17', 28', 38' Rory Gorman  20'	Report		Stadium: Carrington

1 August 2007 Group stage	Shandong Luneng U15	3–0[20]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
14:30 BST	??	Report		Stadium: Carrington

2 August 2007 Group stage	FK Austria Wien U15	2–0[21]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
09:30 BST	David  11' Christoph  15'	Report		Stadium: Carrington

2 August 2007 Group stage	AS Roma U15	2–0[22]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
15:30 BST	Mattia Montini  2', 42'	Report		Stadium: Carrington

3 August 2007 17-20th Semi Final	East Bengal U15	3–1[23]	Bukit Jalil U15	Manchester
09:30 BST	Suprovan Dhar  4' Ajoy Ray  7', 20'	Report	Fouzan  30'	Stadium: Carrington

3 August 2007 17-20th Final	East Bengal U15	0–0[8] (3–5 p)	Central United U15	Manchester
11:30 BST		Report		Stadium: Carrington
	Penalties
	Rakesh Roy Supravan Dhar Joydeb Chakraborty Pintu Dutta

Under-13

The under-13 team participates in the Elite Youth League. The team is coached by former India International and East Bengal FC legend Tarun Dey.[24]

Squad

The SC East Bengal Academy Under-13 squad for 2019-20 season

As of 26 July 2019

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1  IND Apu Palian 2  IND Ankur Adhikary 3  IND Jishan Molla 4  IND Rajibul Halder 5  IND Toufik Alam 6  IND Avijit Paul 7  IND Gazanfar Moin 8  IND Saranya Samaddar 9  IND Abir Ali 10  IND Avijit Sarkar 11  IND Rohan Das 12  IND Tuhin Sardar

No. Pos. Nation Player 13  IND Debashis Bera 14  IND Mohammed Soyab Khan 15  IND Souptik Chakraborty 16  IND Soumojit Das 17  IND Julfikar Gazi 18  IND Sunandan Majhi 19  IND Suranya Samaddar 20  IND Md Azhar 21  IND Sayan Roy 22  IND Hasibul Mondal 23  IND Raj Maity 24  IND Krishnapada Biswas

Performance Record

Performance of SC East Bengal Academy in U-13 Youth Leagues
Year	Tournament	Final Position
2017-18	U-13 Hero Sub Junior League	Zonal Round
2018-19	U-13 Hero Sub Junior League	Zonal Round[25]
2019-20	U-13 Hero Sub Junior League	League called-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Noted graduates

Those who made it at the club

East Bengal's youth system has been successful over the last few years; many players who have come through it have gone on to feature in the first-team. The following players have gone on to play over ten competitive matches for the first team.

Players who have represented the National team are in Bold.

2000s Anupam Sarkar Kingshuk Debnath Priyant Singh Saikat Saha Roy Gouranga Biswas Budhiram Tudu Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu playing for East Bengal senior team 2010s Abhinas Ruidas Seiminlen Doungel Jiten Murmu Mehtab Singh Prakash Sarkar Manoj Mohammed Bidyashagar Singh PC Rohlupuia

Those who made it elsewhere

East Bengal FC academy graduates who didn't make it at the club but made it somewhere else and even went on to play for the national team:

Players who have represented the National team are in Bold.

2000s Arup Debnath Israil Gurung

2010s Milan Singh Pankaj Moula Ankit Mukherjee Rafique Ali Sardar

Honours

Reserves

• Darjeeling Gold Cup (1): 2018[2]

Academy U18

• IFA Shield[upper-alpha 1] (1): 2018 [26][27]

• AIFF Youth Leagues (Runners up) (4): 2010,[13] 2011,[28] 2014, 2016-17[29]

• Zee Bangla Football League (U-19) (1): 2019(Joint Winners)[30]
• SRMB Cup (U-18) (1): 2019[31]
• All Bengal Knockout Tournament (U-19) (1): 2019

Academy U-15

• Manchester United Premier Cup India: 2007[5]

1. Under-19 Tournament from 2015-2018

References

1. "EAST BENGAL FOOTBALL ACADEMY". East Bengal Club. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
2. Dipta Dey, Sayak (24 December 2018). "East Bengal Reserves crowned Champions of GTA Chairman's Gold Cup : A Rewind". Sportskeeda.
3. "East Bengal FC: How the Reserve Team is shaping up?". BADGEB. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
4. "East Bengal FC start trials for "Reserve" team for next season!". BADGEB. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
5. "Manchester United Premier Cup (U15) India Finals 2007". IndianFootball.de. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
6. "East Bengal U-15 lose to Assumption College, Thailand in Final of MUPC-SEA Regional Leg". East Bengal Club. Archived from the original on 7 December 2006. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
7. "Final of the World Tournament 2007 in Manchester". Foot Juniors. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
8. "East Bengal finish 18th at MUPC after final defeat". Outlook India. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
9. "Throwback: When East Bengal FC U15 participated in the Nike World Premier Cup!". BADGEB. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
10. "Monoranjan Bhattacharya appointed coach of East Bengal U-19 team". East Bengal Club. Archived from the original on 7 December 2006. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
11. "Kingfisher East Bengal Youth Development Program - Sponsorship Proposal". East Bengal Club. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
12. "EAST BENGAL U-18 FOOTBALL TEAM". East Bengal Club. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
13. "Sporting Clube clinch U-19 I-League". Herald Goa. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
14. "League Committee sends its recommendations to the AIFF Executive Committee". I-League. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
15. "EAST BENGAL U-15 FOOTBALL TEAM". East Bengal Club. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
16. Kaul, Sunit (5 August 2006). "Mohun Bagan to take on Man United!". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
17. "16 Teams To Compete In Nike Premier Cup 2018 National Finals". I-League. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
18. "Points Table: Hero Jr. League". I-League. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
19. "Man United pounds hapless East Bengal 5-0 in MUPC opener". Outlook India. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
20. "East Bengal colts beaten twice in a day". The Telegraph India. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
21. "East Bengal face third straight defeat in MUPC". Outlook India. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
22. "East Bengal sink to fourth defeat". Rediff Sports. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
23. "East Bengal finally taste victory". Rediff Sports. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
24. "EAST BENGAL U-13 FOOTBALL TEAM". East Bengal Club. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
25. "Points Table: Hero Sub. Jr. League". I-League. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
26. "IFA Shield 2018 Final: East Bengal beat arch-rivals Mohun Bagan to be crowned champions". Goal.com. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
27. "East Bengal beat Mohun Bagan 4-2 to lift U-19 IFA Shield". Times of India. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
28. "JCT Management Honour U-19 I-League Champions!". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
29. "AIFF Academy Beat East Bengal To Clinch U-18 I-League Title". I-League. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
30. Dutta, Priyanka (1 August 2019). "Winners of Zee Bangla Football League 2019 Felicitated". The Kolkata Mail. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
31. "QEB U-18 lifts SRMB Cup". East Bengal Club. Retrieved 12 January 2021.

External links

• Official website