East Bengal FC, the Kolkata Giants, announced Emami Group as their new investor for the upcoming season. The iconic 103-year-old Kolkata club, which recently celebrated its Foundation Day on August 1, are set to play as East Bengal FC in the 2022 edition of the Indian Super League.
According to the deal, East Bengal club will own 23% of the new entity while the remaining 77% will be under Emami Group’s ownership. In the newly formed company, there will be 7 board members from Emami and the later 3 from the club. The club can now utilize the finances pouring in from Emami Group to build a competitive squad to feature in the Durand Cup, Calcutta Football League, Super Cup and the ISL this season.
Commenting on this partnership, Mr. Aditya V. Agarwal, Director, Emami Group said, “Emami has a rich legacy of being associated with the sporting fraternity of the country. We believe that as Corporates, we need to come forward to provide impetus to the budding sportsmen right from the grass root levels.”
“Our brands, over the years, have been associated with many great names of Indian sports as our brand ambassadors across different disciplines – starting from the legendary the Late Milkha Singh to iconic players like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Gambhir to Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar and etc,” Agarwal added.
“We have had a very successful association with East Bengal Club during mid-90’s as a sponsor. Through our new Joint Venture, Emami East Bengal, we are excited to re-partner once again and contribute towards the development of one of the best football properties of the country,” the Director said.
Mr. Kalyan Majumder, Hon. Secretary, East Bengal Club said on this occasion, “We are happy and excited with this partnership with the Emami Group and together, as Emami East Bengal, we are hopeful of building one of India’s best Football team. The association with Emami is promising and we believe that this partnership is right for both the partners marking a new beginning full of exciting possibilities. “The sporting activities of the club will gather pace now with efforts to join all tournaments including ISL as well as to enhance the player base, training capacity and infrastructure required to achieve more sporting successes,” Majumder added.
There will not be any preface added to East Bengal’s name despite Emami being the majority stakeholder. It was also confirmed that East Bengal will take part in every competition including the Indian Super League (ISL) in the upcoming 2022-23 season as ‘East Bengal FC’.
