East Bengal, Mohun Bagan's Title Hegemony In Calcutta Football League Set To End After 61 Years

For almost the entire history of the Calcutta Football League, there have been three teams which have dominated the league. East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting had dominated the league and won titles at regular intervals. East Bengal are the 39-time champions while Mohun Bagan are the 30-time champions. However, in 2019, for the first time in 61 years, the Calcutta Football League has seen a new champion and it is the relatively unknown Peerless SC. However, Peerless SC has become the Premier Division A champions in rather controversial circumstances after East Bengal handed their opponents a walkover. 

Heading into the match against Calcutta Customs, East Bengal needed to win by a margin of seven goals but they did not show up. The reason for East Bengal's no show was that they had appealed to the Indian Football Association to postpone the match to October 21. The game, which was originally slated for September 29, could not be played at East Bengal's home ground due to waterlogging. IFA did not to accede to East Bengal's plea, which cleared the path for Peerless SC to be adjudged champions with 23 points from 11 matches. 
The East Bengal team further contributed to the chaos which issued a statement barely an hour before the match saying that its head coach Alejandro Menendez was on leave. 

Also Read | Incredible! First Time Since Independence, CFL Sees No Mohun Bagan Or East Bengal At Top

Peerless had dazzled in the 2019 Calcutta Football League and they began their campaign with a bang by defeating both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Ansumana Kromah of Peerless from Malaysia is the leading goal-scoring in the tournament

Also Read | Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal Derby Clash Ends In a Goalless Draw

The Peerless Football team is part of the Peerless Group which is an Indian business conglomerate located at Kolkata. It was established in 1932 by industrialist Radhashyam Roy. The group's major holding company is Peerless General Finance & Investment Co Ltd, which is the India's Registered Residuary Non-banking Company. It has subsidiaries like Peerless Hospital, Bengal Peerless (real estate), Kaizen Holidays, Peerless Hotels, and Peerless Securities.

However, Peerless SC will have to wait to be crowned the Calcutta Football League champions as the official announcements will happen only on or after October 10 following the Durga Puja holidays. This feat by Peerless is indeed an incredible feat in the landscape of Indian football.

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