ATKMB to be renamed Mohun Bagan Super Giants from next season

Club owner Sanjeev Goenka made the announcement at Fatorda.

ATK Mohun Bagan will officially be known as Mohun Bagan Super Giants from next season onwards, club owner Sanjeev Goenka has confirmed. This massive announcement came after the Mariners won the Indian Super League (ISL) final over Bengaluru FC.

It wasn’t really an easy game for the Kolkata giants. They took the lead through a Dimitri Petratos penalty, before seeing Bengaluru bite back with Sunil Chhetri and Roy Krishna scoring to give them the lead into the final 15 minutes. But another Petratos penalty forced extra-time, after which a penalty shootout ensued.

Vishal Kaith saved Bruno Ramires’ penalty and saw Pablo Perez miss his to help ATK Mohun Bagan win the 2022-23 ISL playoffs title. Soon after the win, club owner Goenka was ecstatic and gave an arguably bigger gift to the fans.

What did Sanjeev Goenka say?

After the game, the club owner sent a message to the Mariners directly from the Fatorda Stadium and said: “It’s a great day for the club. ATK Mohun Bagan has won. For RPSG, it’s a fourth title.

“I’m very happy to announce that with this victory, from next season onwards, the club will be known as Mohun Bagan Super Giants. Welcome, Mohun Bagan Super Giants,” he also added. This means that the Kolkata club will undergo another name change from next season, with the name ATK Mohun Bagan then officially only being in place for three seasons.

Mohun Bagan Super Giants - a sign of relief for fans

For more than anything else, this could actually be a huge moment to bring back a lot of Mohun Bagan fans who have been boycotting the club in recent years. Over the last three years, there have been a lot of campaigns to remove the name ATK from the club’s name.

Since the ISL restarted playing in front of fans this season onwards, there have been campaigns held to remove ATK's prefix. Banners of ‘Remove ATK’ have been quite visible in a lot of the Mariners’ home games as well as some away matches too.

For the protesters, this can be some vindication to pay off their years of trying to get the identity of their club back. With the Mohun Bagan name in front in all its glory, the Mariners can probably expect a major increase in attendance from next season in all their matches.

The name ATKMB is still likely to stand for this season, which ends after the Super Cup campaign. This means Mohun Bagan Super Giants could make a debut starting with the Durand Cup from next season onwards.