AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The city of Lucknow is also known as the “Constantinople of the East” because of its rich and diverse culture. It has also been a sporting city for many years and produced some sensational sporting heroes: hockey legend KD Singh ‘Babu’, star athlete Henry Rebello and champion shuttler Syed Modi, to name a few.

Now, big-time football is all set to step onto the City of Nawabs when the two traditional rivals of Indian football, Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal FC, prepare to cross swords at Lucknow’s iconic KD Singh Babu Stadium on Monday, September 2, 2024.

The two biggest names in Indian football had met each other several times in other parts of the country, but never had an opportunity to fight it out in Lucknow. In fact, East Bengal, in its 104 years of rich history, never played in the Uttar Pradesh capital. Mohun Bagan, established in 1889, will take the pitch in Lucknow after 69 years. The only time they played there was on August 30, 1955, when they drew an exhibition match 1-1 with the Lucknow XI.

Taking this opportunity, AIFF has initiated a plan to distribute 96,455 footballs in 75 districts in 21,551 schools through Navodaya Vidyalaya in collaboration with The Ministry of Education, Government of India.

If preparing a top class football pitch for the match was an issue, then the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath took all the initiative to solve it and present the ground at the KD Singh Stadium for the Derby.

The promotional match is organised by the All India Football Federation in association with the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh, and Krida Bharti. The aim is to help develop and promote football across the huge state of Uttar Pradesh.

AIFF President Shri Kalyan Chaubey met Hon Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath on August 8, 2024, in Lucknow, to discuss the promotion of football in the state and the proposed match. Within three weeks, the renovation of K D Singh Babu Stadium was done at war footing and the stadium was ready for the big show. 

Deggie Cardozo, the head coach of Mohun Bagan, said, “This is a great initiative by the AIFF President to popularise football in Uttar Pradesh. I hope this match will inspire more youngsters to take up football, and in the future, we get a lot more quality players from UP.”

Bino George, East Bengal head coach, said, “We often stress on grassroots development, and it becomes all the more important for a state like Uttar Pradesh. It is such a big state with so many districts, that if we can popularise football there even a bit, we could see so many talented players coming through. I really appreciate this initiative by the AIFF to bring such a big match to Lucknow.”

(With inputs from football statistician Mr. Gautam Roy)