Deepak Kumar Mondal (born 12 October 1979) is an Indian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Food Corporation of India FC Food Corporation of India Football Club is an Indian institutional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club plays in the Calcutta Premier Division. History The club represents the sports section of the Food Corporation of India and ...

. A graduate of the

Tata Football Academy Tata Football Academy (Tata FA or TFA) is an association football academy situated in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, sponsored by Tata Steel, which owns ISL outfit Jamshedpur FC. It is one of the renowned football academies in India. History ...

, Mondol, an

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

winner, was one of India's most prominent right backs for over a decade, earning 47 caps with the India national team. Mondal also played with both the Kolkata giants,

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 = East ...

and

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 ...

, spending five years at each club, captaining both of them.

Career

Born in

Noamundi Noamundi is a census town in West Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also an administrative block. It is a small mining town located close to the Odisha border. It lies near Jamshedpur and from Chaibasa. Nearby towns inc ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

, Mondal began playing football from a young age in his district. He was spotted by

coach, Ranjan Chowdhury, at the age of sixteen who invited Mondal to join the academy. Mondol graduated from the Tata Football Academy in 1998. After graduating from the academy, Mondal signed with

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

side, JCT Mills Phagwara. He stayed at the club for two seasons before joining Kolkata side,

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 = East ...

. It was at East Bengal that Mondal began to impress and even earn himself caps for

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 so ...

. On 30 December 2002, after impressing the

All India Football Federation The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry o ...

and national team head coach, Stephen Constantine, with his performances in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and the

ASEAN Club Championship The ASEAN Club Championship or ACC is an international club football competition organised by the ASEAN Football Federation between domestic champion clubs. The competition is backed by AFC and FIFA. The first edition was sponsored by LG Electron ...

for East Bengal, Mondal was named the AIFF Player of the Year. On winning the award, AIFF president at the time, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, said that Mondal "infused a new confidence in the deep defense". Overall, while with East Bengal, Mondal won the National Football League title three times, two

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 ...

's, and four

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 ...

titles. While at East Bengal, Mondal was part of a strong backline with Surkumar Singh and

Mahesh Gawli Mahesh Gawli (born 23 January 1980) is an Indian football coach and former footballer who played as a centre-back and represented India national football team on 68 occasions between 2000 and 2011. Club career Gawli was born in Goa and began ...

. Mondal stayed with East Bengal until 2005, when he signed for Mumbai side

Mahindra United Mahindra United Football Club (formerly known as Mahindra & Mahindra) was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1962, the club competed in the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system, befo ...

. While with Mahindra United Mondal won another NFL title. He also won a

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

while with the side. After a season with Mahindra United, Mondal moved back to Kolkata to sign with East Bengal rivals,

. On 22 December 2008, Mondal helped Mohun Bagan win their only national title while with the club, the Federation Cup. The club defeated

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Mr. Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941 along with his younger brother Mr. Vaikuntrao Dempo. Mr. Vasantrao S. Demp ...

to win their thirteenth Federation Cup title and Mondal's second. In September 2010, Mondal was awarded the

. After representing India at the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

, Mondal saw out his contract with Mohun Bagan and was released by the club. On 17 August 2011 it was announced that Mondal had signed with newly rebranded Kolkata side, Prayag United, with them being based in Kolkata a main reason for him signing. Despite the club going through financial troubles, Mondal remained with the side, soon renamed to just United, till 2014. On 9 May 2014 it was announced Mondal had re-signed with East Bengal. While with East Bengal, Mondal also represented

Mumbai City Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014, during the inaugural season of ...

and

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

. After two years with East Bengal again, Mondal signed for

side

Southern Samity Southern Samity is an Indian professional football club from Kolkata which was founded in 1945, and is also based in Siliguri in North Bengal. During that time, apart from sports they are also involved in various cultural activities. The club ...

. After the season concluded, Mondal signed with Ozone FC for the DSK Cup.

International

Mondal represented

47 times. He won two

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to ...

's with India, first in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and then

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. He also helped India win the

2008 AFC Challenge Cup The 2008 AFC Challenge Cup football tournament was organised by AFC and was hosted by India.The tournament was played from 30 July – 13 August 2008. India won the final against Tajikistan. India was also the winner of the fair play award and ...

and thus qualify for the

, their first in 27 years. Like at club level, Mondal thrived under his partnership with

with India.

Honours

East Bengal *

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 tourn ...

: 2000 *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

India *

AFC Challenge Cup The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. "Vision Asia", created by former AFC president, ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

SAFF Championship The South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly known as SAFF Championship (previously known as ''South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup'' and ''South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup''), is the main international ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

; runner-up:

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic C ...

Bronze medal:

India U23 * LG Cup: 2002 Individual *

AIFF Player of the Year The AIFF Player of the Year Awards are the annual association football, football awards presented to the best footballers in India by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The AIFF first announced the award for Men's Player of the Year in 199 ...

: 2002 * He twice won the Nehru Cup: in 2007 and 2009, held in New Delhi, India where Syria, India, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, and Bangladesh were the participating countries. * Mondal was instrumental in leading team India to win the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Challenge Cup, held in the year 2008 hosted by India. This success enabled team India to qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. * Mondal was honored with the

in the year 2010.

References

External links

Indian Super League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mondal, Deepak Kumar 1978 births Living people People from West Singhbhum district Indian footballers JCT FC players East Bengal Club players Mahindra United FC players Mohun Bagan AC players United SC players Mumbai City FC players Kerala Blasters FC players Association football defenders Footballers from Jharkhand I-League players Indian Super League players India international footballers India youth international footballers Recipients of the Arjuna Award 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Southern Samity players Asian Games competitors for India South Asian Games medalists in football South Asian Games bronze medalists for India