Eastern Railway Football Club (formerly known as both the East Bengal Railway FC and Eastern Bengal Railway FC) is an Indian institutional football club based in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

. Founded in 1882, the club currently competes in the CFL Premier Division B. It previously participated and enjoyed success in the highest division of

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 ...

History

Founded as "East Bengal Railway Sports Club" in 1882, Eastern Railway has played in many top tournaments in India like the

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 ...

– where they won the then top tournament in 1944. The club later won All-India Railway Championship thrice. They clinched

title in 1958, and became the first team outside the ''Big Three'' of Calcutta to win it. The club used to also be a force in 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 ...

, making it into the finals of the 1927 tournament. They also won the

Bordoloi Trophy The Bordoloi Trophy, also known as the Bharat Ratna Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Trophy, is a premier annual Indian football tournament held in Guwahati and organized by Guwahati Sports Association (GSA). The tournament was first started in 1952 ...

in 1967. Eastern Railway was relegated from the CFL super division in 1985 after gaining thirteenth position. In 2005, the club clinched

Trades Cup The Trades Cup (also known as the Trades Challenge Cup or IFA Trades Challenge Cup) is an Indian football tournament held in Kolkata and organised by Indian Football Association. Incorporated in 1889, it is the second oldest football tournament ...

title with win against

Wari AC Wari Athletic Club ( bn, উয়ারী অ্যাথলেটিক ক্লাব) is an Indian multi-sports club based in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal. Its football section competes in the First Division of Calcutta Football Leagu ...

in final. In 2007, they reached the final of prestigious

, but was defeated by then

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

side Chirag United 3–1.

Notable players

The club has been represented by many former

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

members including

Syed Abdus Samad Syed Abdus Samad (1942 – 28 July 2021) was a teacher of economics. He was a faculty member at the University of Dhaka, Boston State College, Boston University, the University of the South Pacific, and the Hankuk University of Foreign Studie ...

, Santosh Nandy,

Sahu Mewalal Sheoo Mewalal (also known as Sahu Mewalal; 1 July 1926 – 27 December 2008) was an Indian footballer in Kolkata. He played as a striker and was known for his fitness, bicycle kicks, and goal-scoring abilities, especially using the rabona kick ...

Pradip Kumar Banerjee Pradip Kumar Banerjee (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional footballer who played as a striker for the India national football team. He also captained the national team and later on became the coach of the national t ...

Pradyut Barman Pradyut Barman was an Indian footballer, known for his goalkeeping brilliance. He was part of the team that won the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games at Jakarta. He played for Eastern Railway and Mohun Bagan in domestic tournaments. Honours ...

, Parimal Dey,

Prasanta Sinha Prasanta Sinha was an Indian association football player who represented India internationally, and played club football for East Bengal. Playing career He was part of the India national team that finished as runners-up at the 1964 AFC Asian C ...

Nikhil Nandy Nikhil Nandy (1932 – 29 December 2020) was an Indian footballer. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics. As an octogenarian, he was still engaged in coaching youngsters in Kolkata, India. He was part of Eastern Railwa ...

. Legendary Indian football coach

Sushil Bhattacharya 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. He was also the first head coach in history of East Be ...

played for the club from 1950 to 1956, and later became coach of the team.

Honours

League

**Champions (1): 1958

Cup

**Champions (1): 1944 **Runners-up (1): 1957 *

**Runners-up (1): 1927 *

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 ...

**Runners-up (1): 1949 *

DCM Trophy The Delhi Cloth Mills Trophy, known simply as D.C.M. Trophy, was an invitational football tournament in India. It was held annually in New Delhi and was organised by the local Delhi Football Association. It was India's first football tournamen ...

**Runners-up (2): 1953, 1957 *

**Champions (1): 1967 **Runners-up (1): 1968 *

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament is one of the most prestigious football Tournaments held in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. The tournament was very popular from the beginning & attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament played unti ...

**Runners-up (1): 1958 *

**Champions (1): 2005 **Runners-up (2): 2004, 2007 *

Darjeeling Gold Cup All India Darjeeling Gold Cup, also known as All India Brigade of Gorkha's Gold Cup Football Tournament, or simply GTA Chairman's Gold Cup, is an Indian association football tournament held in Darjeeling and organized by the Indian Darjeeling Go ...

**Champions (1): 1978 *

Mohan Kumar Mangalam Football Tournament Mohan Kumar Mangalam Football Tournament commonly known as the MKM Trophy, MKM Memorial Football Tournament is a prestigious annual Indian football tournament held in Zawar Rajasthan and organized by Hindustan Zinc Hindustan Zinc Limi ...

**Champions (1): 1980 *Vivekananda Gold Cup **Champions (1): 2015

Other department

Field hockey

Eastern Railway has its

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

team that competed in both the prestigious

Beighton Cup Beighton Cup is a field hockey tournament organized by Hockey Bengal (formerly the Bengal Hockey Association). Instituted in 1895, it is one of the oldest field hockey tournaments in the world and is held every year at Kolkata. History Aristocr ...

and Calcutta Hockey League. They clinched Beighton Cup title in 1929. Legendary Indian footballer

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 ...

appeared with the club's women's hockey team. *

**Champions (2): 1922, 1929 **Runners-up (1): 1934 *

Calcutta Hockey League Calcutta Hockey League is a field hockey league organized by Hockey Bengal (formerly the Bengal Hockey Association). The first edition was held in 1905. It is a division based league held at Kolkata and is the oldest field hockey league in India. ...

**Champions (2): 2017, 2018

Cricket

In Eastern Railway, men's

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

has been practiced, and it is affiliated with the

Cricket Association of Bengal Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is the governing body for cricket in the Indian state of West Bengal. Its headquarters are located in the Eden Gardens stadium, Kolkata. It is a full member of Board of Control for Cricket in India. It gover ...

(CAB). It participates in regional tournaments such as First Division League, and J.C. Mukherjee T-20 Trophy.

Volleyball

Eastern Railway's volleyball section (consisting both men's and women's teams) participates in the West Bengal State Senior Volleyball Championship and Khelo India Volleyball League. They have won both the 2021 and 2022 editions of the State Senior Volleyball Club Championship.

References

External links

Eastern Railway FC
at Soccerway
Eastern Railway FC
at BeSoccer {{Football in India Association football clubs established in 1882 Football clubs in Kolkata 1882 establishments in India Railway association football clubs in India