Foundation In March 2014, it was announced that the
All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India, and
IMG-Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight of nine selected cities for the upcoming ISL, an eight-team franchise league modeled along the lines of the
Indian Premier League cricket tournament. On 13 April 2014, it was announced that
Sourav Ganguly,
Harshavardhan Neotia,
Sanjiv Goenka, Utsav Parekh, and Spanish
La Liga side
Atlético Madrid had won the bid for the Kolkata franchise. It turned out to be the most expensive franchise, being purchased for 180 million (around US$3 million).
Inaugural season The club signed their first player on 4 July 2014 with the acquisition of former
Real Madrid midfielder
Borja Fernández. The team then went on to sign two more Spaniards: their first head coach,
Antonio López Habas, and
marquee player, former
UEFA Champions League winner
Luis García, on 8 July 2014.
Luis García was named the first marquee player of the season. was the first marquee player of the league On 6 September, the team bolstered their midfield with the acquisition of
Mamunul Islam,
captain of the
Bangladesh national team, who stated that the move would help relations between
East Bengal (Bangladesh) and
West Bengal. The club played their first match on 12 October 2014 at home against
Mumbai City FC in the opening ISL match.
Fikru Teferra scored the first goal in team and league history in the 27th minute as Atlético de Kolkata went on to win 3–0. At
the final against the
Kerala Blasters at the
DY Patil Stadium in
Mumbai, Atlético won 1–0 with an added-time goal by
Mohammed Rafique. At the end of season awards, García was named the Most Exciting Player.
2015 season was the club's marquee player in the
2015 season On 5 June 2015, the team acquired Canadian international forward
Iain Hume, whose five goals had helped Kerala to the final of the previous season. On 29 July, with García released due to his injury record, the team brought in
Portugal international forward
Hélder Postiga as their new marquee player; aged 32, he became the youngest such player in the league. García's role as captain was taken on by his compatriot Borja. Postiga scored twice in Atlético's first game of the season, a 3–2 win at
Chennaiyin FC, but was substituted later in the match due to injury, and missed the rest of the campaign. Hume scored two
hat-tricks in November, in 4–1 wins against Mumbai City, and
FC Pune City. The latter result made the team the first to qualify for the
play-offs, where they lost 4–2 on aggregate to Chennaiyin.
2016 season In March 2016, it was reported that López Habas would leave the club due to concerns over his ₹23.5 million ($350,000) annual salary. On 25 April, he left for Pune. On 3 May, he was replaced by another Spaniard, former
Villarreal manager
José Francisco Molina. Postiga returned to be the marquee again, but suffered another long-term injury early into the second game of the season. The club's ownership admitted that they had wanted a different marquee due to his record, but had been unable to sign one. Atlético de Kolkata finished in fourth place, taking the final position in
the finals, and were drawn against first-place Mumbai in the semi-finals. They hosted a 3–2 win in the first leg, with all goals in the first half, including two by Hume, and advanced with a goalless draw in the second leg. In the final, away to Kerala on 18 December, Kolkata fell behind to a goal by their former player
Mohammed Rafi, and equalised before half-time with a header by defender
Henrique Sereno. The game went to penalties, with Hume having Atlético's first attempt saved by
Graham Stack, but
Elhadji Ndoye missed for Kerala and
Debjit Majumder saved from
Cédric Hengbart to win Kolkata the title.
2017–18 season After the separation from Spanish club
Atlético Madrid, most of the squad was not retained for the new season. On 14 July 2017, ATK appointed former England international striker
Teddy Sheringham as their head coach for the upcoming season. While former
Bengaluru FC head coach
Ashley Westwood was appointed as the technical director for the club. On 4 August, the team acquired former Irish international forward
Robbie Keane as their new marquee player. On 24 January 2018, Sheringham was sacked by ATK after winning only three of his ten games in charge and appointed
Ashley Westwood as their interim coach. For the first time in four years the club could not make it to the playoffs, but avoided last place by registering a 1–0 win over
NorthEast United FC in the final game,
Robbie Keane netting the deciding goal.
Robbie Keane was named the player-manager for the upcoming cup fixtures and they started their
Super Cup campaign with a 4–1 win over I-League club
Chennai City FC, but failed to make it to the quarter-finals after a 3–1 defeat against
FC Goa.
2018–19 season After a forgettable season, ATK appointed
Sanjoy Sen as their mentor to recruit national players. The former
Mohun Bagan AC head coach roped in some of his own former players who he had the experience of working with, along with former ATK players
Arnab Mondal and
Cavin Lobo. They mainly focused on more local players and it served as the main foundation for building the squad for the season. Former
Manchester United striker
Steve Coppell was named as the head coach for the season. Coppell had the experience of managing ISL clubs before such as
Kerala Blasters FC and
Jamshedpur FC. Under him the team finished 6th in the league, winning 6 games. In the
Super Cup the team reached the semi-finals. They defeated
Real Kashmir 3–1 on their way to finish 4th.
2019–20 season ATK became the first club to win the ISL Cup thrice after they defeated
Chennaiyin FC 3–1 in the final of the
2019–20 Indian Super League. ATK was officially disbanded after 2019-20 season. == Crest ==