Salt Lake Stadium
Located in Calcutta’s peripheral Salt Lake City, this stadium that was built in 1984 can
house more than 120,000 spectators. It is a huge 3-tier stadium on the periphery of
Calcutta's satellite Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Stadium is also known as the Yuva Bharati
Krirangan. It is situated approximately 7 miles from the heart of the city.
Soccer
The Salt Lake stadium hosts the home games of the East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and
Mohammedan Sporting Clubs; three of the big clubs in Indian football. The traditional
Kolkata derbies between East Bengal v Mohun Bagan take place in this stadium
accompanied by much fanfare, feverish emotions (and on a few occasions outbreaks of
violence). Most of these matches are attended by capacity crowds of vociferous,
partisan supporters of both teams (traditionally East Bengal Fans celebrates their win
by eating Hilsa fish and Mohun Bagan fans celebrate wins by eating prawns).
Many of the home games of the India national football team are also played in Salt
Lake, as are many important games in major stages of national tournaments.
