ATK (football club)

ATK
Full nameATK Football Club
Short nameATKFC
Founded7 May 2014 (2014-05-07) (as Atlético de Kolkata)
Dissolved1 June 2020 (2020-06-01) (merged with football division of Mohun Bagan AC)
GroundSalt Lake Stadium
Bidhannagar, West Bengal
Capacity85,000
OwnerKolkata Games and Sports Pvt. Ltd.[1]

ATK Football Club (commonly known as ATK and formerly known as Atlético de Kolkata) was an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competed in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football and were the league champions during the inaugural 2014, 2016 and 2019–20 seasons respectively.

The club was owned by Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt. Ltd. which consists of former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, alongside businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka and Utsav Parekh. Initially, for the first three seasons, Spanish La Liga club Atlético Madrid was also a co-owner; later Goenka bought the shares owned by Atlético Madrid. After the end of their partnership with the Spanish giant, Atlético de Kolkata has been rechristened to ATK in July 2017.[2] The team's name and colours are derived from their former Spanish partner.

Under coach Antonio López Habas, Atlético hosted and won the first match of the ISL. They won the inaugural season, beating Kerala Blasters 0–1 in the final. Two years later, under José Francisco Molina, the team won on penalties against the same opponent in the final. Currently, ATK holds the most ISL trophies with 3, defeating Chennaiyin FC in the 2020 final.

On 16 January 2020, it was announced that the RPSG Group along with former cricketer Sourav Ganguly and businessmen Utsav Parekh, had bought an 80% stake in Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Pvt. Ltd.[3] the legal entity owning the I-League club, Mohun Bagan AC.[4] As a result, ATK was de facto dissolved on 1 July 2020, and it was merged with the footballing division of Mohun Bagan AC that allowed Mohun Bagan to play in the ISL as ATK Mohun Bagan FC from the next season onwards.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference the was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Revealed – here's what Atletico de Kolkata will be called from now on – Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dnaindia.com. 22 July 2017. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  3. ^ "ATK Mohun Bagan Football Club on Instagram: "RP Sanjiv Goenka Group acquires majority stake in @mohunbaganac. . #ATK #MohunBagan #AamarBukeyATK"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Ganguly already co-owner, so eligible to become director of ATK MB". The Times of India. 5 July 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.

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