Amalesh Sen ( bn, অমলেশ সেন; 2 March 1943 – 7 October 2017) was a

Bangladeshi football Football is the second-most popular sport in Bangladesh, after cricket, and is governed by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). An interest in cricket resulting from the nation's success in Test cricket and participation in the Cricket World ...

player and coach. He started his career in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

by playing for Fire Service Team and Shadhin Bangla Football Team, but spent many years as a player and later coach for

Dhaka Abahani Abahani Limited Dhaka ( bn, ঢাকা আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club cur ...

. Amalesh is the first ever goalscorer in a

Dhaka Derby The Dhaka Derby is a football rivalry between the Dhaka teams of Abahani and Mohammedan, although the rivalry was bigger in the past, it is still considered to be the biggest game in the country's domestic football scene. Mohammedan was founded ...

match, he scored the historic goal for Abahani in 1973. He later coached both Abahnai Limited Dhaka and

Muktijoddha Sangsad KC Muktijoddha Sangsad KC ( bn, মুক্তিযোদ্ধা সংসদ ক্রীড়া চক্র) is a Bangladeshi professional football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club is nicknamed The Freedom Fighters. It competes i ...

in the

Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

. Amalesh currently holds the record of the most Bangladesh Premier League titles won by a single coach (3 for Abahani Limited Dhaka), and is also the first coach to win hattrick Bangladesh Premier League titles.

Playing career

Amalesh began his football career in the Byton Club, he played for

Bogra District Bogra District, officially known as Bogura District, is a district in the northern part of Bangladesh, in the Rajshahi Division. Bogra is an industrial city where many small and mid-sized companies are sited. Bogra was a part of the ancient Pun ...

for almost two seasons in the National Football Championship competition between district team since 1958. And again under his leadership, Bogra district team became national champion in 1969. His

Dhaka League Dhaka Senior Division Football League, also referred as First Division Football League, is the third tier of football league in Bangladesh. Until 2006, it was the top-tier league of the country. It was established in 1948 as Dhaka League, while ...

journey started in 1962 for the Fire Service Team, where he played for seven years. Amalesh then he went onto play for the famous East End Club. Amalesh joined for Mohammedan SC in 1970. During the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, he also played in the Shadhin Bangla Football Team, where he along with his teammates played 16 exhibition games in India, in order to raise money for the war. After that, from 1972 to 1984, he played continuously for

. Dhaka Abahani and Dhaka Mohammedan first played each other during the 1973 Dhaka League. The battle between of these two giants is now commonly known as

, and Amalesh is the first player to score in the derby. During the game, Amalesh swifted past Moahmmedan stopper back

Zakaria Pintoo Zakaria Pintoo (born 1 January 1943) is a Bangladeshi retired professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Pintoo played for the Pakistan football team before independence. He served as the captain of Shadhin Bangla Football Team ...

and goalkeeper Abul Kashem to score the famous goal. Amalesh was part of Abahani's first league winning team, and further went onto win four more league titles along with the 1982 Federation Cup, which was shared with Mohammedan SC. Amalesh Sen first played for the

Bangladesh national football team The Bangladesh national football team ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় ফুটবল দল) is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a membe ...

in Malaysia, during the 1975 Merdeka Tournament. However, due to injury, he later withdrew and did not play for the national team for a long time. Although, Amalesh got a chance to join the Bangladesh team for the Bangkok

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, was de ...

, that opportunity was also not taken by him, as all of Abahani's 7 footballers refrained from playing due to the teams captaincy complications involving their teammate

Monwar Hossain Nannu Monwar Hossain Nannu (27 August 1948 – 16 February 2008) was a Bangladeshi professional football player during the 1970s and early 1980s. Initially, He played as an attacking midfielder for Abahani Limited Dhaka in Dhaka League. Following an i ...

Coaching career

Sen continued his playing career till the early 80s before embarking on his coaching career in 1986. He stayed with

Abahani Limited Dhaka Abahani Limited Dhaka ( bn, ঢাকা আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional Association football, football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Ban ...

till the late 90s before having a two-year stint with

. He returned to Abahani in 1999 and remained with the club until his death, in 2017. He was Abahani's main coach from 2007 to 2010, 2010 to 2011, 2014 and 2015. He was a regular member of the clubs coaching panel for 18 years straight. He won three consecutive league titles as the clubs coach from 2007 to 2010, becoming the coach with the most

Bangladesh Premier league The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

titles wins. Amalesh also served as the vice-president of Bangladesh Football Coaches' Association.

Personal life and death

Amalesh's family consists of his wife and two sons. On 7 October 2017, Amalesh passed away after suffering a heart attack during a training session with

. He was admitted to the

Bangladesh Medical College Hospital Bangladesh Medical College (BMC), established in 1986, is the oldest private medical college as well as the oldest private institute for tertiary education in Bangladesh. The college is located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is affiliated with Univers ...

where he was declared dead.

Legacy

In 1998 Amalesh received the

National Sports Awards The National Sports Awards is the collective name given to the six sports awards of the Republic of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. They are presented by the President of India in the same ceremony at th ...

, for his contribution to the

& Shadhin Bangla Football Team. On 5 January 2018, Abahani emerged as the champion of the Bangladesh Premier League for the record sixth time. The club dedicated the title to the late Amalesh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Amalesh 1943 births 2017 deaths People from Bogra District Bangladeshi footballers Bangladesh international footballers Association football midfielders Bangladeshi football managers Bangladeshi Hindus Recipients of the Bangladesh National Sports Award Abahani Limited Dhaka players Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) players Abahani Limited Dhaka managers