The Indian Super League (ISL) champions ATK Mohun Bagan will be renamed as Mohun Bagan Super Giant from June 1, the club announced on Wednesday. The football giants announced on Twitter.
Club statement. #JoyMohunBagan #আমরাসবুজমেরুন pic.twitter.com/uKGz35za8F
— Mohun Bagan Super Giant (@mohunbagansg) May 17, 2023
Budging to fans’ longstanding demands, the stakeholders of Mohun Bagan on Wednesday announced that they would remove the prefix ATK from the name of the 133-year city-based football giants.
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The club, which is principally owned by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, will now be known as Mohun Bagan Super Giant, a pattern which follows the conglomerate’s naming philosophy of their sports teams. RPSG are also the owner of the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants. Their earlier IPL team was known as Pune Supergiants.
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“Subsequent to the Board meeting held today, the name of the club will be Mohun Bagan Super Giant (MBSG) from 1st June 2023,” the club announced.
The official confirmation from the club comes after the March announcement when the franchise’s principal owner Sanjeev Goenka after the club defeated Bengaluru FC in the final of the ISL 2022-23, had said that the club has decided to drop ATK from its name.
“It is a small announcement but a substantial one. From next month, ATK Mohun Bagan will be renamed as Mohun Bagan Super Giants. We were waiting for the (ISL final) win to announce it. This win offers an opportunity to make the information public,” Goenka had said.
“We are removing ATK, it will be Mohun Bagan Super Giant from next season. Well, it was something that was on the cards. I was waiting for the win to announce it,” he had said after their ISL triumph.
ATK to Mohun Bagan Super Giants
Two-time Indian Super League champions ATK was formerly known as Atletico de Kolkata because of their tie-up with the Madrid-based Spanish giants.
But Atletico Madrid parted ways after three seasons and sold its 25 per cent stake to the RPSG Group which then became the principal owner of the ISL franchise that came to be known as ATK.
ATK then came to the rescue of Mohun Bagan, who were struggling to get into the top-tier ISL because of financial woes.
ATK Mohun Bagan was formed in 2020 after the erstwhile ISL club ATK merged with Mohun Bagan AC. With ATK owner Sanjeev Goenka (RPSG Group) holding the majority (80%) of the sake, the new entity back then decided to retain ATK in its name which came into existence from June 1, 2020.
Controversy over the prefix ATX
But the decision to prefix ATK with the century-plus-old club’s name did not go well with the fans, who alleged that the club’s legacy and rich history were being compromised.
But Mohun Bagan fans ran a long ‘Remove ATK campaign’ which included boycotting ISL games that eventually led to the decision of changing the club’s name.
They also hit the streets with protest marches near the club’s tent in Maidan and CESC office, and “Remove ATK” placards would be seen everywhere in the stands whenever the team played an ISL match at the Salt Lake Stadium.
