Kolkata: Mohun Bagan Super Giant supporters hang “Tifo” during the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 final football match between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Bengalur FC, Vivecananda Yub Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata, West Bengal. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) The British colonizers wanted Kalcata to be London in the east, but the Bengals always prefer Paris.
From the musicality of both languages to the celebration of avant -garde art, the city shares a bond. When Satyajit Ray won Légion d’Aneur – the highest French national order – in 1987, the standard feeling in Calcutta was: “We will always have Paris.”
The cultural connection is on the loss. But now there is football among cities, because Paris FC has gained its promotion to the highest level of French football – Ligue 1.
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Parc des Princes, the Home for Paris St-Germain, is only 193 m from the new FC Ground Paris, and the fans have already called the “closest derby in the world”.
But then Kolkata is not too far away. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan area located in the Maidan area are only 800 meters apart. But if you take a shortcut, it’s just five minutes walk.
Both giants no longer play derby – when it comes to football of older men – on their own area. They prefer Salt Lake – La San Siro in Milan – because of security problems. The fact that the Salt Lake Stadium can accommodate up to one Lakh fans is also financially viable for clubs.
But there was a period when both teams played on the second land. Of course, there were “neutral” Eden Gardens, the designated venue “big match”, but cricket always had priority.
The famous IFA Shield from 1975, where the East Bengal defeated Mohun Bagan 5-0-LIGHT margins recorded between the two teams to the present day played on Bagan Ground.
The hero of that afternoon, the late Subhas Bhowmick, would often remember how difficult it was to return to his home tent in the afternoon, and thousands of fans make it an opportunity.
Until the end of the 80s, both teams were played in the houses of others and turned off, especially in the Calcutta football league.
Hockey derby was played in East Bengal and Mohun Bagan Grounds, but that’s also the past.
Memories of Maidan Derby Linger, and when PSG and Paris FC take the field for the “nearest derby”, the old Maidan regularly takes a trip down memory lane – once it was ours.
