’s emphatic 5-1 victory over Inter Kashi in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Friday has been overshadowed by a sharp row over money. Head coach Antonio Lopez Habas, who managed Inter Kashi last season, used his post-match press conference to claim that the club still owes wages to many of last season’s players and coaching staff.
The match took place at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, on October 23. East Bengal raced into a commanding lead, scoring four goals inside the first 27 minutes of the first half. struck twice, while Dani Ramírez, PV Vishnu and Lukasz Zwolinski added the remaining goals. The result highlighted ’s strong start to the 2026-27 campaign and left Inter Kashi facing questions both on and off the pitch.
Antonio Lopez Habas said he was “absolutely furious” with Inter Kashi’s board. He also criticised the decision to allow the club to sign 22 players while money owed under last season’s contracts remained unpaid.
“It is not normal. They were not paid for an entire year. We played one season for free at Inter Kashi,” Habas said, as quoted by myKhel.
The Spanish coach’s comments carried extra weight because of his direct experience at the club. His frustration appeared rooted in what he described as a prolonged failure to meet basic contractual obligations to the people who had represented Inter Kashi on the field and in the dugout.
had not issued any public response to the claims at the time of writing. The silence leaves the allegations unchallenged in the open, though none of them have been tested before the league or any other formal body.
The issue is not entirely new. After a 3-0 defeat to Punjab FC on April 20, Habas, then still Inter Kashi’s coach, described the club as being in a “very, very complicated situation.” He added that players and staff might not be paid, foreshadowing the concerns he raised again after the East Bengal match.
On the pitch, the two sides are moving in opposite directions. East Bengal have won both of their opening matches of the 2026-27 season and sit at the top of the standings. Their next assignment is an away fixture against Al-Seeb in the AFC Champions League Two on October 27, giving them little time to dwell on the off-field noise.
Inter Kashi, by contrast, begins the new season under scrutiny that extends well beyond results. The combination of Habas’s public criticism and the lack of an immediate club response has placed the spotlight on financial management as much as on-field performance.
