Kolkata: On September 15, 1978, Mohan Bagan became the first Indian team to win IFA shield jointly, competing against FC Ararat Yerevan, of the Soviet Union, post Independence. Throughout the club’s long and glorious journey, Mohan Bagan has played against many foreign teams as well as players, from Swedish legend Kurt Hamrin to modern icons like Oliver Kahn, the list is long. The match against Ararat ended in a 2-2 draw, it can be said that the soviet team arguably was one of the best team with several World cups in their side ever played on Indian soil.
Captained by Sergey Bondarenko, the club had multiple players from the USSR Olympic squad including Arkady Andreasyan who scored the only goal for Ararat beating Bayern München in UEFA Champions Cup 1/4 finals.
The 1978 Mohan Bagan squad had some of the outstanding players who left mark in history like Shibaji Banerjee, Shyamal Banerjee, Bidesh Bose, Subrata Bhattacharya, Sudhir Karmakar, Pradip Chowdhury, Md. Habib and Manas Bhattacharya.
Coached under one of the most successful coaches in Indian football, P.K Banerjee, Mohan Bagan made a comeback 1977 onwards after a disappointing five seasons. They won IFA shield three times in a row(beating East Bengal in 1977 and 1979, and jointly in 1978 with FC Ararat).
Mohan Bagan squad in the final included, Shibaji Banerjee; Sudhir Karmakar, Compton Dutta (Bidesh Bose), Subrata Bhattacharya, Manas Bhattacharya, Shyam Thapa, Md. Habib (Md. Akbar), Pradip Chowdhury, Shyamal Banerjee, Goutam Sarkar, Prasun Banerjee.
The mariners club won the Federation Cup, IFA Shield, Calcutta Football League and Nagjee Trophy in the same year. In the Calcutta Football League, they created a record by scoring 78 goals. The 1978 IFA Final remains one of the most iconic matches in Mariners history.
