Sourav Ganguly confirmed as ATK-Mohun Bagan director despite being BCCI President: Report

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been appointed as one of the directors of the new ATK Mohun Bagan team in the Indian Super League (ISL) football competition. The news of the BCCI President’s appointment was confirmed by Utsav Parekh. Utsav Parekh serves as one of the co-owners of the ATK Mohun Bagan team.

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Sourav Ganguly confirmed as ATK-Mohun Bagan director

The two Kolkata-based football clubs, ATK of the ISL and Mohun Bagan of the I-League were merged on June 1 this year and the new entity is now called ATK-Mohun Bagan. The new entity will be taking part in the 2020-2021 edition of the ISL. The board of the ATK-Mohun Bagan team is expected to meet on July 10, to finalise the club’s name, jersey and logo.

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Sourav Ganguly is now both BCCI President as well as director of ATK-Mohun Bagan team

Utsav Parekh also cleared the confusion on whether the BCCI President was eligible to become the director. He told PTI that since Sourav Ganguly is one of the initial co-owners of ATK, he is 100% eligible to become a director. The merged ATK Mohun Bagan team is majorly owned by Sanjiv Goenka’s ATK, who owns 80% of shares. The rest 20% is owned by Mohun Bagan.

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When the new entity was registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in June, 5 members of the ATK-Mohun Bagan Private Limited were presented. This included ATK co-owner Utsav Parekh, the Mohun Bagan duo of Srinjoy Bose and Debashish Dutta as well as Gautam Ray and Sanjeev Mehra. Speaking to PTI, Parekh revealed that that incident was just a formality, saying that both Sanjiv Goenka and Sourav Ganguly have been inducted as well.

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Speaking about the merger of the two teams, Sourav Ganguly had earlier said the merger is a positive step for Indian football. Sourav Ganguly had also expressed his desire to see East Bengal enter the Hero ISL as well. Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have been rivals for a long time.

Talking about the ATK Mohun Bagan team, the BCCI President had said that the merger will be a big thing for Indian football. Sourav Ganguly also said that the merger will combine the professionalism of ATK and the massive support and fan base of Mohun Bagan.

Sourav Ganguly had recently issued a clarification regarding allegations of conflict of interest when the BCCI President had shared a picture wearing a JSW t-shirt on social media. The post was questioned as the JSW group co-owns the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals. Sourav Ganguly had also served as the mentor of the IPL franchise.

However, Sourav Ganguly had stepped down from the role after being appointed BCCI President. Ganguly had also resigned from the post of president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) before being appointed BCCI President. However, the player now will serve both the roles of being BCCI President as well as the director of the ATK Mohun Bagan team.

Image Courtesy: indiansuperleague.com