1997 Federation Cup Semifinal: East Bengal F.C. v Mohun Bagan A.C.
| 1997 Kalyani Black Label Cup Semifinal: East Bengal F.C. v Mohun Bagan A.C. | |||||||
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Salt Lake Stadium, the venue of the match
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| Event | 1997 Federation Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 13 July 1997 | ||||||
| Venue | Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata | ||||||
| Man of the Match |
Bhaichung Bhutia (East Bengal) |
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| Referee | Inayatullah Khan (Karnataka) | ||||||
| Attendance | 131,781 | ||||||
The second semi-final of the 1997 Indian Federation Cup was played between arch-rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on 13 July 1997. Called the Kolkata Derby, the match was won by East Bengal 4–1 courtesy of a hat-trick, first ever in the derby's history, from Bhaichung Bhutia. Nazim-ul-Haque opened the scoring early on for East Bengal before Bhutia's goal took the lead to 2–0. Chima Okorie managed to pull one back for Mohun Bagan in the second half, but Bhutia's twin strikes in four minutes sealed the game for East Bengal.
The match holds significance on many accounts. The coaches of the two teams, Amal Dutta and Pradip Kumar Banerjee, were the two most respected coaches in the country, with massive success for over two decades with their respective clubs and against each other, by virtue of multiple wins at IFA Shield, Durand Cup and Calcutta Football League behind them. The derby was a highly anticipated one as it was the semi-final of one of India's hitherto most popular and premier knockout football tournament, and thus drew over 131,000 supporters to the stadium, and was an Asian record for highest attendance at a sporting event. It is also significant in that the period around the match saw the emergence and consolidation of Bhutia as one of India's finest footballers.
The Kolkata Derby is a fixture contested between two football teams from the Kolkata region, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Due to historical and cultural factors common to both teams, massive fanbase, and records of successes over decades, the derby had been very popular and closely followed by fans and covered by media, and hence were the two most popular and successful Indian football clubs. Before this fixture, there had been 15 meetings between the two sides in Federation Cups, with the first fixture being held in 1978. In the 15 games played, East Bengal had won four, Mohun Bagan three and eight games ended in draws.
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