Contrary to reports and online chatter, Mohammedan Sporting, the 123-year old Kolkata football club, will not be closing. It has instead decided to suspend football operations due to a lack of sponsors.
The historic club will not play in the Durand Cup, which will take place in Goa in October, or the I-League second division, but it hopes to return to action sometime next year. Neither of the two bodies governing football in the country – the Indian Football Association and the All India Football Association – has bailed out a football club because of financial difficulties before.
The decision to suspend activities was taken at a working committee meeting on Saturday. The club has failed to pay salaries to their players and coaches for the last three months. First came the news that foreign players had been let go. Then it transpired that the whole team was released.
Mohammedan Sporting club won the Durand Cup last year and the IFA Shield this year. According to the Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta, the club’s head coach, Fuja Tope couldn't leave the country to meet his ill mother due to not receiving his salary. In May, the club was barred from the I-League because it failed to meet the Asian Football Confederation’s licensing criteria.
CNN-IBN reported that the club was shutting down but Member of Parliament and President of the club Sultan Ahmed denied the reports and told Mint, “Whatever you are seeing on television is wrong. It is totally rubbish. The club isn't shutting down. It's merely suspending its operations temporarily.”
Mohammedan Sporting, along with its Kolkata counterparts Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, is known as one of the big three of Indian football. In the last decade or so,the big Goan clubs, bankrolled by the state’s mining billionaires, have acquired primacy, but Kolkata remains a centre of Indian football.
Here is a video that details the history of the club.
Here are some pictures of Mohammedan Sporting Club teams of the past.
(india-soccer.blogspot.com)
An unbeaten. Mohammedan Sporting Club as the Calcutta League Champions in 1967.
(http://www.nawabbari.com)
Mohammedan Sporting Club after winning the 1936 IFA Shield.
Mohammedan Sporting Club after winning the second division in 1933.
(india-soccer.blogspot.com)
The historic club will not play in the Durand Cup, which will take place in Goa in October, or the I-League second division, but it hopes to return to action sometime next year. Neither of the two bodies governing football in the country – the Indian Football Association and the All India Football Association – has bailed out a football club because of financial difficulties before.
The decision to suspend activities was taken at a working committee meeting on Saturday. The club has failed to pay salaries to their players and coaches for the last three months. First came the news that foreign players had been let go. Then it transpired that the whole team was released.
Mohammedan Sporting club won the Durand Cup last year and the IFA Shield this year. According to the Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta, the club’s head coach, Fuja Tope couldn't leave the country to meet his ill mother due to not receiving his salary. In May, the club was barred from the I-League because it failed to meet the Asian Football Confederation’s licensing criteria.
CNN-IBN reported that the club was shutting down but Member of Parliament and President of the club Sultan Ahmed denied the reports and told Mint, “Whatever you are seeing on television is wrong. It is totally rubbish. The club isn't shutting down. It's merely suspending its operations temporarily.”
Mohammedan Sporting, along with its Kolkata counterparts Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, is known as one of the big three of Indian football. In the last decade or so,the big Goan clubs, bankrolled by the state’s mining billionaires, have acquired primacy, but Kolkata remains a centre of Indian football.
Here is a video that details the history of the club.
Here are some pictures of Mohammedan Sporting Club teams of the past.
(india-soccer.blogspot.com)
An unbeaten. Mohammedan Sporting Club as the Calcutta League Champions in 1967.
(http://www.nawabbari.com)
Mohammedan Sporting Club after winning the 1936 IFA Shield.
Mohammedan Sporting Club after winning the second division in 1933.
(india-soccer.blogspot.com)
The nucleus of Mohammedan Sporting Club - Emeka and Mohammad Kaisar Hamid pic.twitter.com/WjwECqxpiQ
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