East Bengal FC Women, commonly referred to as East Bengal, is a women's football club based in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. It is the

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

section of

East Bengal FC East Bengal Football Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of the Indian football league system. The cl ...

. They compete in the

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League (abbreviated as the IWL) is the women's top tier professional football league in India, founded in 2016. Currently, a total of 8 teams from across the country participate in the league. The competition was planned ...

, the women's premier football league in India. They are the reigning

champions. The club has also won the Calcutta Women's Football League (Kanyashree Cup) 3 times and the Women's IFA Shield once.

History

Formation and early beginnings

The East Bengal women's football team was formed in 2001 and in their inaugural season of the Calcutta Women's Football League, they lifted the title defeating arch-rivals

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

1–0 in the final at the

Rabindra Sarobar Stadium The Rabindra Sarobar Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Lake Gardens, Kolkata, India. It is used for football (soccer), football matches and serves as the home of many Calcutta Football League matches. History The venue opened in 1961. It also ...

with Shanta Dhara scoring the solitary goal for the club. The following season, East Bengal women's team reached the final again but lost in the final against Mohun Bagan after the game ended 1–1 in the regulation time and Mohun Bagan won 3–2 in the penalty shootout at the

Sailen Manna Stadium Sailen Manna Stadium (also known as Howrah Municipal Corporation Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Howrah, West Bengal, India. Mainly used for football matches, it has hosted some matches during the AFC Youth Championship 2006 The 2006 AF ...

in Howrah. The team was however disbanded after the season.

Relaunch and another halt

In their centenary year, the East Bengal club again decided to relaunch the women's team and participate in the Calcutta Women's Football League. They had appointed former India International

Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar (born 23 June 1962) is a former Indian women's football player. She captained the Indian team that played the 1981 World Cup. It does not count in statistics because at that time FIFA did not recognise the women's game. So ...

as the head coach of the team. In October, initial trials were conducted by the club under Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar, with over 150 women participating. On 27 December,

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Act ...

registration of 21 players was done for the Women's League that commenced in January 2020. The East Bengal Women's team started off their campaign in the 2020 Kanyashree Cup in style as they defeated Dipti Sangha by 6–1. On 13 February East Bengal Women's team made history as they faced Biddyut Sporting. They led 18–0 within 30 minutes when the opposing team forfeited the game and the referee awarded it to East Bengal. On 6 March, the East Bengal Women's team surpassed their own record once again as they scored 20 goals against Bhangore SWF. East Bengal's forward Tulsi Hembram scored 8 goals and Mamata Hansda 4. The team qualified for the Super Six competition without losing a single game, and qualified for the Semi-Final where they faced Police AC. East Bengal won the semi-final 5–4 in the penalty shootout after the game had ended 1–1 in regulation time. However, the game was replayed due to issues with player registration and East Bengal team once again won the replayed match 5–4 in the penalties after the game ended goalless to reach the final. On 30 December 2020, East Bengal faced SSB Women's at the

Salt Lake Stadium The Salt Lake Stadium, officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), is a multi-purpose stadium, used mostly for football matches, located in Salt Lake City, Greater Kolkata, with a capacity of 68,000 spectators. Named after S ...

in the final of the Kanyashree Cup and finished runners up with a 2–0 loss, with a goal conceded in each half. However, due to a tussle between the club officials and the investor group

Shree Cement Shree Cement is an Indian cement manufacturer, founded in Beawar, Rajasthan, in 1979. Now headquartered in Kolkata, it is India's third largest cement producer by capacity and second largest cement company by market capitalisation. Shree Cement ...

, the women's football team and all the players were released. It was informed that they would not be fielding a team for the 2021–22 Kanyashree Cup.

Comeback

In 2022, the East Bengal women's football team was re-formed after

Emami Emami Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata. The company caters to a number of niche categories in the personal care and healthcare segments. The company's products are sold across 60+ nations and are availabl ...

group came on board as the new investors of the club. They began the season by participating in the Kaliaganj MLA Cup held at Uttar Dinajpur and won the four-team tournament by defeating MLA Kaliaganj 1–0 in the final. On 18 December, they announced the squad for the 2022–23 Kanyashree Cup. East Bengal started their campaign with a 2–0 win against WB Police on 20 December at the

, with Sulanjana Raul and Kabita Saren scoring for the team. On 10 January 2023, in their fourth match of the season, East Bengal defeated Behala Aikya Sammilani by 35–0, creating a record as the biggest win by an Indian team in any women's football game conducted by AIFF. Mousumi Murmu and Kabita Saren scored six goals each, Deblina Bhattacharjee and Gita Das scored five each, Sushmita Bardhan scored four, Aishwarya Arun Jagtap scored thrice, Sulanjana Raul and Tanushree Oraon scored a brace while Birsi Oraon and Piyali Kora scored one each. On 19 January, East Bengal defeated Adivasi United Students Club 3–0 in the last match of the group stages to enter the knockouts. They finished top of the group with seven wins, including two walkovers given by Dipti Sangha and Kolkata Union Sporting Club, having scored fifty-eight goals without conceding a single. On 23 January, East Bengal faced New Alipore Suruchi Sangha in the quarter-finals and won 2–1 with goals from Mousumi Murmu and Sulanjana Raul. On 25 January, East Bengal defeated Mohammedan Sporting 3–0 in the semi-finals at the

Kishore Bharati Krirangan Kishore Bharati Krirangan (commonly known as Mukundapur Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal. used mainly for Association football, football matches. The capacity of the stadium is 12,000 and the size of the sports comple ...

. Rimpa Halder scored a brace while Nimita Gurung of Mohammedan scored an own goal as East Bengal reached the final of the 2022–23 Kanyashree Cup. On 28 January, East Bengal faced Sreebhumi in the final of the Kanyashree Cup at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan and won 1–0 courtesy of a solitary goal from 15 year old Sulanjana Raul as East Bengal became the champions for the second time after 2001 and qualified for the

Indian Women's League, Women's IFA Shield

East Bengal women's football team qualified for the Indian Women's League for the first time after becoming the champions of the 2022–23 Kanyashree Cup. They were grouped alongside the defending champions

Gokulam Kerala Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional association football, football club based in Kozhikode, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of the Indian football league system. They won the 2020� ...

in Group A along with six more teams, with top four from each group qualifying for the knockout stages and be eligible for direct qualification to the next season, irrespective of their results in the state leagues. On 22 April, the club announced the squad for the Indian Women's League campaign, with eleven names from the Kanyashree Cup championship team. On 26 April, East Bengal made their debut in the Indian Women's League against defending champions

and suffered an 8–2 defeat at the

TransStadia EKA Arena (formerly The Arena/TransStadia Arena) is a multi-purpose stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, located near Kankaria Lake. The stadium was officially opened on 7 October 2016. It was built in a public-private partnership between the Governm ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

with Rimpa Haldar and Tulsi Hembram scoring for East Bengal. On 29 April, East Bengal women's team earned their first ever victory in the Indian Women's League as the defeated Kahaani 1–0 at the Shahibaug Police Stadium with captain Ratna Haldar scoring the only goal for East Bengal. On 2 May, East Bengal registered their second win as they defeated Mata Rakmani FC 2–0 with goals from Mousumi Murmu and Rimpa Haldar. On 4 May, East Bengal grabbed their third win in succession as they defeated Mumbai Knights 4–2 with Rimpa Haldar scoring twice and Tulsi Hembram and Mousumi Murmu scoring the other for the team. On 12 May, East Bengal defeated HOPS 1–0 in the last match of the group stage courtesy of a solitary strike from captain Ratna Halder as they secured a top four finish and ensured a place in the knockouts in their maiden appearance and also earned an automatic qualification for the 2023–24 Indian Women's League. On 16 May, East Bengal faced former champions Sethu in the quarter-finals of the IWL and were eliminated after the game ended 9–0 for Sethu, thus ending the campaign for East Bengal in their inaugural season in the Indian Women's League. After the Indian Women's League, East Bengal Women's team participated in the inaugural Women's IFA Shield held at

Tehatta Tehatta is the headquarters and self governing panchayat area of the Tehatta subdivision in Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The place is a sub-divisions in the district of Nadia. It was declared as sub-division in 1996. Tehatt ...

Nadia, West Bengal Nadia () is a Districts of India, district in the state of West Bengal, East India, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas district, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly district, Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman d ...

and emerged victorious defeating Sreebhumi 5–0 in the final on 2 June 2023. East Bengal won all four matches in the tournament, scoring twenty-seven goals in them and conceding none as they lifted the inaugural title. Tulsi Hembram was adjudged the player of the tournament after becoming the top scorer with fifteen goals in four matches. In the 2023–24 season, East Bengal failed to retain the Kanyashree Cup as they became runner-up to Sreebhumi. In January 2024, East Bengal women's team signed their first ever foreign player as they roped in

Bangladesh women's national football team The Bangladesh women's national football team is the women's national association football team of Bangladesh controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation under the supervision of the women's football committee. It is a member of the Asian ...

winger

Sanjida Akhter Sanjida Akhter (; born 20 March 2001) is a Bangladeshi professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Bangladesh women's national team. She was a member of the AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship – South and Central winning Bang ...

to play in the

2023–24 Indian Women's League The 2023–24 Indian Women's League was the seventh season of the Indian Women's League, the top division women's professional football league in India. Odisha won their maiden Indian Women's League title by winning their last league match of th ...

. East Bengal finished sixth in the 2023–24 Indian Women's League.

Maiden Indian Women's League Title

After spending two seasons in the IWL, the East Bengal team management made efforts to build a strong squad for the 2024–25 season, and roped in

India women's national football team The India women's national football team represents India at women's international Association football, football competitions and is governed by the All India Football Federation. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by ...

players:

Sandhiya Ranganathan Sandhiya Ranganathan (born 20 May 1998) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for East Bengal in the Indian Women's League and the India women's national team. International career She scored her first goal in 2018 in ...

Soumya Guguloth Soumya Guguloth (born 18 July 2001) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Indian Women's League club East Bengal and the India women's national team. Club career Soumya has played for Kenkre in Indian Women's ...

Loitongbam Ashalata Devi Loitongbam Ashalata Devi (born 3 July 1993), known as Ashalata Devi, is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Indian Women's League club East Bengal and captains the India women's national team. Devi is considered ...

, Ngangbam Sweety Devi,

Anju Tamang Anju Tamang (born 22 December 1995) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Indian Women's League club East Bengal and the India women's national team. She has also represented Rising Students, Sethu, Odisha and ...

Karthika Angamuthu Karthika or Kartika may refer to: Entertainment * ''Kartika'' (album), a 2003 album by The Eternal * ''Karthika'' (film), Indian Malayalam film in 1968 * ''Kartika'' (TV series), a Disney India sitcom People * Karthika (name), including a ...

Elangbam Panthoi Chanu Panthoi Chanu Elangbam (, born 1 February 1996) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Indian Women's League club East Bengal and India women's football team. In March 2024, she played the South Australia Women' ...

and

Naorem Priyangka Devi Priyangka Devi Naorem (, born 9 April 2003) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Indian Women's League club East Bengal and the India women's national football team. Club career Devi started her senior career ...

, along with three foreign players:

Elshaddai Acheampong Elshaddai Acheampong (born 16 August 2003) is a Ghanaian women's professional footballer who plays as a forward for East Bengal. She also played for Gokulam Kerala in the Indian Women's League and was the top scorer in 2022. Early life She w ...

of Ghana, Resty Nanziri of Uganda and Maurine Achieng of Kenya. East Bengal also roped in the two-time IWL-winning coach

Anthony Andrews Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews (born 12 January 1948) is an English actor. He played Lord Sebastian Flyte in the ITV miniseries ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1981), for which he won Golden Globe and BAFTA television awards, and was nominated for ...

from

by paying a record transfer fee in women's football in India. The result bore fruit as on 11 April 2025, East Bengal clinched their maiden

title with a game to spear after defeating

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

1–0 at the

Kalyani Stadium Kalyani Stadium is a stadium in Kalyani, West Bengal, Kalyani, West Bengal, India. The stadium holds 20,000 spectators. It usually hosts matches of the I-League and the Calcutta Football League. About It is the home stadium of Mohun Bagan A. ...

. East Bengal, with the championship, also qualified for the preliminary round of the 2025–26

AFC Women's Champions League The AFC Women's Champions League is the top-tier women's football club competition in Asia. It involves the top clubs from countries affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The tournament was established in 2024. History The con ...

Stadium

The

East Bengal Ground The East Bengal Ground, also known as East Bengal–Aryan Ground, is the home stadium of East Bengal and Aryan. The stadium has a capacity of 23,500 people. It is best known as one of the venues for the Calcutta Football League. The stadium li ...

is located in Kolkata, and is the home ground of the club. The stadium lies on the

Maidan (Kolkata) Maidan (; ) is a large urban area containing vast urban green space, parks, playgrounds and several public venues in the center of Kolkata (Calcutta), India. The area is spread over a total area of . The urban green space of Maidan, which comp ...

area on the northern side of Fort William and near the

Eden Gardens Eden Gardens is an international cricket stadium in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Established in 1864, it is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India and third-largest in the world. The stadium currently has a capacity of 68,000. ...

. This stadium is also used mostly for

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the state leagues. It is the oldest football league in Asia. The CFL ...

and

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

players.

Current squad

Current technical staff

Records and statistics

Firsts

* First match in

Calcutta Women's Football League The Calcutta Women's Football League, also known as the Kanyashree Cup, is a women's association football, football league in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Founded in 1993, it is the oldest women's foo ...

: East Bengal 7–0 Bidyut Sports, 13 February 2001 (During the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

season). * First match in

: East Bengal 2–8

, 26 April 2023 (During the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season). * First match in Women's IFA Shield: East Bengal 8–0 Nadia DSA, 25 May 2023 (During the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

season). * First goal in Indian Women's League:

Rimpa Haldar Rimpa Haldar (born 6 February 2005) is an Indian professional footballer from West Bengal who plays as a forward for the Indian Women's League club Sribhumi and the India women's national football team. Early life and career Haldar is from H ...

(against

, 26 April 2023). * First goal in Women's IFA Shield: Tulsi Hembram (against Nadia DSA, 25 May 2023). * First win in Indian Women's League: East Bengal 1–0 Kahaani, 29 April 2023 (During the

season). * First hat-trick in Indian Women's League:

(against

, 9 March 2025, 2024–25).

Records

* Biggest win: East Bengal 35–0 Behala Aikya Sammilani, 10 January 2023 (During the 2022–23 Kanyashree Cup season). * Biggest win in Indian Women's League: East Bengal 6–1

HOPS Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

, 31 March 2025 (During the 2024–25 season). * Biggest win in Women's IFA Shield: East Bengal 11–0 Chandney, 29 May 2023 (During the

season). * Longest winning streak in Indian Women's League: 6 matches (During the 2024–25 season). * Longest winning streak in Kanyashree Cup: 12 matches (During the

season to 2023–24 season). * Most goals in a match: 8 goals, Tulsi Hembram (against Bhangore SWF, 6 March 2020, 2020–21 Kanyashree Cup). * Most goals in a Women's IFA Shield match: 6 goals, Tulsi Hembram (against Chandney, 29 May 2023,

2023 Women's IFA Shield The 2023 Women's IFA Shield was the inaugural edition of the Women's IFA Shield, the premier women's football cup competition organized by the Indian Football Association in West Bengal. It had 6 teams participating in the edition including Indi ...

). * Most goals in an Indian Women's League match: 3 goals,

(against

, 9 March 2025, 2024–25). * Most individual scorers in an Indian Women's League match: 6 (against

, during the 2024–25 season).

League history

All Time Top Scorer

List of all-time top scorers for East Bengal women's team in competitive fixtures. :Player names in bold are part of the current squad. :

Overall record in Indian Women's League

Top scorers in Indian Women's League

List of top scorers for East Bengal in the

. :Player names in bold are part of the current squad. :

Overall record in Kanyashree Cup

Top scorers in Kanyashree Cup

List of top scorers for East Bengal in the Kanyashree Cup :Player names in bold are part of the current squad. :

Club captains

List of East Bengal Women's captains since its establishment in 2001.

Coaching history

List of East Bengal Women's head coaches.

Honours

Domestic

** Champions (1): 2024–25 * Calcutta Women's Football League (Kanyashree Cup) ** Champions (3):

2024–25 ** Runners-up (3): 2002, 2019–20, 2023–24 * Women's IFA Shield ** Champions (1):

Regional

* Kaliaganj MLA Cup ** Champions (1): 2022 * Baranagar MLA Cup ** Champions (1): 2023

Recognitions

* IWL Roll of Honours ** Best Media Activities (1): 2024–25

List of foreign players

Key *A player name in bold signifies they have been capped by the national team.
''Each player is mentioned only once, if some of them have rejoined the club later again in different seasons, those entries are excluded from the list.''

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{West Bengal Sports Football clubs in Kolkata Football clubs in West Bengal Women's football clubs in India Indian Women's League clubs Sports clubs and teams in India Multi-sport clubs in India Association football clubs established in 2001 2001 establishments in West Bengal