MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING HAVE revealed their full squad for the upcoming 2021-22 season as the club counts down the final few days before their Calcutta Football League campaign gets underway.
The club, which has seen a revival of its fortunes after partnering with Bunkerhill, returned to I-League after winning the I-League Qualifiers last year. In 2019-20, they finished sixth, but this season, under newly appointed Russian head coach Andrey Chernyshov, the 130 year old club is setting its target higher in 2021-22.
Their first team for the season is as follows...
Goakleepers: Mithun Samanta, Kabir T, Susanta Naik, Zothanmawia
Defenders: Lalramchullova, Wayne Vaz, Arijeet Singh, Balwinder Singh, Lalramhmuanmawia, Saiful Rahaman, Shaher Shaheen (Foreign Player, Asian), Sujit Sadhu, Manoj Mohammad
Midfielders: Nikola Stojanovic (Foreign Player), Malsawmzuala, Firoj Ali, SK Faiaz, Faisal Ali, Milan Singh, Sushil Meitei, Sanjib Ghosh (U-22), Brandon Vanlalremdika, Ridge Demello (U-22)
Forwards: Marcus Joseph (Foreign Player), Stefan Ilic (Foreign Player), Seiminmang Manchong (U-22), Azharuddin, Jaskaranpreet Singh (U-22)
The Black Panthers will officially kick off their season on 18th August when they take on Southern Samity in CFL 2021. They are the first of the big three in Kolkata football to start their CFL campaign. With East Bengal yet to finalize the deal with their investors and Mohun Bagan away in Maldives to play in AFC Cup, the early buzz surrounding the 123rd edition of the state league will be mostly around Mohammedan Sporting Club.
Although the supporters of MSC will not be able to attend the matches due to COVID-19 related restrictions, there is an air of much optimism surrounding the popular club's long awaited revival where they are being seen as a contender in the national level for the very first time since their famous IFA Shield triumph in 2014.