Hope East Bengal also joins ISL soon, says Sourav Ganguly
ATK co-owner and former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has expressed his hopes that Kolkata football giants East Bengal will follow arch-rivals Mohun Bagan and join the ISL soon. Officials have confirmed that Mohun Bagan and ATK will compete as one identity from next season in the league.
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG) which owns and runs ATK recently announced the acquisition of majority stakes in Mohun Bagan. From next season, ATK and Bagan will compete in the Hero ISL and other All India Football Federation (AIFF) events as one identity. This has prompted Ganguly, who has close associations with both sides, to express his desire to see Bagan’s arch-rival East Bengal also join the ISL bandwagon.
"Mohun Bagan have a massive fan following just like East Bengal. I know I'm jumping the gun, but hopefully, East Bengal also starts playing in the ISL sooner than later," Ganguly told indiansuperleague.com in an interview.
Ganguly feels that East Bengal following the trend to enter the ISL fray sooner rather than later will be a positive step forward in Indian football just like ATK and Mohun Bagan coming together.
“I think it'll be a great thing for football. You cannot think about football without Mohun Bagan or East Bengal. So, one is already on board and hopefully, as I said, the second one will follow soon,” Ganguly added.