page_title: East Bengal Ultras
section_title: Initial years: 2013–2016
hierarchical_section_title: East Bengal Ultras / Initial years: 2013–2016
caption_attribution_description: English: Initial days of East Bengal Ultras
context_page_description: The East Bengal Ultras are the vocal supporters' group for Indian football club, East Bengal F.C., which competes in the I-League, one of the two co-existing premier football leagues in India. The group is also often referred to as the Bangal Brigade owing to much of its fanbase hailing from the East Bengal region. Founded in 2013, it was the first Ultras group in Indian football and has been credited with revolutionising the Indian football fan movement. They were the first supporters' group in India to organise a pyro-show on-field and the first in South Asia to organise a live chant show, named Tunes of Colony, in 2019. They have around 25 chants and slogans.
  The Ultras are known for making some of the largest unique tifos in Indian football. In the 2019–20 I-League season, they set a record for the biggest tifo—10,000 sq ft —in Indian football history, breaking the previous record of 7,200 sq ft which the group had also set.
context_section_description: In 2013, the East Bengal Ultras made their first appearance in an away game against Bengalaru, becoming the first ultras group in the country. They introduced smoke shows in the 2015 Calcutta Football League Kolkata Derby, which East Bengal won by a score of 4–0, and unveiled their first large tifo in the 2016 Kolkata Derby at the Salt Lake Stadium in Bidhannagar. The tifo was a large East Bengal jersey which had the number 12 printed on the back, indicating the fans were the club's 'twelfth man'. The tifo was the first of its kind in Indian football and became very popular amongst the club's supporters.
  In the 2015–16 I-League, the East Bengal Ultras presented colourful mosaic shows at matches against Bengaluru and Salgaocar in the Barasat Stadium. These were also firsts in India's fan culture. In the opening match of the 2016 CFL Premier Division at the Kalyani Stadium, the East Bengal Ultras displayed South Asia’s first ever 3D tifo which featured an East Bengal player holding the CFL Trophy with the backdrop of the Kolkata Skyline and a written slogan— Kolkata Amader (In English, Kolkata is ours).
caption: East Bengal Ultras in 2013
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