ATK Mohun Bagan was founded as part of a merger between Mohun Bagan and ATK. Mohun Bagan were founded in 1889 as Mohun Bagan Sporting Club and are one of the oldest and most historic football clubs in India. The club's most notable achievement came on 29 July 1911 when Mohun Bagan defeated East Yorkshire Regiment in the IFA Shield final. Mohun Bagan's victory was the first time an all-Indian football club had won the IFA Shield and became a symbol of nationalism during the Indian independence movement. The club was a founding member of the National Football League, India's first domestic league, in 1996. Since then, the club has gone on to win five league titles, three NFL and two in the I-League, becoming tied for most successful club in Indian football. Mohun Bagan have also won the most Federation Cup titles and second most Calcutta Football League titles. ATK Football Club, founded on 7 May 2014 as Atlético de Kolkata, were a founding member of the Indian Super League. The club was owned by a consortium consisting of RPSG Group founder Sanjiv Goenka, Harshavardhan Neotia, former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly, Utsav Parekh, and Spanish football club Atlético Madrid. The club would go on to win two of the first three Indian Super League finals in 2014 and 2016. After three seasons, Atlético Madrid ended their partnership with the club and sold their ownership stake to Goenka. The club was then rebranded as ATK. In March 2020, ATK won their third and final championship, defeating Chennaiyin in the 2020 ISL final.
Formation
Discussions to include Kolkata giants and I-League clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal had been ongoing since 2018. Discussions and rumors continued through 2019 before an announcement was made on 16 January 2020 that ATK owners RPSG Group bought an 80% stake in Mohun Bagan. As part of the purchase, it was announced that ATK would merge its brand with Mohun Bagan to create a new club for the 2020–21 Indian Super League season. It was also announced that the new club would launch on 1 June 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The club's name was officially announced on 10 July 2020 as ATK Mohun Bagan. It was also revealed that the club would retain the main colours of Mohun Bagan – green and maroon – and the club's new logo was also unveiled.
Club culture
Team colours and crest
During the team's official unveiling on 10 July 2020 it was announced that the club would use the colours of Mohun Bagan – green and maroon – as their official colours. It was also revealed by principle owner Sanjiv Goenka that ATK Mohun Bagan's secondary colours would be white and red with green and maroon stripes. The club's logo also remained almost unchanged from the logo used by Mohun Bagan, featuring the sailing boat but with ATK included.
Ownership
The club is owned by a consortium known as ATK Mohun Bagan Private Limited. RPSG Group founder Sanjiv Goenka is the principle owner of the organization while former India cricketer Sourav Ganguly and businessman Utsav Parekh are co-owners. Mohun Bagan Football Club also acts a co-owner, owning 20% of the organization.
Stadium
ATK Mohun Bagan will be playing matches at the Salt Lake Stadium, located in the Kolkata suburb of Bidhannagar in West Bengal. A multi-purpose stadium, the stadium is mainly used to host football matches. The stadium was the home stadium for both ATK and Mohun Bagan.
Mohun Bagan Ground
The stadium is owned by Mohun Bagan who currently use the stadium as a training ground. ATK Mohun Bagan owners have a plan to renovate the stadium in near future so that they can use this stadium for their home matces in Indian Super League.
