Merger of Mohun Bagan and ATK can help Indian football achieve greater heights

Indian football, which had a mixed 2019, needed new ideas and bold steps. And at the start of 2020, a huge step has been taken. The iconic Mohun Bagan, which was established in 1889, have merged with ATK, two-time Indian Super League (ISL) winners, to create what is expected to be India’s most formidable club going forward. While talks had been on for some time, it was only last week that things assumed a concrete form and ATK-Mohun Bagan turned into a reality on Thursday afternoon.

While it is still not known if they will sport Bagan’s Green and Maroon or ATK’s Red and White when they play together for the first time, it can be safely conjectured that the coming together will ease Mohun Bagan’s financial crisis, which had been plaguing the club for a while. In fact, the mesh of resources could well see the birth of a giant that can help Indian football achieve greater heights in the future.

“Mohun Bagan has a huge legacy. But it is restricted to India. With its millions of fans and the sentiment attached, it is time we start thinking of taking ATK-Mohun Bagan beyond the Indian shores and making the club a player in the Asian scene and beyond,” Sanjeev Goenka, principal owner of ATK and the majority (80 per cent) shareholder in the new entity, said. Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Private Limited will own the remaining 20 per cent stake.



If the new entity can rope in the top footballers from the region and from Europe, there is little doubt that the club can have a spiral effect, much like what happened with the J League in Japan at the turn of the century. While the hardcore Bagan fans are curious to know the fate of their 130-year-old institution, Goenka tries to dispel all doubts.

“For me, Mohun Bagan was and remains an emotion. It remains at the core of India’s football story and the coming together of ATK and Mohun Bagan will only help the club grow better and bigger,” he says.

ATK-Mohun Bagan will play will come into existence from the June 1, 2020 and will compete in the ISL season 2020-21, along with other important competitions in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) calendar.

Much like Bengaluru FC, who have already carved out a niche in the echelons of Indian football in the limited time of their existence, ATK-Mohun Bagan are expected to do the same.

Not only will it be run by a professional management with a corporate mindset, it will also have a huge fanbase to tap into giving the new club real heft and muscle. While drawing on existing infrastructure like the Mohun Bagan ground in Kolkata, the new club will also draw on ATK’s grassroots programme, which has thrown up stars like Sumit Rathi in the ongoing edition of the ISL.

While clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal continue to command tremendous fan loyalty, there is no denying that they needed to be corporatized and professionally moulded to meet the demands of the modern game. In that sense, ATK-Mohun Bagan is a welcome step.

What the club will find challenging is to convince the diehard fan. For many of them the club is more an emotion. It is essential that they see the coming together as a positive step and not simply as an acquisition. Indian football needs each of these fans to stay loyal to the game and help it move ahead rather than feeling alienated and stifled. “Fan sentiment means the world to us,” says Goenka before going on to add, “They remain our biggest strength and every decision will be based on an engagement with our fans.”