Atletico de Kolkata

Atletico de Kolkata

Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) is a football team based in Kolkata in West Bengal. The team has well known face Saurav Ganguly, former Indian cricketer and captain. In 2016 ISL, Atletico de Kolkata became the champions by defeating Kerala Blasters.

Atletico de Kolkata is an Indian Super League football franchise hailing from Kolkata in West Bengal. Atletico de Kolkata was established on 7th May 2014 as the first ever Indian Super League team. The teams name is Atletico de Kolkata due to the team being partly owned by Spanish La Liga side, Atletico Madrid. Atletico de Kolkata was the champion of Indian Super League in 2014. Atletico de Kolkata was the host and winner of the first match in the Indian Super League. They won the inaugural season, defeating the Kerala Blasters 1-0 in the final. Atletico de Kolkata lost 4-2 on aggregate to Chennaiyin FC in the semi finals. In 2015 ISL, this team acquired 14 points and Iain Hume became the top goal scorer by scoring 11 goals.

Ownership of Atletico de Kolkata
Atletico de Kolkata is owned by Kolkata Games and Sports, a private association based on spots established to oversee the administration and operations of Atletico Kolkata of the Indian Super League. The consortium is made up of former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka, and Utsav Parekh, as well as Atletico Madrid of La Liga in Spain.

Manager of Atletico de Kolkata
Atletico de Kolkata is managed by former Bolivia and Valencia manager Antonio Lopez Habas and the team played their home matches at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

History of Atletico de Kolkata
In early 2014, it was announced that the All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India and IMG-Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight or nine selected cities for the Indian Super League, an eight-team franchise league modelled along the lines of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.

On 13th April 2014, it was announced that Sourav Ganguly, Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka, Utsav Parekh, and Spanish La Liga side Atletico Madrid had won the bidding for the Kolkata franchise with a name Atletico de Kolkata. The Kolkata franchise, Atletico de Kolkata turned out as the most expensive franchise purchased for 18 crore.

On 7th May 2014, the team was officially launched as Atletico de Kolkata with its logo and jersey. The team then signed their first ever player on 4th July 2014 when they signed former Real Madrid midfielder Borja Fernandez. Atletico de Kolkata then went on to sign their first head coach, Antonio Lopez Habas, and marquee player, former UEFA Champions League winner Luis Garcaa, on 8th July 2014.

Stadium of Atletico de Kolkata
Salt Lake Stadium or Yuva Bharati Stadium, the second largest stadium in the world, is the home ground of Atletico de Kolkata.

Atletico de Kolkata in 2015
On 5th June 2015, Atletico de Kolkata acquired Canadian international forward Iain Hume, whose five goals had helped Kerala to the final of the previous season. In the second season, Atletico de Kolkata had the first pick, choosing Pune Football Club Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh for a fee of 4.5 lakhs; their most expensive purchase was that of defender Augustin Fernandes for 26 lakhs. Portugal international forward Helder Postiga as their new marquee player is aged 32. He became the youngest player in the league.

Atletico de Kolkata in 2016
Atletico de Kolkata is coached by Spaniard José Francisco Molina, replacing Antonio López Habas who served as head coach the previous two seasons. This year Atletico de Kolkata became victorious by defeating Kerala Blasters in the final match ending in 4-3.

Players of Atletico de Kolkata in 2016

Position	Player
GK	Shilton Pal
GK	Debjit Majumder
DF	Pritam Kotal
DF	Kingshuk Debnath
DF	Robert Lalthlamuana
DF	Prabir Das
MF	Bikramjit Singh
MF	Bidyananda Singh
MF	Bikash Jairu
MF	Lalrindika Ralte

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