A New Beginning for Mohun Bagan as Super Giants

New Delhi: The owners of Mohun Bagan declared on Wednesday that they will do away with the prefix ATK from the name of the 133-year-old football powerhouses located in the city, caving in to the long-standing requests of the supporters.

The club, which is mostly owned by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, will henceforth be called as Mohun Bagan Super Giant, following the naming policy of the conglomerate’s sports clubs.

Lucknow Super Giants, an IPL team, is also owned by RPSG. The Pune Supergiants were their former IPL team. The club said that as of June 1, 2023, its name will be Mohun Bagan Super Giant (MBSG), after today’s Board meeting.

ATK Mohun Bagan won the Indian Super League for the first time this season after defeating Bengaluru FC 4-3 in a penalty shootout in March.

Goenka had unofficially declared after their victory that the ATK prefix will finally go after three years and they would be known as MBSG, but the date was formally confirmed during their Board meeting here on Thursday.

“We are replacing ATK in the next season with Mohun Bagan Super Giant. In any case, it was something that was likely to happen. When they won the ISL, Goenka had commented, “I was waiting for the victory to announce it.

Because of their affiliation with the Madrid-based Spanish giants, Atletico de Kolkata, the two-time Indian Super League winners ATK formerly went by that name. However, Atletico Madrid and the ISL team that became known as ATK broke up their association after three seasons and Atletico Madrid sold their 25% ownership to the RPSG Group.

Then, ATK stepped in to help Mohun Bagan, which was fighting to make it into the top division of the ISL but was having financial difficulties. Prior to the 2020–21 season, the RPSG Group acquired an 80 percent ownership in Mohun Bagan, the two combined teams existing as of June 1, 2020.

However, the decision to prefix ATK with the name of the club, which has been around for almost a century, did not sit well with the supporters, who claimed that the club’s heritage and rich history were being jeopardized. They also staged a protest march next to the club’s tent in Maidan and the CESC office, and everytime the team played an ISL game at Salt Lake Stadium, “Remove ATK” signs could be seen all over the stands.