Born in Bagdogra, Bhattacharya used to play both cricket and hockey beside football.[7] He began his playing career with Town Club in Berhampur, representing the team in IFA Shield.[8] He then appeared with Vidyasagar College and Sporting Union, before signing with East Bengal in 1945.[8] With East Bengal, he achieved the double in 1945 by winning both the Calcutta Football League and IFA Shield.[9][10] His consistent performances on both flanks in a 3–2–5 formation helped the team achieving success and earned him a national team callup in 1946. He spent four seasons for the "red and gold brigade", played until 1949, refusing Gostha Pal and Abhilash Ghosh's offers of joining Mohun Bagan.[8]
When I used to play for East Bengal, names like Apparao, Venkatesh, Dhanraj, Somana and Sunil Ghosh were part of the forward line. Later, Ahmed Khan and Abid joined us. There used to be five forwards and I could play in the position of both right-in and left-in.
— Bhattacharya on his playing days in East Bengal.[7]
Bhattacharya moved to Eastern Railway in 1949, returning briefly to East Bengal on loan in 1951, for the Durand Cup.[8] At the tournament, they defeated Rajasthan Club 2–1 in final and lifted their first ever Durand Cup. He also appeared with George Telegraph in Calcutta Football League.[11][12]
Bhattacharya also managed Tollygunge Agragami and helped the team gaining promotion to the CFL first division.[8] He also helped Tollygunge reaching the IFA Shield final in 1971,[8] in which they went down 2–0 to Mohammedan Sporting.[23][24] He then took charge of different age group teams of Bengal alongside the Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission College football team and Kolkata Veterans Club.[25] During his tenure as coach, he managed players like Tulsidas Balaram, Subhash Bhowmick, Bhaskar Ganguli, Sukumar Samajpati and Krishanu Dey.
In 1975, an advertisement appeared in the local newspapers that notified that a women’s team will be formed to represent Bengal. 150 girls like us had no idea about how the things work in professional football. Sushil Bhattacharya selected 16 girls that day. Apart from me, Shanti Mullick, Minati Roy, Shukla Dutta and Judy D’Silva were among the few who made the cut. The trial was held at the Kalighat ground. He was more like a father to us. Most of his students have served the nation for a long time. The biggest quality of his was not to get involved in any controversy ever. Also coaches often get criticized for their actions, but this was rarely the case for Sushil Da, such was the respect for the man. It was great to see the whole Kolkata football fraternity getting united to pay him the last homage. As a man who loved to keep himself away from fanfare, he never got his due recognition. We, be it the male or the female footballers, have been lucky to get him as a guide. As Sanjoy was telling today, we have to carry forward his legacy to develop Indian football further.
— Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar, Indian international, sharing her memories with Goal.com, after Bhattacharya's passing away in 2015.[8]
In 1975, he came the first-ever manager of the Bengal women's team, and the first-ever manager of the newly formed India women's national football team.[8][21][26] He is credited for nurturing Indian women talents like Shanti Mullick,[27] the first ever Padma Shri awardee. Bhattacharya managed Indian women's team when, from 1975 to 1991, the administration was in hands of the Women's Football Federation of India (WFFI) and the Asian Ladies' Football Confederation (ALFC).[28]
^Bhowmick, Mithun (15 December 2018). "ভারতীয় ফুটবলের অসুখসমূহ: পর্ব – ২" [Diseases of Indian football: Episode – 2]. bengali.indianexpress.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: IE Bangla Sports Desk. Indian Express News Service. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
Dutta, Prasenjit (22 May 2022). "ময়দানের তৃতীয় নয়ন" [The Third Eye of Kolkata Maidan]. prohor.in (in Bengali). Kolkata: Prohor News. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
