winning the 1993 Durand Cup. East Bengal was drawn with Al-Zawra of Iraq, the 1992–93 Iraq FA Cup champions in the first round of the tournament. Due to the ongoing war situation in Iraq, both the legs were held in India, the first leg at the Salt Lake Stadium while the second leg was held at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, which was a home game for the Iraq side. In the first leg, East Bengal shocked the Iraqi champions and defeated them 6–2 with Carlton Chapman scoring a hat-trick and Sisir Ghosh, Aqueel Ansari and Kumaresh Bhawal scoring one each for East Bengal. Mudhir Khalef Muhsim and Sahib Abbas Hassan scored two for the Iraqi champions. In the return leg, however, Al-Zawra came back strong with a 2–0 win at Siliguri with goals from Sahib Abbas Hassan and Ziad Tariq Aziz, but East Bengal progressed into the second round with a 6–4 aggregate score. In the second round, East Bengal faced South China of Hong Kong. East Bengal lost the first leg at home 1–0 and suffered a 4–1 defeat away in Hong Kong as they were eliminated from the tournament. Matches 1994–95 Asian Cup Winners' Cup East Bengal qualified for the 1994–95 Asian Cup Winners' Cup after being runner-up of the 1994 Durand Cup, as Mohun Bagan who were the champions, also won the Federation Cup and qualified for the 1994–95 Asian Club Championship. In the preliminary round for the East Asia zone held in Colombo Sri Lanka, East Bengal was drawn with Renown of Sri Lanka and Club Lagoons of Maldives. East Bengal won 4–0 in the opening game against Club Lagoons but lost 2–1 against the hosts Renown in their second match to finish second in the group. East Bengal qualified for the main tournament as the group runners and faced TOT of Thailand. In the first leg game away in Bangkok, East Bengal lost 4–1 to the 1993 Thai FA Cup champions. In the return leg, however, East Bengal withdrew from the tournament as the match was not held due to a plague scare in Kolkata and no dates could be confirmed. Telecom Club advanced to the quarterfinal on the basis of their first-leg triumph. Preliminary round (East Asia) East Bengal was drawn with Renown SC of Sri Lanka and Club Lagoons of Maldives in the preliminary round of the tournament. Matches 1995 Asian Cup