“Humility” is a word that’s repeated quite a few times when Kibu Vicuna talks. It almost seems like a necessity to live by those words when one chances upon success and for Vicuna, that time is now. Vicuna is the coach of Diamond Harbour FC, a newly-minted football team that played their first professional match only in 2022 and have already registered a win over fellow Kolkata clubs East Bengal FC and Mohammedan Sporting Club.
Three years since the inception of the club, Vicuna walked out with his players at the cavernous Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, still better known in most parts of the country as the Salt Lake Stadium, in Kolkata to face NorthEast United in the final of the 137-year-old Durand Cup.
It has been a meteoric rise these past three years. There is a political link too — member of parliament Abhishek Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress is the club’s patron. Diamond Harbour had their Bar Pujo, the traditional ceremony to mark the start of a football club in West Bengal, on April 15, 2022.
They made their debut that season in the first division of the Calcutta Football League (CFL), and quickly rose through the state pyramid to the inaugural season of the month-long I-League 3. They missed out on promotion, though, but when success came next season, it came in the form of a torrential downpour. They first won I-League 3 and, just a few months later, added another trophy to the cabinet in the form of the I-League 2, thus confirming their participation in the I-League this season itself.
After that, came the incredible run in the Durand Cup.
Those that hadn’t heard of them may have first taken notice when they beat Indian Super League (ISL) side Mohammedan SC 2-1 in their opening game of the tournament. They were then thrashed 5-1 by reigning ISL champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant. The big upset, however, came in the semi-final where they beat an East Bengal side, still riding high on their quarterfinal win over Bagan, 2-1.
The fact that they lost the final to NorthEast 6-1 may have also had a grounding effect, at the very least. Becoming the first team to reach the final of the Durand Cup may have been good but Vicuna says that the club wants to win whenever they play a tournament, regardless of how unheralded they may be.
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“I will tell you, when we are participating in any competition, we want to win it,” Vicuna told the Indian Express. “We know that we cannot reach the level of some of the top teams like Mohun Bagan, or East Bengal or NorthEast. It was very difficult for us to battle them but we did it.”
The fact that this wasn’t even the best possible side that could be fielded is another reason for optimism. “We haven’t trained with the whole team yet. We were training with only three foreign players, (Brazilian forward) Clayton got an injury in the game against Mohun Bagan, some of them didn’t come to participate in the Durand Cup. So we know that we can get better,” he said.
Diamond Harbour coach Kibu Vicuna with captain Jobby Justin before the final. (PHOTO: Durand Cup)
Vicuna has been with the club since 2022, leading them through the CFL pyramid and the lower rungs of the I-League. The 53-year-old Spaniard knows Indian football – he led Bagan to the 2019/20 I-League title, coached Kerala Blasters in the 2020/21 ISL and briefly coached Mohammedan for a few months in the 2022/23 I-League season. He knows that clarity of goals and professionalism comes at a premium in most corners of Indian football and it is the presence of these two factors in the embryonic stages of Diamond Harbour that first appealed to him.
“We started this project in the summer of 2022. We had a few good players at the time who had played in the I-League and that helped us get the promotion to the Calcutta Premier League, which was the first thing. I liked the project from the beginning because they have a concrete goal. The club knows what they want to achieve. It is now the fourth season with them and I think the team is improving, learning every year,” said Vicuna.
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They may be making their debut in the I-League this season but Diamond Harbour do have a bit of a target on their backs now, unlike what was the case at the start of the Durand Cup. The run through the tournament has made fans around the country take notice, even clubbing them among favourites to win the league.
Vicuna, though, intends to keep perspective in sight, while trying to ensure that no one at the club uses it as an excuse. “We are starting, but we are ambitious. We are not making excuses, we want good results right at the beginning. We know it is difficult, very challenging. Every time we are faced with different problems but whenever it happens, we immediately start looking for solutions,” he said.
“To play at a higher level (in the football pyramid) every season means a lot of adaptation. You have to raise your level in training, discipline, and competitiveness. We are trying to get to the level of ISL teams this season in terms of facilities, good hotels for teams to stay in, good coaching staff, analysts – we are trying to get support for the team and the best possible players,” said Vicuna.
