Subrata Bhattacharya is an Indian football manager and former 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 played as a defender for the Indian national team and spent 17 years playing for

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 ...

. He was the stopper back for Mohun Bagan during 1975

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 ...

final when

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 ...

beat Mohun Bagan 5–0, the biggest ever margin in the

Kolkata Derby The Kolkata Derby (locally known as "Boro Match"; bn, বড় ম্যাচ) is the football match in Kolkata, between East Bengal and ATK Mohun Bagan (Mohun Bagan till 2019–20). In January 2020, the owners of a Kolkata based Indian Su ...

. He won Indian

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 ...

for two times as a coach of Mohun Bagan. He was conferred with the

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 ...

in 1989.

Playing career

As a defender, influenced by players like Jarnail Singh, Bhattacharya played for seventeen years for Mohun Bagan, from 1974 to 1990. In the club, he played under both the coaches,

P. K. 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 ...

and

Amal Dutta Amal Dutta (4 May 1930 – 10 July 2016) was a former Indian footballer, coach and football manager. Born in Calcutta, then Bengal Presidency, he is considered as the first professional football coach in the country. A finest thinker of the sp ...

. He became the Captain of Mohun Bagan in 1977; Mohun Bagan won the triple crown that season and became the first club to do so in Indian football history. He also led the side against a star-studded

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

spearheaded by

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

on 24 September 1977; both the teams shared honours as the match ended 2–2. Under his captaincy, Mohun Bagan's performance against the American club featuring Pelé,

Carlos Alberto Torres Carlos Alberto "Capita" Torres (17 July 1944 – 25 October 2016), also known as "O Capitão do Tri", was a Brazilian football player and manager who played as an attacking right-sided full-back or wing-back. A technically gifted defender w ...

and

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

, earned popularity worldwide. With Mohun Bagan, he won numerous trophies. They won

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 ...

with win against Mohammedan Sporting, and the "triple crown",

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 ...

, and

Rovers Cup The Rovers Cup was an annual football tournament held in India, organized by the Western India Football Association. It was the second oldest tournament in India after Durand Cup. History Rovers Cup was incorporated by some British football e ...

. The duel between him and

Chima Okorie Chima Ephraim Okorie (born 8 October 1968 in Izomber, Abia State) is a Nigerian former professional football striker who was renowned for his goalscoring prowess in the Indian leagues. He went on to score 131 goals for East Bengal in three ...

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 ...

was a high point of Calcutta Football League in 80s, though he believes

Majid Bishkar Majid Beshkar ( fa, مجید بیشکار; born ) is a retired Iranian professional footballer. He is best known for his contributions towards the Indian football clubs SC East Bengal and Mohammedan SC, both based in the city of Kolkata, West B ...

is the greatest foreigner to have played in Kolkata. He was a pivotal part of the state team against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

and Mohun Bagan in Mohun Bagans centenary celebration against a team led by

Roger Milla Albert Roger Miller (born 20 May 1952), known as Roger Milla, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of the first African players to be a major star on the international stage. He played in three Worl ...

Managerial career

During his coaching career, he managed all three

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

-giants East Bengal,

and Mohammedan Sporting. He took charge of Mohun Bagan first in 2000 when the club was undergoing a period of transition, and signed few notable foreigners including

Igor Shkvyrin Igor Shkvyrin (russian: Игорь Анатольевич Шквырин, ; born 29 April 1963 in Tashkent) is a retired Uzbekistani professional footballer who played for several clubs in Europe and Asia and the Uzbekistan national football tea ...

from Uzbekistan, Sammy Omollo from Kenya, and

Dusit Chalermsan Dusit Chalermsan (born April 22, 1970; th, ดุสิต เฉลิมแสน) is a Thai football coach and retired professional footballer who played as a Left-back. He is currently manager of Thai League 1 club PT Prachuap. He played ...

from Thailand. In 2007, Bhattacharya was appointed head coach of

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 ...

, but after their poor showing in the inaugural 2007–08 I-League, he resigned. He also managed then

NFL 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 major ...

side

Tollygunge Agragami Tollygunge Agragami Football Club is an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Tollygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1943, the club primarily competes in the Calcutta Football League, Calcutta Premier Division L ...

in 2003. From 2014 to 2018, he served as technical director of Prayag United. In 2015, Bhattacharya fought against

Satyajit Chatterjee Satyajit Chatterjee is an Indian former footballer and coach, who captained Mohun Bagan and represented India internationally. He is currently the assistant general secretary of Mohun Bagan AC. He was born in Bally in the Howrah district of W ...

for the post of football secretary in Mohun Bagan club election and was defeated by more than 2000 votes. In May 2018, it was officially announced that Bhattacharya was appointed head coach of another Kolkata based club

Bhawanipore Bhowanipore (also Bhowanipur; bn, ভবানীপুর) is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district of West Bengal, India. History In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their s ...

. After unveiled new coach, he quoted "I am joining Bhawanipore instead of

. They are offering me a better package so I decided to join them. The management has agreed that the team would practice in Kalyani instead of

. So from the first week of June, we will start preparing for the season in Kalyani." In 2019, he joined Mohammedan Sporting as technical director.

Personal life

Bhattacharya is father of actor

Saheb Bhattacharya Saheb Bhattacharya (or Bhattacharjee) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. He made his debut with Prabhat Roy's National Film Award winner '' Lathi'' (1996). He has since appeared in films like '' Gorosthane Sabdhan ...

, who appears in Bengali films. Her daughter Sonam is married to

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team. Widely regarded as the greatest Indian footballer of all time, h ...

, who captains

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 ...

, and is the country's all time top goal scorer. In October 2022, Bhattacharya was admitted to a city hospital after suffering from

dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...

Honours

As player

Mohun Bagan *

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 ...

: 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987 *

: 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 *

: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1989 *

: 1976, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1988 *

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 ...

: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990 Bengal *

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state-level football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under ...

: 1986 Individual *

: 1991 *

Banga Bibhushan Banga Bibhushan Samman ( bn, বঙ্গবিভূষণ) is a title instituted by the West Bengal government to honour the services of personalities in various fields. The Banga Ratna Samman and the Banga Bhushan Samman ("Bengal ornament" ব� ...

: 2018 (by the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

) * Mohun Bagan Ratna: 2017

As manager

Mohun Bagan *

: 1999–2000, 2001–02

References

External links

Subrata Bhattacharya stats
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

Subrata Bhattacharya
at Khel Now (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Subrata Living people Indian footballers India international footballers 1984 AFC Asian Cup players People from North 24 Parganas district Footballers from West Bengal 1953 births Association football defenders Mohun Bagan AC players East Bengal Club managers Calcutta Football League players Recipients of the Arjuna Award Indian football managers Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) managers Tollygunge Agragami FC managers Footballers at the 1978 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India

Playing career

Managerial career

Personal life

Honours

As player

As manager

See also

References

Further reading

External links