Mohammedan Sporting Club

Introduction

Mohammedan Sporting Club, founded in 1891, is one of the leading football clubs in Kolkata, along with East Bengal Club and Mohun Bagan AC. They play currently in the second division in National Football League (India). Their home ground in NFL is The Salt Lake Stadium. They play Calcutta Super Division on their own ground - Mohammedan Sporting Ground, Kolkata.

They are the most favourite football club in India. But they have faced a dearth of quality players and lack of money, which combined to affect their performance in domestic tournaments. In the elite division of the national league last year, the club was the top team till mid-way, but lost way and did not survive relegation.

Mohammedan Sporting already have SPS Group, makers of Elegant Steel, as sponsor and Reebok supplies the players' kit. However, recently the club has bagged a sponsorship deal of Rs.10 million ($226,085) with Anil Ambani's Reliance group. This deal is a big achievement for the club as it will allow them to get better foreign players and also provide other players with better facilities. Mohammedan SC are also known to their fans as The Black Panthers or in Hindi as Kaale Tenduye (which means the same). Some fans also call them "Men in Black" based on the Indian Cricket team nicknamed "Men in Blue". They usually use the formation 4-4-2.