United Kolkata

An educational corporation put the money down. Satyam Roy Chaudhuri, the group's managing director, sits at the top of it.

The name matters in a city where names carry baggage. United Kolkata Sports Club has nothing to do with the Mohun Bagan or Mohammedan structures — no feeder arrangement, no shared ownership. It began at the bottom of the local ladder instead, and got over the line at the first attempt: the CFL 1st Division title in 2024, which is the second tier of the Calcutta Football League, and promotion to the Calcutta Premier Division for 2025.

Deepak Mondal took the first team. The Brazilian forward José Ramirez Barreto is also on the staff, and the academy programme was handed to a separate coach.

There is no settled home. The training base sits at the Salt Lake GD Ground, and the first league match was played out at a stadium in Uluberia, some way from the city. Nothing has been fixed since.

What it has, after one season, is a divisional title and a stated ambition several leagues above where it currently plays.