Most appearances for East Bengal in AFC competitions

The Red & Gold played against Al-Hussein in their first match of ACL Two.

East Bengal FC played their first match in the AFC Champions League Two 2026-27 against Jordan based side Al-Hussein SC.

The match ended in a 2-2 draw, with East Bengal scoring twice in the first half and Al-Hussein scoring twice in the second half to complete a comeback. Dani Ramirez gave East Bengal an early lead by scoring in the 9th minute, with Anwar Ali scoring in the 40th minute to give the Torchbearers a solid 2-0 first-half lead.

It would take the home team 60 minutes to be able to score their first goal, as Almardi would give the Jordanian champions their first goal of the night. The team’s right back, Ahmad Assaf, who would be substituted in the 85th minute, would score in the 87th minute to tie the game.

Looking at the match, it felt that even in a fast-evolving world of football, experience is the final key to winning.

With that in mind, in this article, we will take a look at the players with the most appearances for East Bengal FC in AFC competitions.

Saumik Dey – 21 appearances

Saumik Dey is a former Indian International who played for East Bengal between 2006-2016. He has also played in the Indian Super League for Kerala Blasters FC.

Saumik Dey used to be the starting left-back for the Torchbearers in his heyday. He has also made 7 appearances for the Indian national football team.

He has played in 5 editions of the AFC Cup, alongside the two remaining players on this list. He was part of the legendary East Bengal squad that went all the way to the Semi-Finals of the AFC Cup in 2013. Saumik was known for his defensive abilities and for being able to keep up with quick forwards.

He made 4 appearances in the 2010 AFC Cup, 4 in the 2011 AFC Cup, 2 in the 2012 AFC Cup, 10 in the 2013 AFC Cup, and only made 1 final appearance in the 2015 AFC Cup against Balestier Khalsa FC.

Uga Samuel Okpara – 21 appearances

Uga Okpara is a former Nigerian football player who spent 5 seasons with the Torchbearers. He joined the club in 2009 and left the club after the 2013-14 season. During his time with the club, he played over 150 games.

Uga’s first game with the club was against Syrian side Al-Ittihad Aleppo, where he played the entire 90 minutes and even got a yellow card. In his first AFC Cup in 2010, he played a total of 4 out of the 6 matches that East Bengal played.

In 2011, the Nigerian was part of the team for another 4 of the possible 6 matches. In 2012, Uga played 3 out of the 6 matches, but was benched for what was East Bengal’s final AFC Cup game of the season.

In 2013, Uga & East Bengal went all the way to the Semi-Finals of the tournament, only to lose to the Kuwaiti club Al-Kuwait. Out of a total of 11 matches, Uga played 10 and also managed to score 1 goal in the first leg of the Semi-Final tie.

Mehtab Hossain – 34 appearances

Mehtab Hossain is a former Indian International who has made over 30 appearances for the Indian national team.

Mehtab joined East Bengal all the way back in 2006 and was a part of the club till 2016. During his 10 years at the club, Mehtab played in 6 different editions of the AFC Cup.

In 2010, he played the full length of every match except for 1 against Al-Ahli SC. For the 2011 AFC Cup, Mehtab was selected for a total of 5 matches out of the 6 that East Bengal ended up playing.

In the 2012 AFC Cup, Mehtab joined the team for the last 4 matches in the group stages, missing out only the first two matches. During the dream run of East Bengal in the 2013 AFC Cup, he made 10 appearances out of a possible 11, and also scored in the Round of 16 match against Myanmar side Yangon United FC.

In his second last season with the club (and his last time in the AFC Cup with East Bengal), Mehtab was able to make 4 appearances in the AFC Cup out of a possible 6.

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