On May 19, 2026, one of the most agonizing, generation-defining sporting droughts in modern football history finally collapsed. When title-rivals Manchester City dropped points to Bournemouth, Arsenal were officially crowned the English Premier League champions with a game to spare.
For Gunners fans worldwide, it was an emotional watershed moment—ending an exact 22-year wait for the absolute pinnacle of domestic success since Arsene Wenger’s iconic “Invincibles” lifted the trophy in May 2004.
But that ceased to be the only story of great football comebacks as an Indian legacy club wrote its own comeback story in the truncated season of the Indian Super League (ISL).
When East Bengal FC stepped onto the pitch for their final-day match against Inter Kashi at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on May 21, they weren’t just be playing for three points.
They were playing to mirror Arsenal’s historic feat and break a brutal, multi-layered spell of their own: an agonizing 12-year drought without a top-flight league championship, and a historic 22-year wait to be crowned the undisputed National Champions of India. They won the National Football League (NFL) 2003-04 season, which was their last national title.
The Final ISL 2025–26 Points Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | East Bengal FC | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 30 | 11 | +19 | 26 |
| Mohun Bagan SG | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 9 | +14 | 26 | |
| 3 | Mumbai City FC | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 17 | 9 | +8 | 25 |
| 4 | Bengaluru FC | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 18 | 12 | +6 | 23 |
| 5 | Punjab FC | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 12 | +6 | 22 |
| 6 | Jamshedpur FC | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 10 | +5 | 22 |
| 7 | FC Goa | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 20 |
| 8 | Kerala Blasters FC | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 15 | 17 | -2 | 17 |
| 9 | NorthEast United FC | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 21 | -5 | 16 |
| 10 | Inter Kashi FC | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 13 |
| 11 | SC Delhi | 13 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 17 | -4 | 11 |
| 12 | Odisha FC | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 22 | -8 | 11 |
| 13 | Chennaiyin FC | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 21 | -12 | 9 |
| 14 | Mohammedan SC | 13 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 32 | -25 | 3 |
The Final Equation: What East Bengal Needed To Do?
As is visible in the ISL 2025-26 points table (above), following their high-stakes, goalless Kolkata Derby draw against the Mohun Bagan, East Bengal finally controlled their own destiny. Their manager Oscar Bruzon wouldn’t have asked for anything else heading into the final day. The task in their final game against 10th-placed Inter Kashi is as clear as it is high-pressure:
The Victory Guarantee: A straight win guarantees them 26 points. As long as they maintain their superior goal difference (+18) over a chasing Mohun Bagan side (+13) playing SC Delhi simultaneously, the championship is theirs. And that’s exactly what happened.
Why? Because Mohun Bagan would need to win their game by a margin of six goals or more, depending on East Bengal’s winning margin, to steal the crown on goal difference.
What happens if East Bengal draw or lose against Inter Kashi?
There are two options. If they draw, they would have to hope that Mohun Bagan also draws their match and the match between Mumbai FC and Punjab FC also ends in a draw. But the problem is that they would not be able to see what’s happening in the other games as all the four matches on the last matchday in ISL will be played simultaneously, starting 7:30 pm IST.
The second scenario: If the Red and Gold of Indian football lose, then they would have to hope and pray that Mohun Bagan lose too and the Mumbai vs Punjab game ends in a draw. There would be a third condition and East Bengal would have to hope that Jamshedpur FC also don’t win their lat league game against Odisha.
Inside the 12-year and 25-year Spells
For East Bengal’s passionate, long-suffering fanbase, this climax represents an emotional exorcism of traumatic proportions.
Since their migration into the franchise era six years ago, the club has endured a painful, systemic collapse. They became the league’s tragic punchline—plagued by boardroom infighting, frequent coaching carousels, and five consecutive seasons finishing near the absolute bottom of the table.
While the club briefly tasted national cup success in early 2024 by hoisting the knockout Super Cup, their last elite, top-flight league championship title came a grueling 12 long years ago during the 2013-14 Calcutta Football League (CFL) Premier Division.
That campaign, which sealed a dominant fourth successive regional league crown via tactical brilliance from stars like Chidi Edeh, marked the absolute final sunset of the club’s league hegemony before a dark cloud of administrative failure rolled in.
But the deeper, more significant milestone stretches back a quarter of a century. The last time this legendary club was crowned the top-flight national league champions of India was during the 2000–01 National Football League (NFL) season—exactly 25 years ago, mirroring the iconic timeline of Arsenal’s own modern wait.
Ever since that legendary 2001 squad held their nerve down the final stretch to edge past their local rivals Mohun Bagan by a single point, East Bengal have never stood on top of the national premier league pyramid.
The ultimate glory is there
Arsenal fans spent more than two decades waiting for the dark clouds over North London to finally clear. When the final whistle blows, the East Bengal faithful will find out if their own 25-year-old ghost is finally laid to rest, concluding the longest league title wait in Indian sports history in a roaring, emotional spectacle.