East Bengal Reserves and Academy

Full name	East Bengal Football Club Reserves and Academy
Nickname(s)	The Red and Gold Brigade Bangal Brigade The Torch Bearers
Short name	EBFC
Ground	East Bengal Ground
Capacity	23,500
Owner	Emami East Bengal FC Pvt. Ltd.: Emami Group (77%)[1] East Bengal Pvt. Ltd. (23%)
President	Murari Lal Lohia
Head coach	Bino George (Reserves)
League	CFL Premier Division RF Development League AIFF Elite League
Website	https://emamieastbengal.com/
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Active departments of East Bengal
Football (Men's) Football (Women's) Football (Reserves & Academy) Cricket (Men's) Cricket (Women's) Hockey (Men's) Tennis Athletics eSports

East Bengal Football Club Reserves and Academy commonly referred to as East Bengal, is the reserve team and youth system of the Indian Super League side East Bengal FC. Reserves generally consist of younger players, but at times senior players also play, if recuperating from injury or not getting first team game time. Apart from the I-League 2 (formerly), the reserve side plays in the Calcutta Football League, currently under the sponsorship name Emami East Bengal Club.

East Bengal FC Reserves and Academy are the under-21, under-17, under-15 and under-13 teams of East Bengal. The under-21 team is often the last stage before the promotion into the first team.^[2] The youth teams participate in the Elite league of various age groups. The East Bengal Academy was re-instated on 20 June 2016 with the motive to establish a strong footprint in Indian football by producing quality professional players. The main objective of this project has been to supply professional quality players to the East Bengal senior team & Indian national team.^[2]

The East Bengal Academy was founded in the early part of the 21st century and had a major success initially as the U-19 East Bengal team won the first two U-19 National Football leagues held in 2001-02 and 2002-03^[3] and then the club's Under-15 team qualified for the Manchester United Premier Cup after being champions of India defeating Mahindra United 1–0 in the final,^[4] and becoming South–East Asian regional runners up in 2007.^[5] The Junior team faced the youth teams of Manchester United, A.S. Roma and Shandong Luneng and FK Austria Wien in the final round held in Manchester, however, they lost all the games in the group stages.^[6] In the 17–20th place play-off semi-finals, the team defeated Bukit Jalil of Malaysia by 3-1, but lost to Central United of New Zealand in the 17th place play-offs by 5-3 via tiebreakers, after the game ended goalless. The U-15 team finished 18th^[7] among the 20 teams who had reached the world final stage and is to date the best finish by any Indian club in the Nike Premier Cup.^[8] The East Bengal U-19 team was the primary youth team before the Elite League started in 2010. Players like Israil Gurung, Saikat Saha Roy etc. were part of the East Bengal youth setup in the mid 2000s. In 2006, former East Bengal legend and National League winning coach Monoranjan Bhattacharya was appointed as the head coach of the East Bengal U-19 team.^[9]

The East Bengal Academy started with new endeavours in 2016 as they brought in Ranjan Chowdhury as head of the project with an aim to produce Indian talents and build up the supply line for the main team of East Bengal.^[10] The team finished runners-up in the 2016–17 I-League U18, losing 2-1 to AIFF Elite Academy in the final. The team also reached the semi-final in 2017–18.^[11] The team was disbanded after the 2019–20 Indian Elite League was called off due to COVID-19 pandemic in India. In 2022, after the new investors Emami Group joined the club, the youth teams have been revived

East Bengal officially did not have a reserve team prior to 2020. However, the club formed a reserve team composed of academy players and few senior team members to participate in minor tournaments like Bordoloi Trophy. In 2018, the East Bengal Reserves team coached by Ranjan Chowdhury won the Darjeeling Gold Cup, defeating another Kolkata giant Mohammedan Sporting in the final.^[12]

The reserve team was formed in 2020 and intended to play in the I-League 2, along with the Calcutta Football League from the 2020–21 season.^[13] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the team was scrapped and after new investors Emami group tied up with the club, the reserve team was once again launched in 2022. Former Kerala football team coach Bino George was appointed as the head coach of the reserve team.^[14][15] The club also recruited former captain Sangram Mukherjee as the goalkeeper coach for the team.^[16] The club also bolstered the squad by making some top signings from the Santosh Trophy teams, including five players from Kerala, the champions of the 2021–22 edition.^[17][18] The reserve participated in the 2022 Calcutta Premier Division and finished fourth in the Super Six.^[19] The reserve team also participated in the 2022–23 I-League 2 along with the reserve teams of other Indian Super League sides – Bengaluru FC, Chennaiyin FC , FC Goa, Hyderabad FC and Mumbai City FC. The club also roped in AFC A license holder Archisman Biswas as the assistant coach for the reserve side.^[20] In the first season, East Bengal reserves side finished third in the group behind United and Shillong Lajong.^[21]

The below list contains the names and details of the reserve team squad for East Bengal. Some of the players are also part of the first team squad.

As of 22 September 2024^[22]

No.	Name	Nat.	Pos.	Date of Birth (Age)	Signed From	Signed In	Contact Ends	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
27	Aditya Patra (captain)		GK	(2000-04-27) 27 April 2000 (age 24)	Bengaluru	2022	2026	23	0
71	Sangramjit Roy Chowdhury		GK	(1998-10-26) 26 October 1998 (age 26)	Dempo	2024	2026	1	0
51	Kamaludheeen A. K.		GK	(2004-10-09) 9 October 2004 (age 20)	Kerala	2024	2027	0	0
95	Gourab Shaw		GK	(2004-05-04) 4 May 2004 (age 20)	Calcutta Port Trust	2023	2026	0	0
Defenders
38	Hira Mondal		LB	(1996-08-31) 31 August 1996 (age 28)	NorthEast United	2024	2025	28	0
54	Adil Amal		CB	(2002-01-31) 31 January 2002 (age 22)	Mar Athanasius FA	2022	2026	13	2
57	Bathala Sunil		CB	(2003-08-20) 20 August 2003 (age 21)	Sreenidhi Deccan	2024	2027	7	1
60	Tonmoy Ghosh		LB	(1992-06-09) 9 June 1992 (age 32)	Diamond Harbour	2024	2025	6	0
63	Monotosh Chakladar		CB	(1998-04-04) 4 April 1998 (age 26)	Diamond Harbour	2024	2026	11	0
74	Bunando Singh Khangembam		RB	(2004-01-02) 2 January 2004 (age 20)	RFYC	2023	2026	5	0
85	Chaku Mandi		CB	(2000-05-11) 11 May 2000 (age 24)	Bhawanipore	2024	2027	6	0
90	Joseph Justin		CB	(2004-10-30) 30 October 2004 (age 20)	Parappur FC	2023	2026	7	0
Midfielders
54	Ananthu N. S.		AM	(2004-09-20) 20 September 2004 (age 20)	Parappur FC	2024	2027	6	1
58	Sanjib Ghosh		RW	(2000-07-31) 31 July 2000 (age 24)	Mohammedan Sporting	2022	2025	26	1
61	Tanmay Das (vice–captain)		CM	(2001-05-02) 2 May 2001 (age 23)	Railway FC	2022	2027	29	2
62	Aman C. K.		RW	(2003-03-19) 19 March 2003 (age 21)	Mumbai City	2022	2026	33	10
64	Naseeb Rahman		RW	(2002-10-19) 19 October 2002 (age 22)	FC Areacode	2023	2026	10	0
66	Shyamal Besra		CM	(2004-09-25) 25 September 2004 (age 20)	Calcutta FC	2022	2027	17	4
68	Kush Chhetry		CM	(2004-11-28) 28 November 2004 (age 19)	Muvanlai Athletics	2023	2026	9	0
78	Muhammed K. Ashique		RW	(2004-12-06) 6 December 2004 (age 19)	Muthoot FA	2023	2026	6	2
79	Abinash Shagolsem		AM	(2007-07-02) 2 July 2007 (age 17)	FC Mangalore	2024	2027	2	0
80	Ajad Saheem T.		AM	(2002-12-15) 15 December 2002 (age 21)	Golden Threads	2024	2026	7	1
81	Suman Dey		LM	(2003-02-10) 10 February 2003 (age 21)	Kasba Samannoy	2023	2026	9	0
82	P. V. Vishnu		AM	(2001-12-24) 24 December 2001 (age 22)	Muthoot FA	2023	2026	46	13
84	Sayan Banerjee		LW	(2003-01-14) 14 January 2003 (age 21)	Kalighat MS	2023	2026	22	6
86	Muhammed Roshal P. P.		RW	(2003-03-08) 8 March 2003 (age 21)	Wayanad United	2023	2026	14	0
87	Bijay Murmu		RW	(2000-12-02) 2 December 2000 (age 23)	Bhawanipore	2024	2027	5	0
89	Muhammed Musharaf		LW	(2003-10-22) 22 October 2003 (age 21)	Gokulam Kerala	2023	2025	11	2
Forwards
52	Debojit Roy		FW	(2007-11-26) 26 November 2007 (age 16)	East Bengal U-17	2024	2029	0	0
59	Jesin TK		FW	(2000-02-19) 19 February 2000 (age 24)	Kerala United	2022	2026	33	21
72	Subrata Murmu		FW	(2002-09-21) 21 September 2002 (age 22)	United	2024	2027	6	1

Role	Name
Head coach	Bino George
Assistant coach	Archisman Biswas
Assistant coach	Barun Sengupta
Goalkeeper coach	Sangram Mukherjee
Physiotherapist	MD Shakil
Head of Performance & Video Analyst	Aromal Vijayan
Team manager	Pratim K. Saha

The East Bengal U-21 team participates in the Reliance Foundation Development League, the national U-21 tournament from 2023.^[23][24][25] The reserve team head coach Bino George has been in charge of the U-21 squad.^[26] On 14 March 2024, in the first RFDL game, East Bengal defeated United SC.^[27] On 21 April 2023, East Bengal defeated arch-rivals Mohun Bagan U-21 2–0 to become the East zone champions and qualify for the national group stage in their very first season in the RFDL.^[28][29] East Bengal finished second in the national group stage and ended their maiden campaign.^[30] In 2024, East Bengal once again became the East Zone champions,^[31] and finished runner-up in the 2024 RFDL losing 3–2 in the final against Punjab.^[32] East Bengal U-21 qualified for the 2024 Next Gen Cup to be held in Birmingham, United Kingdom along with Punjab and Muthoot FA from India.^[33]

East Bengal squad for the Reliance Foundation Development League 2024.

As of 14 April 2024^[34]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Rohit Goyat 4 DF  IND Prajjal Saha 10 FW  IND Debojit Roy 13 GK  IND Prabhsukhan Singh Gill (U-23) 30 MF  IND Vanlalpeka Guite 35 MF  IND Gurnaj Singh Grewal 40 DF  IND Tingku Kangujam (U-23) 53 DF  IND Arpan Polley (U-23) 54 DF  IND Adil Amal (U-23) 61 MF  IND Tanmay Das (U-23) 62 MF  IND Aman C. K. 63 MF  IND Muhammed Roshal P P 64 MF  IND Naseeb Rahman (U-23) 65 DF  IND Rahul Naskar (U-23) 66 MF  IND Shyamal Besra 67 FW  IND Sourav Biswas (U-23) 70 FW  IND Avishek Kunjam 73 MF  IND Razibul Mistry

No. Pos. Nation Player 74 DF  IND Bunando Singh Khangembam 75 GK  IND Ranit Sarkar 80 DF  IND Malsawmtluanga Hrasel 81 FW  IND Suman Dey 82 FW  IND Vishnu P. V. (U-23) 84 MF  IND Sayan Banerjee 85 DF  IND Nayan Tudu 86 DF  IND Tuhin Paul 87 FW  IND Faizan Waheed 88 DF  IND Abhishek Baxla 89 MF  IND Muhammed Musharaf 90 DF  IND Joseph Justin 92 DF  IND Naorem Borish Singh 93 DF  IND Priyoka Thounaojam 94 DF  IND Manabir Basumatary 95 GK  IND Gourab Shaw 96 FW  IND Chabungbam Linky Meitei 97 FW  IND Kartick Oraon

As of 18 May 2024

The under-17 team participates in the U17 Youth Cup. The team is coached by former East Bengal captain Tarun Dey.^[37]

The National Football League U-19 was launched in 2001 and the East Bengal U-19 team won the inaugural edition defeating India sub-juniors 3–2 in the final.^[38] The U-19 team defended the title the following year as they defeated JCT Football Academy 1–0 in the final.^[39] The team also finished runners-up in the 2003–04 edition as they lost to their rivals Mohun Bagan U-19 3–1 in the penalty shoot-out after the final ended 0–0 in regulation time.^[3] After the tournament was restarted as the I-League U19 in 2008 and later renamed to Elite League, the East Bengal team became runners-up four times, failing to win to the title. In 2022, the tournament was redesigned as a U-17 category, after not being held for two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[40] In 2024, the team clinched Kolkata leg of the Dream Sports Championship title defeating United SC in final.^[41]

The East Bengal Under-17 squad for 2023-24 season^[42]

As of 10 December 2023

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Aniket Kar 2 DF  IND MD Yusuf 4 DF  IND Prajjal Saha 5 DF  IND Haru Roy 7 MF  IND Ajay Sahani 8 MF  IND Mohammed Yasin 9 FW  IND Raj Jyoti Majhi 10 FW  IND Debojit Roy 11 MF  IND Sumit Durlov 12 DF  IND Ashish Roy 13 MF  IND Pradip Mishra 14 MF  IND Md Afjal 15 MF  IND Sujoy Pal 16 MF  IND Mainak Saha 17 MF  IND Roktim Jana

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF  IND Dipu Sardar 19 MF  IND Nababrata Baul Das 20 DF  IND Naorem Ibungo Singh 21 MF  IND Salman Dewan 22 MF  IND Debobrato Roy Choudhary 23 MF  IND Ranit Mondal 24 DF  IND Sk Riyajul Islam 25 MF  IND Alfred Lalrinpuia 26 DF  IND Kartik Hansda 27 GK  IND Deep Barman 28 MF  IND Gopal Das 35 MF  IND Gunraj Singh Grewal 55 GK  IND Sutirtha Das 99 GK  IND Koushik Chhatui

As of 18 December 2023

Role	Name
Head coach	Barun Sengupta
Assistant coach	Hirak Saha
Physiotherapist	Ankan Roy Chowdhury
Team manager	Aritra Dutta
Assistant team manager	Arun Kumar Jaiswal

As of 15 January 2024

The under-15 team participates in the Elite Youth League. The team is coached by Chandan Kumar Ray.^[58]

The East Bengal Academy Under-15 squad for 2019–20 season

As of 26 July 2019

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1  IND Firaz Molla 2  IND Avigit Hansda 3  IND Susobhan Naskar 4  IND Shafik Sk. 5  IND Sagar Porel 6  IND Shib Sundar Tudu 7  IND Akhay Dey 8  IND Chiranjit Ghosh 9  IND Kinkar Golui 10  IND Rupam Biswas 11  IND Jit Halder 12  IND Soumyadip Jyoti 13  IND Sagnik Ray 14  IND Toufik Islam

No. Pos. Nation Player 15  IND Argha Manna 16  IND Rohit Singh 17  IND Tohit Laskar 18  IND Baburam Mandi 19  IND Ajibur Rahaman Molla 20  IND Tritam Lodh 21  IND Rajkumar Kisku 22  IND Silton Bhattacharjee 23  IND Ayan Das 24  IND Mohammad Taha Tanvir 25  IND Barun Sarma 26  IND Sattwick Mandal 27  IND Preetam Roy 28  IND Kaioum Ali

  Win   Draw   Loss

Manchester United U15 v East Bengal U15

1 August 2007 Group stage	Manchester United U15	5–0[62]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
09:30 BST	Nicholas Jackson 11' David Mellor 17', 28', 38' Rory Gorman 20'	Report		Stadium: Carrington

Shandong Luneng U15 v East Bengal U15

1 August 2007 Group stage	Shandong Luneng U15	3–0[63]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
14:30 BST	??	Report		Stadium: Carrington

FK Austria Wien U15 v East Bengal U15

2 August 2007 Group stage	FK Austria Wien U15	2–0[64]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
09:30 BST	David 11' Christoph 15'	Report		Stadium: Carrington

AS Roma U15 v East Bengal U15

2 August 2007 Group stage	AS Roma U15	2–0[65]	East Bengal U15	Manchester
15:30 BST	Mattia Montini 2', 42'	Report		Stadium: Carrington

East Bengal U15 v Bukit Jalil U15

3 August 2007 17-20th Semi Final	East Bengal U15	3–1[66]	Bukit Jalil U15	Manchester
09:30 BST	Suprovan Dhar 4' Ajoy Ray 7', 20'	Report	Fouzan 30'	Stadium: Carrington

The under–13 team participates in the Elite Youth League. The team is coached by Suraj Singh Bisht.^[67]

The East Bengal Under–13 squad for the 2023–24 season

As of 20 April 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IND Sayan Sarkar 13 GK  IND Sk Samim 30 GK  IND Ayush Ghosh 2 DF  IND Koustav Das 5 DF  IND Raj Limbu 20 DF  IND Sanjit Sardar 22 DF  IND Sisir Sarkar 7 MF  IND Arnab Halder 17 MF  IND Abhara Dey 25 MF  IND Rimo Saha

No. Pos. Nation Player 8 MF  IND Jeet Samanta 24 MF  IND Raktiam Roy 29 MF  IND Dipak Mondal 21 MF  IND Sayan Paik 28 MF  IND Bijay Bala 11 MF  IND Anuruddha Das 16 MF  IND Ranajit Ghosh 18 MF  IND Saptadeep Das 9 FW  IND Manab Marjit 19 FW  IND Chand Khatrapal

East Bengal's youth system has been successful over the last few years; many players who have come through it have gone on to feature in the first-team. The following players have risen up the ranks from the under age teams and gone on to play over ten competitive matches for the first team.

Players who have represented the National team are in Bold.

2000s Anupam Sarkar Kingshuk Debnath Priyant Singh Saikat Saha Roy Gouranga Biswas Budhiram Tudu Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

2010s Abhinas Ruidas Seiminlen Doungel Jiten Murmu Mehtab Singh Prakash Sarkar Manoj Mohammed Bidyashagar Singh PC Rohlupuia

2020s Ankit Mukherjee Hira Mondal Dip Saha

East Bengal FC academy graduates who didn't make it at the club but made it somewhere else and even went on to play for the national team:

Players who have represented the National team are in Bold.

• Darjeeling Gold Cup (1): 2018^[12]
• Madhyamgram MLA Cup (1): 2023^[69]
• Kulodakanta Memorial Shield (1): 2023^[70]

• IFA Shield^[A] (1): 2018^[71][72]

• National Football League U-19 (2): 2001, 2002–03^[73]

• AIFF Youth Leagues (Runners up) (4): 2010,^[45] 2011,^[74] 2014,^[49] 2016-17^[75]

• Zee Bangla Football League (U-19) (1): 2019(Joint Winners)

• SRMB Cup (U-18) (1): 2019^[76]

• All Bengal Knockout Tournament (U-19) (1): 2019^{[citation needed]}

• Manchester United Premier Cup India: 2007^[4][77]

• Gothia Cup (U16) runners-up: 1996^[78]