East Bengal

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About East Bengal

Sporting Club East Bengal (Bengali pronunciation: ) is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football, as well as the Calcutta Premier Division A, the top tier state football league of West Bengal. Founded in August 1920, the club became affiliated with the Indian Football Association (IFA) in 1922 before earning promotion to the Calcutta Football League first division in 1924. East Bengal won their first league title in 1942 and have since gone on to win the title a record 39 times. The club was also a founding member of the National Football League in 1996 and have won the league title three times. They have also won eight Federation Cups, three Super Cups, a record 29 IFA Shield titles, and a record 16 Durand Cup titles, making the club one of the most decorated in Indian football. The club is supported mainly by the immigrant population (known as Bangal), who were forced to leave their homes during the partition of 1947. For those people, the East Bengal club became a source of identity and hope. The huge influx of dispossessed led to a socio-economic crisis in the state. This led to rivalries in jobs, business, schools and even on football pitches among the immigrants and native population of West Bengal. East Bengal has a long-standing rivalry with its cross-town competitors Mohun Bagan, which is mainly supported by the native population, with whom it competes in the Kolkata derby, Asia's biggest football rivalry. East Bengal also shares a rivalry with another Kolkata club, Mohammedan. The club wears red and gold, which gives them the nickname Red and Gold Brigade.