Sushil Bhattacharya (1924 – 18 July 2015) was an Indian professional football player and coach, who is credited for becoming the first manager of the

India women's national football team The India women's national football team is controlled by the All India Football Federation and represents India at women's international football competitions. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by the AFC. India is ...

. He was also the first head coach in history of

East Bengal Club East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top ...

Playing career

Born in

Bagdogra Bagdogra is a settlement in the Naxalbari CD block in the Siliguri subdivision of the Darjeeling district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the Greater Siliguri Metropolitan Area. The Bagdogra is well connected by air to six m ...

, Bhattacharya used to play both cricket and hockey beside football. He began his playing career with Town Club in

Berhampur Brahmapur (; also known as Berhampur) is a city on the eastern coastline of Ganjam district of the Indian state of Odisha. Bramhapur is most famous for its street food, silk sarees or pato sarees, temples and many historical places. Bramhapur a ...

, representing the team in

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield t ...

. He then appeared with

Vidyasagar College Vidyasagar College (Bengali: বিদ্যাসাগর কলেজ) is a state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta, located in North Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The college offers both post-gradu ...

and Sporting Union, before signing with

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = Eas ...

in 1945. With East Bengal, he achieved the double in 1945 by winning both the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

and

. His consistent performances on both flanks in a 3–2–5 formation helped the team achieving success and earned him a national team callup in 1946. He spent four seasons for the "red and gold brigade", played until 1949, refusing

Gostha Pal Gostha Behari Pal (20 August 1896 – 8 April 1976) was an Indian footballer who played as a defender. He was the first captain of the India national team, played during the 1920s and 1930s. Spending most of his career in Mohun Bagan, Pal is r ...

and Abhilash Ghosh's offers of joining

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

. Bhattacharya moved to Eastern Railway in 1949, returning briefly to East Bengal on loan in 1951, for the

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

. At the tournament, they defeated Rajasthan Club 2–1 in final and lifted their first ever Durand Cup. He also appeared with

George Telegraph George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

in Calcutta Football League.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Bhattacharya began his coaching career with Eastern Railway, as an assistant coach. He was deputy of Bagha Shome at the club, which was then consisting players like

P. K. Banerjee Pradip Kumar Banerjee (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), striker for the India national football team. He also captained the nationa ...

, Pradyut Barman, Prashanta Sinha, Nikhil Nandy, Pakhi Sen and others. He later became the first-ever permanent "head coach" coach of

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = Eas ...

. He won the

and

Calcutta League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is of ...

with East Bengal in 1961. Bhattacharya also managed Tollygunge Agragami and helped the team gaining promotion to the CFL first division. He also helped Tollygunge reaching the

final in 1971, in which they went down 2–0 to Mohammedan Sporting. He then took charge of different age group teams of Bengal alongside the Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission College football team and Kolkata Veterans Club. During his tenure as coach, he managed players like Tulsidas Balaram,

Subhash Bhowmick Subhash Bhowmick (2 October 1950 – 22 January 2022) was an Indian football player and manager. During his playing career, he represented the "Big Two" of Kolkata football, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. He also represented India in various in ...

, Bhaskar Ganguli, Sukumar Samajpati and Krishanu Dey. In 1975, he came the first-ever manager of the Bengal women's team, and the first-ever manager of the newly formed

. He is credited for nurturing Indian women talents like

Shanti Mullick Shanti Mullick is an Indian former women's footballer who played as a forward for the India women's national football team. Mullick is the first Indian women's footballer to receive the Arjuna Award, the second-highest Indian sports award. C ...

, the first ever Padma Shri awardee. Bhattacharya managed Indian women's team when, from 1975 to 1991, the administration was in hands of the Women's Football Federation of India (WFFI) and the Asian Ladies' Football Confederation (ALFC). He was in charge of India S at the

1980 AFC Women's Championship The 1980 AFC Women's Championship was the 3rd edition of the AFC Women's Championship (now the AFC Women's Asian Cup). The tournament was hosted by India (with two teams ''India N'' and ''India S'') and was the first time the competition was he ...

in Calicut, in which they achieved second finish. In the next edition, at the

1981 AFC Women's Championship The Asian Football Confederation's 1981 AFC Women's Championship was the fourth AFC Women's Championship. It was held from 7 to 17 June 1981 in Hong Kong. The tournament was won by for the third consecutive time by Chinese Taipei in the final agai ...

, India secured third place, and again finished as runners-up at the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. He also guided Bengal in Junior, Sub-Junior,

Senior Women's National Football Championship Senior Women's National Football Championship is the women's football tournament which is contested by state associations and government institutions in India. The first edition was held in 1991 and is organized by the All India Football Feder ...

and National Games, achieving nationwide success. He retired from coaching in 2008.

Death

Bhattacharya died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

at his home in

Tollygunge Tollygunge (Bengali: টালিগঞ্জ; nicknamed 'Mini Mumbai' or 'Mini Bombay') is a locality of South Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. It is famed as the centre of the Indian film industry, known as Tollywood, Marathi Cinema, South In ...

, Kolkata, on 18 July 2015, aged 90.

Honours

Player

East Bengal *

: 1945 *

: 1945 Eastern Railway *

Rovers Cup The Rovers Cup was an annual association football, football tournament held in India, organized by the Western India Football Association. It was the List of oldest football competitions, second oldest tournament in India after Durand Cup. Histor ...

runner-up: 1950

Manager

East Bengal *

: 1961 *

: 1961 *Dr. H. K. Mookherjee Shield: 1961 *

: 1962 Tollygunge Agragami *

runner-up: 1971 India (women's) *

AFC Women's Championship The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

runner-up:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...

Individual *'' The Telegraph'' Hall of Fame: 2012

Playing career

Coaching career

Death

Honours

Player

Manager

See also

References

Further reading