[11] East Bengal coach Robbie Fowler too expressed his dissatisfaction over the issue and slammed the club officials for their delay in signing the final termsheet.

[20] Due to the tussle between the club and the investor group, East Bengal lost out on a few of their star performers from last season including Bright Enobakhare, Debjit Majumder, Sarthak Golui, Narayan Das and Matti Steinmann.

[97] On 28 December, East Bengal announced that they have parted ways with head coach Manolo Díaz and assistant Angel Puebla Garcia after they failed to win even one game in their eight-match tenure.

[3] On 16 January, East Bengal announced that goalkeeper coach Les Cleevely would leave his position and return home for personal reasons and he would be replaced by Mihir Sawant.

[103][104] The club also roped in young left-back Sarineo Fernandes from Goa[31][105] and Sourav Das from Mumbai City on a permanent transfer.

[52] On 6 September, East Bengal announced the signing of 2020-21 Indian Super League golden gloves winning goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya in a free-transfer from ATK Mohun Bagan.

[35][106] On 11 September, East Bengal announced their first foreign signing of the season as they roped in Slovenian midfielder Amir Dervišević from NK Maribor on a free transfer.

[116] In the first pre-season match against Vasco, East Bengal won 3–1 with Thongkhosiem Haokip, Subha Ghosh and Siddhant Shirodkar scoring the team.

[118] In the third pre-season game on 20 October, East Bengal defeated the reigning I-League champions Gokulam Kerala 2–1 with goals from Balwant Singh and Wahengbam Angousana.

[119] On 13 November, East Bengal announced their veteran goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya as the captain and Croatian defender Tomislav Mrcela as the vice-captain for the season.

[121] Win Draw Loss Last updated: 5 March 2022 Source: Competitions On 1 July 2021, the Indian Football Association announced that the 2021–22 Calcutta Premier Division will be held in mid-August, without any spectators, adhering to all the protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[129][130] On 25 August, after the differences were put to a stop by the intervention of Mamata Banerjee, the club has expressed the willingness to participate in the Calcutta Football League.

[132] East Bengal was set to start their campaign on 31 August against Bhawanipore,[133][134] however, the club informed the IFA about the unavailability of the team and the match was cancelled.

[140] East Bengal faced ATK Mohun Bagan FC next in the Kolkata Derby at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on 27 November and suffered a 0–3 defeat with three first-half goals from Roy Krishna, Manvir Singh and Liston Colaco.

[143] East Bengal coach Manolo Diaz expressed his frustrations after the game as he claimed: "We don't have enough quality to play matches in the Indian Super League".

Australian defender Tomislav Mrcela put East Bengal ahead in the thirty-seventh minute of the game with a header from a long throw-in by Raju Gaikwad but Álvaro Vázquez equalised for Kerala just before the half-time as both teams shared points.

[148] On 17 December, East Bengal faced NorthEast United and succumbed to their fourth defeat as the Highlanders won 2–0 with two second-half goals from V.P.

[153] On 4 January, East Bengal faced Bengaluru at the Bambolim Stadium and managed another 1–1 draw, led by interim head coach Renedy Singh.

[154] East Bengal faced the defending champions Mumbai City next on 7 January at the Tilak Maidan Stadium and played out a goalless draw to end the first leg of the season without a single win.

[157] On 19 January, East Bengal faced Goa at the Bambolim Stadium and snatched their first victory of the season as they won 2–1 with Naorem Mahesh Singh scoring a brace for the team.

[163] Win   Draw   Loss   Void This is awarded weekly to the player chosen by fans voting at the Indian Super League website.