It was April 2004. Bhaichung Bhutia, Douglas da Silva and Dipankar Roy were on the scoresheet the last time East Bengal confirmed a national league title for themselves. The National Football League was the top flight of Indian football at the time, and this was East Bengal’s third time winning it in four seasons, apart from successfully defending the title that year. Their next league title came on Thursday, after a gap of 22 long years, and it came thanks to goals from a Spaniard and a Palestinian. East Bengal were in pole position to win, with the closest challengers being rivals Mohun Bagan Super Giant. Punjab FC and Mumbai City FC, the next two contenders, were up against each other at the JLN Stadium in New Delhi. Jamshedpur FC were facing Odisha FC at home and needed a miracle to win the title. *** The deadlock broke in the 15th minute, but not in the manner that one would’ve expected. Alfred turned in a long ball from inside the Inter Kashi half for the first time into the goal, and suddenly the polesetters East Bengal were trailing 0-1. Bagan were winning the title at that stage. A few kilometres away, the Salt Lake Stadium, which had been relatively quiet until that point, turned into a cauldron. At the JLN Stadium in Delhi, the news filtered through over the course of the next couple of minutes, leading to chants of “Let’s go, Kashi! Let’s go!” All of a sudden, a goal for the home side, Punjab FC, at that point could potentially be one that would put them above both Kolkata giants and their opponents of the day, Mumbai City FC, into the lead. দীর্ঘ ২২ বছরের অপেক্ষার অবসান, ভারতসেরা ইস্টবেঙ্গল এফসি! 🔴🟡#EastBengalFC #ISL12 #ISLChampions pic.twitter.com/sUOA77tZi5 — Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) May 21, 2026 About nine minutes later, East Bengal fans had their heads in their hands yet again. Yousef Ezzejjari got to the end of a brilliant cross from Bipin Singh. Kashi, who, after scoring, had decided to effectively play with 10 defenders and a goalkeeper, was caught out entirely, and Ezzejjari, the top scorer of the season, booted over the bar. It was almost easier to score than miss. At the Salt Lake Stadium, Bagan were doing all they could to try and gain some insurance, except for scoring. They had multiple chances and were dominating possession, but the final product simply wasn’t coming. The closest they came was in the 42nd minute, when Jason Cummings blasted the ball into the stands instead of putting it into the gaping goal. Three minutes later, the Australian took too long to shoot with the goal gaping again, and the chance was eventually smothered by the Delhi defence. At half time, the standings looked thus: Bagan 1st with 24 points, East Bengal 2nd with 23, Punjab 3rd with 23, Bengaluru FC 4th with 23 (although that was only academic), Mumbai City FC fifth with 23, and Jamshedpur 6th with 22. *** Bagan were desperate to score in the first half, and it became apparent why just minutes into the second. Across town, Ezzejjari finally did what he has done so efficiently for East Bengal this season, converting a goalscoring chance. He received a lovely long ball, turned it past a Kashi defender and then past the goalkeeper. 1-1 and East Bengal were back on top of the table.Story continues below this ad Also Read | Kolkata derby ends in chaotic 1-1 draw, ISL title to be decided on final day Bagan’s plight deepened in the 63rd minute, when Clarence Fernandes headed the ball in brilliantly into the far corner of the goal, and Bagan were trailing 0-1. East Bengal then cemented their spot in the 73rd minute with Rashid running in behind the Kashi defence and turning the ball into the back of the net. East Bengal were winning 2-1. What happened in other matches mattered little until this was happening, unless of course, Bagan somehow scored about seven goals and overturned the deficit in goal difference. A late comeback win for @mohunbagansg at the VYBK but it’s too little too late for the #ISL12 title. #FiveTeamFinale #MBSGSCD #JoyMohunBagan #AbDilliKiBaari pic.twitter.com/KHUo1uNbe7 — Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) May 21, 2026 *** Eventually, Bagan did score one in the first minute of added time, through Manvir Singh. The second came soon thereafter, with Jamie MacLaren putting Bagan in the lead. Their celebrations showed that Bagan thought they were leading the standings as well, but the final whistle had gone just over 11km south of where they were in Mukundapur. East Bengal were the champions. Over in Delhi, the wheels had come off. There were ugly brawls on and off the pitch, three red cards had been shown, two to Punjab and one to Mumbai. Mumbai City had won 2-0. At the end of it all, there was only one change to the league table from where things stood before the start of the matches on Thursday.
East Bengal edge out Mohun Bagan to maiden ISL title in dramatic final day
