The 2016–17 season was the East Bengal FC's 97th season in existence. The club had already won the Calcutta Football League and became the runners of 2016 Bordoloi Trophy. Pre-Season Overview The club signed Calum Angus, an English defender to strengthen the defence for the Calcutta League. The Red and Gold Brigade are hoping to seal the CFL championship and set a hepta record. With the help of recent performances, the club clinched the 74th spot in the Asian Football Confederation club ranking, the highest among all Indian football clubs. Season Overview August The club started their Calcutta Football League campaign by beating Bhawanipore by 2–1. Then they went on winning all the matches in the league. September Maintaining their winning streak of August, East Bengal went on to win all the matches in the league to win the Calcutta Football League for a record consecutive 7 times, bettering their own record of 1970–75. Mohun Bagan decided not to play the Kolkata Derby and East Bengal got a walk over which ensured the hepta league win. East Bengal were crowned champions for a record 38th time in history and for the 7th consecutive season. This is also the 3rd time that they have won the league without dropping a single point. October The club went to play the 2016 Bordoloi Trophy. The team draw set East Bengal in Group B on the fixture of this tour. Due to the absence of almost all the main and first team players of the club (all out on loan in different clubs of Indian Super League), the junior and reserve bench players had taken part in it. The club brought Oluwaunmi Somide Adeleja on loan for the tournament. East Bengal started off well by defeating Bangladesh club Bongobi Agragami by 6–0. The club kept its winning streak by defeating United Sikkim F.C. by a comfortable margin of 2–0 and then ASEB SC by 3–0. Then the club went into the semis where they defeated Shillong Lajong F.C. by 1–0 to enter into the final. East Bengal FC played the final against Three Star Club (Nepal) where they lost 1–2 in extra time. The brilliant performance of the junior players throughout the tournament came to an end with the defeat in final match. But the fight of the junior brigade was appreciated wholeheartedly by the supporters of the club. January The club roped in