Our history

The beginning and early decades (1887–1930)

In 1887, under the leadership of Khan Bahadur Aminul Islam, a sporting club named Jubilee Club was founded, which was later renamed Crescent Club and then Hamidia Club. Finally, in 1891, Islam reformed the club and named it the Mohammedan Sporting Club to represent the Bengali Mohammedans living in Calcutta. The club participated in a number of local tournaments after its foundation but came into prominence only after they won the Cooch Behar Cup in 1902, 1906, and 1909. Initially, the club’s objective was not strictly communal, and the club members often showed sincere appreciation towards the achievements of its counterpart, Mohun Bagan, which was then supported by both Bengali Hindus and Muslims. During Mohun Bagan’s historic 1911 IFA Shield victory, the members of the club “were almost mad and rolling on the ground with joyous excitement over the victory of their Hindu brethren.”

Khan Sahib Syed Ahmed Rashid took a very keen interest in the social and sporting life in Bengal and was the elected Joint Secretary of Mohammedan, from 1925 to 1932. Although it was not until 1927 that the financial condition of the club improved when the team was able to play in the second division of the Calcutta Football League (CFL),. In order to overcome the precarious financial state of the club, the Joint Secretaries of the club made an appeal to the public “to support a scheme of the club extending its activities in the social sphere of Muslims”, and also requested donations of ₹3,500 to ₹4,500. With the improved performances of the club in every sport in which it participated, the management was able to acquire a considerable amount of investment, which helped the club to build better teams. Due to Rashid’s widespread influence in sports in Bengal, Sir Francis Stanley Jackson, the Governor of Bengal, accepted the patronage of the club.

During Satyagraha, Rashid helped to organise and make the club participate in the Monsoon League in 1930, the CFL in 1930 and 1931, and a number of other sports tournaments, when every native club was boycotting sporting events, which was greatly appreciated by the IFA, Bengal Hockey Association, and Cricket Board of Control in Bengal and Assam.^[29] In 1930, Mohammedan finished last in the league table and was on the verge of being relegated out of the CFL 2nd Division, but was allowed to continue when one of the second division teams, East Indian Railway discontinued.

American football evolved from the sports of association football (soccer) and rugby football. Rugby football, like American football, is a sport where two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent’s goal area to score points. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams.

Revival of the lost glory (2020–present)

In October 2020, under the secretaryship of Sheikh Wasim Akram, Mohammedan for the first time entered into a joint-venture with a Gurgaon-based sports management company, Bunkerhill, with the aim of eventually qualifying for or entering the Indian Super League, which had been promoted as the top-tier league in 2019. With newly appointed Spanish coach José Hevia, Mohammedan got promoted to the 2020–21 I-League after winning the 2020 I-League Qualifiers, which temporarily replaced the traditional I-League 2nd Division due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The club signed the previous I-League season’s top scorer, Pedro Manzi along with Bangladeshi football team captain Jamal Bhuyan for their AFC quota. After Hevia was sacked mid-season, Mohammedan finished sixth under their technical director, Sankarlal Chakraborty.^[89] In May 2021, the club appointed Russia‘s former assistant coach Andrey Chernyshov, and with him at the helm, Mohammedan reached the Durand Cup final for the first time since 2013 but fell short against FC Goa by just a solitary goal. The following month, Mohammedan clinched their twelfth CFL title after forty long years of waiting by defeating Railway FC 1–0 in the final of a newer and shorter knock-out format. As one of the title contenders, with Serbian midfielder Nikola Stojanović holding the captain’s armband and Trinbagonian international Marcus Joseph leading the goalscoring charts by 15 goals, Mohammedan for the first time ran for their maiden national league title at the 2021–22 I-League but finished second after a 2–1 defeat against the table-toppers Gokulam Kerala FC on the final matchday in a must win situation.

In October, the club retained their CFL title. On April 6, 2024, Mohammedan made history by winning their maiden I-League title in 2023–24 season, which helped the club secure promotion to the Indian Super League.

On November 12, 1892, when William “Pudge” Heffelfinger was paid $500 to play a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association in a match against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. This is the first recorded instance of a player being paid to participate in a game of American football, although many athletic clubs in the 1880s offered indirect benefits, such as helping players attain employment, giving out trophies or watches.

The club became affiliated with the Indian Football Association (IFA) to play in the second division of the CFL before earning promotion to the premier division of the CFL in 1933 and a year later, Mohammedan became the first Indian team to win the league, and in 1938 became the first team to win it five consecutive times. After the independence of India, Mohammedan became the first Indian club to win a football tournament on foreign soil by lifting the Aga Khan Gold Cup in 1960. In 1996, the club was one of the founding members of India’s first nationwide league – National Football League (NFL). For all its laurels, Mohammedan has never won a top-tier league, only managing to win the 2004–05 NFL Second Division to qualify for NFL, and the 2020 I-League qualifiers to qualify for I-League, which was then the first-tier league of India. They have won the Federation Cup twice in 1983–84 and 1984–85.

Founded during the early years of India’s independence movement, the Mohammedan had been a symbol of progressive Muslim identity through the tumultuous period of freedom struggle in colonial India and the subsequent struggle for status in an altered post-partition landscape. Therefore, the club is primarily supported by the Muslim population of Bengal, and it has provided major backing to the community residing in Kolkata by spreading the sport to a sizeable population during its foundation days. This led to communal rivalry with its cross-town competitors, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, which were primarily supported by the Hindu population of Bengal during the early decades.^[18][19][20] The rivalries with both teams have become non-communal and mostly insignificant over the course of time due to the rarity of their meetings at major tournaments. The club’s youth team took part in Manchester United Premier Cup of India.

The golden period (1931–1947)

One of the club officials, CA Aziz concentrated on creating a strong team through modern strategies and was one of the only Indians to first realise the importance of playing in boots. Aziz recruited Mohun Bagan rejects like Kaleh Khan and Hafiz Rahid in 1931, and players from different parts of India were gradually brought in, often in the name of religion. Players like Masum, Mahiuddin and Rahmat came from Bangalore, while Jumma Khan arrived from North-West Frontier Province, thus forming a truly cosmopolitan team. The whole team had a Muslim core, with no players outside the community. This helped Aziz to create unmatched unity in his squad which showed on and off the field. In 1933, Mohammedan qualified for the premier division of CFL for the first time in its history by topping the second division. Under the captaincy of Khurshid Anwar, Mohammedan became the first native club to capture the CFL title in 1934, in their very first year in top division. In March 1935, he was unanimously elected as the General Secretary of the club for the second time and in October that year he organised a successful tour to Rangoon, Mandalay, Maymyo, Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Madras, Bangalore and Mysore for the football team. That year, the captain’s armband was handed over to the young and charismatic Abbas Mirza and later in the summer, Mohammedan recruited goalkeeper Osman Jan from Crescent Club in Delhi. With Osman Jan under the bar, Taj Mohammad and Jumma Khan, were part of a strong and formidable back-line. The trio of Rahim, Hafiz Rashid and Rahmat led the goalscoring duties and, Rashid and Rahim would go on to become the league’s top scorer in 1935 with 16 goals and 1938 with 18 goals respectively. Along with new and young recruits every year, two defining names remained constant in the team – Syed Abdus Samad, who joined in 1933, and Mohammed Salim, who returned for a second spell in 1934. In 1936, Mohammedan became the first all-Indian team since 1911 to win IFA Shield by defeating Calcutta CFC in the final by 2–1 with goals from Rashid Jr. and Rahim. With their third league win that year, they also became the first Indian club to win the League-Shield “double”. During this time, Salim took trials at Celtic FC, and was selected for the team but after playing two friendlies in Scottish Football Alliance, he returned to Mohammedan being homesick, even though being offered contracts from Celtic as well as from clubs in Germany. Thus, he became the first Indian to play for a foreign club. From 1934 to 1938, Mohammedan won the league for record five consecutive times and missed out the title only once in 1939 from 1934 to 1941, when they declined to play in protest against IFA. By this time Mohammedan became the undisputed Invincibles of CFL and football in India was no more only about the British against the Indians but also the Hindus (via Mohun Bagan and East Bengal Club) versus the Muslims.

Mohammedan’s another great achievement came in the form of Durand Cup, which was then reserved only for British and British-Indian regimental teams until 1940, when civilian teams were also allowed to participate due to most regiments being called in for World War II. The final was scheduled for December 12, 1940, at Irwin Amphitheatre in New Delhi and numerous eminent Muslim politicians flew in from far-off cities like Calcutta, Dhaka, Hyderabad and Bhopal, while common supporters arrived in trains and tongas to watch the match. It was also the first time a football game of such importance was officiated by an Indian referee, Captain Harnam Singh.^[44] Along with around 1,00,000 spectators, as per traditions, Lord Linlithgow, the Viceroy of India, stood witness as Mohammedan defeated Royal Warwickshire Regiment 2–1, under the captaincy of Masum and goals coming from Rashid and Saboo. This victory by a team of only Muslim players at the capital city provided a massive boost to the Muslim national movement in the country. They also captured the Rover’s Cup without conceding a goal in the tournament and beating Bangalore Muslims FC 1–0 in the final, thus creating another unique record of holding CFL, Durand Cup and Rover’s Cup titles all in the same year. Their successes led to frenzied support from Muslims in every city of India, followed by increased number of donations to improve the club. They had an abundance of finances and were the first Indian team to play with boots, with a focus on proper diet and physical fitness for their players.^[44] In 1941, they won their second Shield, when they beat King’s Own Scottish Borderers in the final. They also became the first Indian team to score 100 goals in a year, when they scored 110 goals in all competitions that year. They also became the first Indian club to retain the Shield, when they saw off East Bengal’s challenge in 1942 final with a goal from Noor Mohammad. Due to the huge popularity, in 1943, Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, the Prime Minister of Nepal, came all the way to Calcutta to play for Mohammedan, thus he became the first non-Muslim and Hindu player to don Mohammedan colours. The following years until the Independence of India, Mohammedan lost its dominance and failed to bring back any major silverware into their club tent.

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