Indian national team defender Anwar Ali said his move to Kolkata club Mohun Bagan Super Giant was inspired more by the love for football fans there than anything else.
The 22-year-old centre-back joined the Mariners on loan from Delhi FC after spending 15 months at FC Goa, also on loan, in his maiden Indian Super League stint last season. He had impressed in the FIFA U-17 World Cup but had failed to continue in the sport with a heart condition.
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“Every Indian footballer has a dream to play in Kolkata. My dream is to play not just in Kolkata but for Kolkata, for a team from the city. I want to feel the fandom of the city. So, I decided to sign up for Mohun Bagan,” he told Sportstar.
Anwar has fond memories of the City of Joy. The centre-back scored his first international goal in the city against Hong Kong in the second minute of the AFC Asia Cup qualification match in June last year. Anwar, the youngest member of the starting XI in that game, netted Ashique Kuruniyan’s blocked attempt.
“Scoring a goal for your country is a very different feeling—to play for the senior national team and then find the net is a huge achievement for me as a player. Every footballer in India dreams of donning the national jersey one day, and I wore it and even scored. I do not have words to express how happy that makes me,” he said.
“Moreover, the feeling gets better when you play in a city like Kolkata because fans turn up in huge numbers when you play here. That gives us a lot of motivation.”
Anwar, along with Sandesh Jhingan, has been India’s most important duo at the back, with Jhingan playing the stopper role and Anwar as a two-footed centre-back, getting the ball up the pitch.
His long ball skills, like the one from which Udanta Singh scored against Pakistan in the SAFF Championship 2023, will be something Mohun Bagan will look to capitalise on. The Mariners will now have three Indian internationals in their back four: Anwar, Subhasish Bose, and Pritam Kotal.
The transfer would benefit both sides, given the aspirations of the player. “I have not won the ISL trophy so far, and my aim now is to win it,” Anwar said.
FC Goa, Anwar’s former club, has failed to make it to the semifinals in the last two seasons. On the other hand, Mohun Bagan (previously called ATK Mohun Bagan) has finished in the final two in the last two seasons and was a semifinalist the year before.
In the 2022–23 season, it beat Bengaluru FC in the final on penalties to clinch the title.
Anwar is the second addition from the Indian team for Mohun Bagan, with Chennaiyin FC captain Anirudh Thapa joining the club earlier. It has also added Australian international and A-League winner Jason Cummings to its arsenal, along with defender Armando Sadiku, and roped in two-time ISL-winning coach Antonio Lopez Habas as its technical director with an eye on defending its Indian Super League title.
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