# 2016–17 East Bengal FC season

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

## 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 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 12 February 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. 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 |
| 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 | 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.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | IND | Subhasish Roy Chowdhury |
| 2 | DF | IND | Robin Gurung (on loan from NorthEast United) |
| 3 | DF | IND | Arnab Mondal |
| 4 | DF | UGA | Ivan Bukenya |
| 5 | DF | IND | Rahul Bheke |
| 6 | FW | AUS | Chris Payne |
| 8 | MF | IND | Mohammed Rafique |
| 9 | FW | TRI | Willis Plaza |
| 10 | FW | HAI | Wedson Anselme |
| 11 | MF | IND | Jackichand Singh |
| 12 | MF | IND | Rowllin Borges |
| 13 | GK | IND | Rehenesh TP (on loan from NorthEast United) |
| 14 | MF | IND | Mehtab Hossain |
| 16 | DF | IND | Gurwinder Singh |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | IND | Narayan Das |
| 18 | MF | IND | David Lalrinmuana |
| 19 | DF | IND | Robert Lalthlamuana |
| 20 | MF | IND | Lalrindika Ralte |
| 21 | FW | IND | Thongkhosiem Haokip |
| 22 | DF | IND | Mehtab Singh |
| 23 | MF | IND | Bikash Jairu |
| 24 | FW | IND | Robin Singh (on loan from FC Goa) |
| 25 | MF | IND | Cavin Lobo |
| 27 | MF | IND | Nikhil Poojari |
| 28 | MF | IND | Romeo Fernandes (on loan from Goa) |
| 30 | GK | IND | Luis Barreto |
| 31 | GK | IND | Dibyendu Sarkar |
| 34 | MF | IND | Abhinas Ruidas |
| 50 | DF | IND | Anwar Ali |

## Technical Staff

| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Trevor Morgan |
| 1st Assistant Coach | Warren Hackett |
| Goalkeeper coach | Abhijit Mondal |
| Club Doctor | Dr. Shantiranjan Dasgupta |
| Team Media Officer | Gautam Roy |

## Competitions
### Overall

| Competition | First match | Last match | Final position |
| Calcutta Football League | 4 August 2016 | 18 September 2016 | Champions |
| Bordoloi Trophy | 22 September 2016 | 30 September 2016 | Runners-up |
| I-League | 7 January 2017 | 29 April 2017 | 3rd |
| Federation Cup | 7 May 2017 | 14 May 2017 | Semi-finals |

### Overview

| Competition | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Calcutta Football League | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 100.00 |
| Bordoloi Trophy | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 080.00 |
| I-League | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 33 | 15 | +18 | 055.56 |
| 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

### Calcutta Football League
#### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | East Bengal (C) | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 30 | Champion |
| 2 | Mohammedan | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 20 | |
| 3 | Mohun Bagan | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 19 | |
| 4 | Southern Samity | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 15 | |
| 5 | Peerless SC | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 14 | |
* ↑ Caretaker manager under Technical-Director Monoranjan Bhattacharya.
* 1 2 East Bengal were awarded 3 points in the match against Mohun Bagan as Mohun Bagan refused to field a team for the match citing inadequate time for practice. The result of the match was declared by IFA to be 3–0 in favour of East Bengal.

#### Fixtures & results

Win  Draw  Loss

### Bordoloi Trophy
#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | East Bengal | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | 9 | Knock-out Stage |
| 2 | United Sikkim | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 | Knock-out Stage |
| 3 | Assam State Electricity Board | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Bongobi Agragami | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | −8 | 0 | |

#### Knock-out Stage

| Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | Final | Final |
| Three Star Club | Three Star Club | 4 | | | |
| United Sikkim F.C. | United Sikkim F.C. | 1 | | | |
| United Sikkim F.C. | United Sikkim F.C. | 1 | Three Star Club (aet) | Three Star Club (aet) | 2 |
| | | | East Bengal | East Bengal | 1 |
| East Bengal | East Bengal | 1 | East Bengal | East Bengal | 1 |
| Shillong Lajong | Shillong Lajong | 0 | | | |

#### Fixtures & results

Win  Draw  Loss

### I-League
#### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 30 | 15 | +15 | 30 | Qualification to AFC Cup qualifying play-off |
| 5 | Shillong Lajong | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 23 | +1 | 26 | |
* ↑ Bengaluru qualified for the 2018 AFC Cup by winning the 2016–17 Federation Cup.

#### Fixtures & results

Win  Draw  Loss

### Federation Cup

Group A :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Aizawl | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Advance to semi-finals |
| 2 | East Bengal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 5 | Advance to semi-finals |
| 3 | Chennai City | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Churchill Brothers | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |

#### Knock-out Stage

| Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | Final | Final |
| Aizawl | Aizawl | 0 | | | |
| Bengaluru FC | Bengaluru FC | 1 | | | |
| Bengaluru FC | Bengaluru FC | 1 | Bengaluru FC | Bengaluru FC | 2 |
| | | | Mohun Bagan | Mohun Bagan | 0 |
| Mohun Bagan | Mohun Bagan | 2 | Mohun Bagan | Mohun Bagan | 0 |
| East Bengal | East Bengal | 0 | | | |

#### Fixtures & results

Win  Draw  Loss

## Statistics
### Appearances

    Players with no appearances are not included in the list.
    As of end of 2016-17 season.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | CFL | CFL | I League | I League | Fed Cup | Fed Cup | Bordoloi | Bordoloi | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Starts | Apps | Starts | Apps | Starts | Apps | Starts | Apps | Starts |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||||
| 13 | GK | | TP Rehnesh | – | – | 15 | 15 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 16 | 15 |
| 1 | GK | | Subhasish Roy Chowdhury | – | – | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 7 | 7 |
| 30 | GK | | Luis Barreto | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 |
| 31 | GK | | Dibyendu Sarkar | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 4 | 3 | 8 | 7 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||||
| 4 | DF | | Ivan Bukenya | – | – | 18 | 17 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 20 | 19 |
| 5 | DF | | Rahul Bheke | 6 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 25 | 25 |
| 4 | DF | | Callum Angus | 8 | 7 | – | – | | | 4 | 4 | 12 | 11 |
| 16 | DF | | Gurwinder Singh | 4 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 3 | – | – | 21 | 20 |
| 17 | DF | | Narayan Das | 6 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 23 | 22 |
| 19 | DF | | Robert Lalthlamuana | 6 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 8 |
| 50 | DF | | Anwar Ali | – | – | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | DF | | Arnab Mondal | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 13 | 11 |
| 2 | DF | | Robin Gurung | – | – | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 3 |
| 25 | DF | | Samad Ali Mallick | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 9 |
| 28 | DF | | Kaushik Sarkar | 2 | 1 | – | – | | | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 29 | DF | | Deepak Singh | 1 | 0 | – | – | | | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| - | DF | | Aspreet Singh | – | – | – | – | | | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 22 | DF | | Mehtab Singh | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||||
| 14 | MF | | Mehtab Hossain | 8 | 8 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 3 | – | – | 27 | 26 |
| 10 | MF | | Wedson Anselme | – | – | 15 | 14 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 19 | 18 |
| 27 | MF | | Nikhil Poojari | 4 | 1 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 18 |
| 20 | MF | | Lalrindika Ralte | 8 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 17 |
| 12 | MF | | Rowlin Borges | – | – | 12 | 10 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 16 | 14 |
| 28 | MF | | Romeo Fernandes | – | – | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 2 |
| 11 | MF | | Jackichand Singh | – | – | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 3 |
| 27 | MF | | Prohlad Roy | 4 | 1 | – | – | | | 5 | 5 | 9 | 6 |
| 34 | MF | | Abhinash Ruidas | 9 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 16 | 11 |
| 8 | MF | | Mohammed Rafique | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 15 | 12 |
| 23 | MF | | Bikash Jairu | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 14 | 8 |
| 7 | MF | | Cavin Lobo | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 4 | 3 |
| 21 | MF | | Do Dong-Hyun | 9 | 6 | – | – | | | 5 | 5 | 14 | 11 |
| - | MF | | Yami Longvah | – | – | | | | | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| - | MF | | Prakash Sarkar | – | – | | | | | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| - | MF | | Lalruatkima | – | – | | | | | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 18 | MF | | David Lalrinmuana | – | – | 1 | 0 | – | – | | | 1 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | | Willis Plaza | – | – | 14 | 12 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 18 | 16 |
| 26 | FW | | Jiten Murmu | 8 | 8 | – | – | | | 5 | 5 | 13 | 13 |
| 22 | FW | | Adilaja Somide | 7 | 5 | – | – | | | 5 | 5 | 12 | 10 |
| 24 | FW | | Robin Singh | – | – | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 18 | 10 |
| 21 | FW | | Thongkhosiem Haokip | – | – | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 3 |
| 6 | FW | | Chris Payne | – | – | 7 | 6 | – | – | | | 7 | 6 |
| 15 | FW | | Ildar Amirov | – | – | 2 | 1 | – | – | | | 2 | 1 |

### Goal Scorers

Goals for East Bengal in 2016–17 season :
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | CFL | Bordoloi | I League | Fed Cup | Total |
| 1 | 9 | FW | | Willis Plaza | | | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 1 | 10 | FW | | Wedson Anselme | | | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| 1 | 21 | FW | | Do Dong-Hyun | 4 | 3 | | | 7 |
| 4 | 24 | FW | | Robin Singh | | | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 5 | 22 | FW | | Adilaja Somide | 1 | 4 | | | 5 |
| 6 | 26 | FW | | Jiten Murmu | 3 | 2 | | | 5 |
| 6 | 20 | MF | | Lalrindika Ralte | 3 | | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | 4 | DF | | Ivan Bukenya | | | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | 6 | FW | | Chris Payne | | | 3 | | 3 |
| 10 | 3 | DF | | Arnab Mondal | 2 | | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 23 | MF | | Bikash Jairu | 0 | | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 33 | MF | | Prohlad Roy | 0 | 2 | | | 2 |
| 13 | 4 | DF | | Calum Angus | 1 | | | | 1 |
| 13 | 5 | DF | | Rahul Bheke | 1 | | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 8 | MF | | Mohammed Rafique | 1 | | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 12 | MF | | Rowlin Borges | | | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 21 | FW | | Thongkhosiem Haokip | | | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 27 | MF | | Nikhil Poojari | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | | MF | | Yami Longvah | | 1 | | | 1 |
| Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | TOTAL | TOTAL | TOTAL | TOTAL | 16 | 13 | 33 | 3 | 65 |