Former East Bengal midfielder Kalia Kulothungan passed away, aged 40 in a road accident in his home town of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu on Friday.
The prolific midfielder was a part of East Bengal’s ASEAN Cup triumph in 2003 in Jakarta and also won consecutive National Football League titles in 2002-03 and 2003-04 under coach Subhas Bhowmick, now the technical director. He scored seven goals for EB including one in the final of the Durand Cup 2002 vs Army XI. He also won the IFA Shield and CFL twice apart from Independence Day Cup at Nowgong.
Extremely upsetting to hear about Kalia Kulothungan - he was taken too soon from all of us. Rest in peace, Anna. You will be missed! pic.twitter.com/G6TzEGGCk8— CK Vineeth (@ckvineeth) July 28, 2018
Really upsetting to hear about the passing away of Kalia Kulothungan. He was one of the best ball players I've played alongside. Let's never take life for granted.— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) July 28, 2018
We at Mohammedan Sporting Club deeply saddened to hear about the untimely demise of former midfielder Kalia Kulothungan. Remembering his wonderful and gentle soul will forever remain in our hearts. May he rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/ORzrrZvOYC— Mohammedan SC (@MDSCOfficial) July 28, 2018
Kulothungan was part of one of the best attacks to have played at the top level of Indian football with the likes of Baichung Bhutia, Mike Okoro, Cristiano Junior and Raman Vijayan for company. The Brazilian striker Junior, who moved to Dempo in 2004 passed away after an on-field collision with the then Mohun Bagan goal-keeper Subrata Paul during the final of the Federation Cup in Goa.
The former India midfielder, was also the skipper for the Tamil Nadu when they reached the semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy before eventually losing out to Goa.
He played for East Bengal for three years, starting 2002 before signing for Mohammedan Sporting in 2005. After playing for Sporting for a couple of years, the midfielder joined Mumbai City FC under David Booth and alongside Khalid Jamil and Abhishek Yadav in their first season in the Mumbai Football League’s Elite division.
Kulothungan became one of the few footballers to have played for the troika of the Kolkata Maidan, when he signed for Mohun Bagan in 2009.
His final club was Bhowanipore FC whom he joined in 2012.
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