East Bengal announce Cleiton Silva, Naorem Mahesh as club captain and vice-captain for upcoming season
East Bengal previously had a tradition of electing their seasonal captain based on their seniority at the club. Notably, seniority here doesn't mean the age, rather the number of seasons the player has spent at the outfit. However, in the past few seasons, the club didn't follow the same due to reasons not cited publicly by the Kolkata giants.
Today, East Bengal officials have officially announced their captains for the next season. For the senior team, Cleiton Silva will be leading the side this time too. Notably, he captained the side in the last two editions as well.
Assisting him in the vice-captain's role will be Naorem Mahesh Singh. Mahesh, in terms of seniority, has played a season more than Cleiton Silva at East Bengal, having joined the Red & Gold Brigade way back in the 2021-22 season on loan.
In the past two seasons, both Cleiton Silva and Naorem Mahesh Singh have made notable contributions to the team's success. Silva was even the top-scorer in the Super Cup 2024 and also the scorer of the winning goal in the final, which provided the club with a trophy after a long wait of more than 11 years.
For the reserves team, the management has chosen goalkeeper Aditya Patra as the captain and midfielder Tanmay Das as the vice-captain. Patra, who is a promising goalkeeper, was registered for the Indian Super League.
However, he didn't receive any playing time due to the presence of stalwart-custodians Prabhsukhan Singh Gill and Kamaljeet Singh. Tanmay Das was also a part of the ISL campaign but failed to topple his teammates to fetch a place in the starting lineup.
East Bengal's preparations for upcoming season
East Bengal have already roped in last ISL season's top scorer Dimitrios Diamantakos and top assist-provider Madih Talal. The club has also renewed the contracts of Cleiton Silva, Saul Crespo and Hijazi Maher apart from adding young forward David Lalhlansanga to the contingent.