East Bengal open their ISL title defence a week late, and Churchill Brothers already have three points at Fatorda
Habas’s champions meet the ISL newcomers at 5pm IST on Sunday, five days after losing 3-2 to Al Shorta in Kolkata.
Oct 18, 2026
East Bengal won the Indian Super League last season and have waited about a week longer than everyone else to start defending it. Their first league game of 2026-27 is on Sunday at Fatorda, against a Churchill Brothers side that already has three points. Kick-off is at 5pm IST.
It is also the first time the two clubs have met in the ISL. They have plenty of history in the old National Football League and the I-League, where neither side has had much the better of it, but this is a new competition for the fixture.
A new coach and a new spine
East Bengal’s title came from 13 games, the single round the league was cut down to last season, and they lost only one of them, winning seven and drawing five. It was their first national league title in 22 years. Óscar Bruzón left after it, and Antonio López Habas, who won the ISL with ATK, took over in the summer and has already added the Durand Cup.
The squad has changed a lot. Mohammed Rashid is the only foreign player kept from the title-winning side, and the newcomers include goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa, midfielder Dani Ramírez, the Australian attacker Chris Ikonomidis and two strikers, Aké Loba and Łukasz Zwoliński.
Their week has not been ideal. On Tuesday they led Al Shorta 2-1 at half-time in the AFC Champions League Two, with David Lalhlansanga scoring both, and lost 3-2 after the Iraqi side scored twice in two minutes early in the second half. Habas kept his pre-match message simple. “Our idea is the three points,” he said. “We respect them, but we have to push our level.”
Churchill’s quick start
Churchill are in the ISL because they took over Jamshedpur FC in the summer, licence and squad included, after Tata Steel walked away. They had about three and a half weeks to prepare, and still beat Mumbai City 2-1 at Fatorda on 11 October. Gaurav Bora headed the club’s first ISL goal on 57 minutes, and Sebastián Gutiérrez scored the second four minutes from time.
Mumbai City had more of the ball that day, and coach Dimitris Dimitriou is not getting carried away. “Of course we got a win; we got the first three points, but for sure there are a lot of spaces for improvement,” he said before the game. “I believe we are going to play better football on Sunday.”
There is one familiar face in the Churchill squad for the visitors. Provat Lakra moved from East Bengal to the Goan club and could line up against his old team.
What to watch
The last time these two met, in the I-League in February 2020, it finished 1-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium. A draw would not be a bad result for Churchill. East Bengal play Inter Kashi on Friday and then go to Oman to face Al-Seeb in the Champions League Two on 27 October, and an early league win would settle a lot of nerves after Tuesday.