ATK Mohun Bagan - The Merger


ATK Mohun Bagan, the merger of ATK FC & Mohun Bagan FC, both having won their respective leagues before the 2020-'21 ISL Season, has been at the centre of all the criticism from Football Fans.

We delve deep into what could be the possible reason behind the merger, and why the ATK Mohun Bagan merged club has failed.

Talks on a merger between ATK FC & Mohun Bagan/East Bengal:

Kolkata, widely considered the "Mecca of Indian Football", had Mohun Bagan & East Bengal, two of India's oldest clubs. With a history spanning across almost 100 Years for both Mohun Bagan & East Bengal, they have developed a huge fan base across Bengal & India alike. ATK, a yet new ISL Club, like every other ISL Club, was in their initial stages, with a much less fan base, except that ATK FC had more silverwares in their trophy cabinet than all other ISL CLubs.

News Reports state that the owners of ATK approached both Mohun Bagan & East Bengal for a merger, but East Bengal Fans denied giving KGSPL (Kolkata Games & Sports Pvt. Ltd. - Owners of ATK FC) a majority stake, followed by which KGSPL acquired a majority stake of 80% in Mohun Bagan's Football Division.

Logic behind the ATK Mohun Bagan Merger:

ATK FC, although gaining a strong fan base in their initial years, saw a dip in their popularity when they failed to qualify for the ISL Playoffs two seasons in a row.

According to popular speculations, Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Principal Owner of KGSPL, a billionaire, who, like all other ISL Owners, considered the investment in ISL as another business, although as a long term investment, owing to Indian Football's slow growth in gaining popularity.

With Match Ticket Collections gaining a dip due to poor performance of ATK, KGSPL incurred some losses, and faced stiff competition from Mohun Bagan & East Bengal due to their fan bases.

A shift from the Salt Lake Stadium to Rabindra Sarobar Stadium for ATK's ISL Matches also resulted in low ticket collections during matches due to Stadium's seating capacity.

With FSDL announcing two I-League clubs will be joining ISL, an opportunity to merge ATK with either Mohun Bagan & East Bengal, the obvious favourites to play in ISL. According to reports, there was also a discussion on bringing the huge fan bases of both Mohun Bagan & East Bengal to the ISL, and ATK Mohun Bagan merger didn't receive any objection from the higher authorities of ISL.



Disclaimer: No organization or club has been criticized in this article, and any unintentional criticism to any organization or club is solely for the purpose of Football.







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