East Bengal Football Club Reserves and Academy 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 usually plays in the Calcutta Football League.

History

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. 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.

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 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, and becoming South–East Asian regional runners up in 2007. 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. 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 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. 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.

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. 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. 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

Reserve team

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, Darjeeling Gold Cup etc. 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.

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. 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. The club also recruited former captain Sangram Mukherjee as the goalkeeper coach for the team. 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. The reserve participated in the 2022 Calcutta Premier Division and finished fourth in the Super Six. 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. In the first season, East Bengal reserves side finished third in the group behind United and Shillong Lajong.

Reserve squad

As of 6 September 2023

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

Coaching staff

Under-21

The East Bengal U-21 team participates in the Reliance Foundation Development League, the primary U-21 tournament in Indian Football from 2023. The Reserve team head coach Bino George has been in charge of the developmental league squad. On 14 March 2024, in the first RFDL game, East Bengal defeated United SC. 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. East Bengal finished second in the national group stage and ended their maiden campaign. In 2024, East Bengal once again became the East Zone champions, and finished runner-up in the 2024 RFDL losing 3–2 in the final against Punjab.

Squad

East Bengal squad for the Reliance Foundation Development League 2024.

As of 14 April 2024

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

Performance record

As of 18 May 2024

Under-17

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

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. The U-19 team defended the title the following year as they defeated JCT Football Academy 1–0 in the final. 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. 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. In 2024, the team clinched Kolkata leg of the Dream Sports Championship title defeating United SC in final.

Squad

The East Bengal Under-17 squad for 2023-24 season

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.

Coaching Staff

As of 18 December 2023

Performance record

As of 15 January 2024

Under-15

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

Squad

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.

Performance record

Matches at the 2007 Nike Premier Cup

  Win   Draw   Loss

Under–13

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

Squad

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.

Performance record

Noted graduates

Those who made it at the club

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.

Those who made it elsewhere

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.

Honours

Reserves

• Darjeeling Gold Cup (1): 2018
• Madhyamgram MLA Cup (1): 2023
• Kulodakanta Memorial Shield (1): 2023

Academy U18

• IFA Shield (1): 2018

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

• AIFF Youth Leagues (Runners up) (4): 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016-17

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

• SRMB Cup (U-18) (1): 2019

• All Bengal Knockout Tournament (U-19) (1): 2019

Academy U-15

• Manchester United Premier Cup India: 2007

Others

• Gothia Cup (U16) runners-up: 1996

References

External links

• Official website