Calcutta Football League: East Bengal kings of Asia’s oldest league competition - full winners list

Established in 1898, the Calcutta Football League (CFL) holds the distinction of being the oldest league football competition in Asia.

From a global perspective, the English Football League, which started exactly a decade before the CFL, is considered the oldest league football competition in the world.

Interestingly, Italy’s Directorio Division Superiori, the precursor to modern-day Serie A, also began in the same year as the Calcutta Football League.

Calcutta Football League history

In the late 1800s, football was still at a nascent stage in the world and Kolkata, as the capital of British India at the time, became the hub for the sport in India due to the English settlement and British Army barracks in the city.

Cup competitions such as the Durand Cup (1888), Trades Cup (1889) and the IFA Shield (1893) were already running in the country. However, the Indian Football Association (IFA), the erstwhile governing body for the sport in the country, wanted a competition to replicate the football leagues in England and Wales, which were booming in popularity at the time.

And so began the Calcutta Football League (CFL) - a two-tier football league. However, in the initial 15 editions, the competition was only open to Britishers and other European settlers. No Indian teams were allowed to compete in the CFL.

Only British Army teams and clubs for civil servants, merchants, missionaries and other European nationalities featured in the CFL for the first 15 years.

Till 1933, Army teams dominated the premier division of the Calcutta Football League and won 23 of the 35 CFL titles (the 1930 edition was cancelled due to the nationwide Satyagraha movement). Of the remaining 12, Calcutta FC, which later became CCFC, won eight titles while the Dalhousie Athletics Club won the remaining four.

Meanwhile, there was a change sweeping in the football ecosystem in India. Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari settling up the Wellington Club in 1884 sowed the seeds of a football revolution in India as several new Indian football clubs began cropping up, especially in Kolkata.

Mohun Bagan’s landmark IFA Shield win in 1911, defeating East Yorkshire Regiment in the final, also meant that Indian football clubs, which Britishers referred to as native clubs at the time, couldn’t be ignored anymore.

The British Raj was finally forced to grant permission to two Indian clubs - Mohun Bagan and Aryan - to participate in the second division of the CFL in 1914. Mohun Bagan earned promotion to the Premier Division the same season. Aryan also moved up two seasons later.

Kumortuli Club, in 1917, became the first Indian club to win the second division of the CFL. They retained their title in 1918 and 1919 before fellow Indian team, Town Club, captured the second division title in 1920. However, with Aryan and Mohun Bagan already playing in the top division and rules at the time mandating only two native clubs could play in the first division, neither Kumartuli Club or Town Club gained promotion.

Things, however, changed in 1924 after East Bengal emerged as the joint-winners of the second division alongside Cameroons B. Since Cameroons A was already playing in the first division, East Bengal were in contention to get promoted but the two-team cap saw their claim rejected.

The East Bengal board, however, called for amendments to the rule and with eminent personalities on the club’s board, won their appeal and moved to the Premier Division.

Mohammedan Sporting - the first Indian club to win the Calcutta Football League

Despite the presence of the two Kolkata giants, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, and more opportunities for Indian clubs in the top tier, it took almost a decade more and a third Kolkata giant, Mohammedan Sporting, to break the British hegemony in the top division.

With a team put together from all over the country by former hockey player CA Aziz, Mohammedan Sporting became the first Indian team to win the top division of the Calcutta Football League in 1934 and successfully defended their title for the next four seasons.

Mohammedan Sporting also won the first CFL post India’s independence. After the 1947 edition was abandoned due to political turmoil and partition, the Black Panthers beat out their city rivals to win the league in 1948.

Mohun Bagan won their first Calcutta Football League title in 1939 while East Bengal’s first CFL win came in 1942.

The three Kolkata giants have, since, dominated the CFL winners list. With 39 titles, East Bengal are the most successful team in the Calcutta Football League, followed by Mohun Bagan with 30 and Mohammedan with 14.

From 2010 to 2017, East Bengal won the CFL eight times on the trot - the most times any team has won the title in succession.

During their title wins in 1977 and 2016, the Red and Golds won every single game and in 1972, the team didn’t concede a single goal.

Eastern Railway (1958), for long, remained the only Indian team outside the big three to win the Calcutta Football League Premier division title. The legendary PK Banerjee played a pivotal role in Easter Railways’ underdog story that season.

Peerless, in 2019, became the fifth Indian team to be crowned CFL champions.

Calcutta Football League champions - by teams

Mohammedan Sporting are the reigning Calcutta Football League champions, having won the last edition in 2023.

Till 1937, the CFL was a pan-India tournament open to teams from all across the country. From 1938, it was restricted to only teams from Kolkata and Bengal.

Besides being a historic competition, the Calcutta Football League has also been the nurturing ground for some of the best footballers the country has ever produced - from the likes of Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee, Subrata Bhattacharya, Subhash Bhowmick, Goutam Sarkar, Prasun Banerjee, Surajit Sengupta, Mohammed Habib, Akbar, Shabbir Ali to modern day icons like Bhaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri.

Fighting for relevance

However, it’s to be noted that since the advent of the National Football League (NFL) in 1996, and subsequently the I-League and the cash-rich Indian Super League (ISL), the CFL’s significance has been on a downslide.

Despite its rich history and legacy, the Calcutta Football League has been fighting for survival of late. The derbies between the big three still see a decent turnout because of local fan sentiments but the glory days of the CFL in the Indian football landscape seem well in the past.

In recent years, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have largely been seen fielding second-tier teams in the competition.