Anwar Ali is an Indian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and current assistant coach of

Delhi FC Delhi Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Delhi. Founded in 1994, the club competes in both I-League and Delhi Premier League. The club will compete in 2023–24 I-League, the second tier of Indian football, follow ...

Career

Anwar joined the Rurka Kalan Academy of his village (Adampur), which is about away from the city of Jalandhar when he was in school. Initially he used to play as a right-back for his school, DAV Jalandhar and impressed the national team scouts in the 2002 sub-junior nationals. Anwar was part of the 2004 Punjab Santosh Trophy team that lost to Kerala in the final; the same year he joined Punjab Police.

JCT

Joga Singh, assistant coach of Punjab Police, recognized Anwar's potential to play as a central defender because of his height, strong physique and strength in the air. From then on Anwar would start playing as a central defender and in 2005, he realized his dream of signing for JCT. The 2006–07 season would turn out to be a very important season in Anwar's career as it was in this campaign that he really came into the limelight. He was adjudged as the most promising footballer of the 2006 Durand Cup, where JCT reached the final and narrowly lost to

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Mr. Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941 along with his younger brother Mr. Vaikuntrao Dempo. Mr. Vasantrao S. Demp ...

. In the National League (now I-League), Anwar was one of the best defenders and his performances played a crucial role in JCT's runner-up finish.

Dempo

Ali signed with

for the 2009-10 I-League season and was a regular for his team, featuring 18 times during the league but left at the end of the season.

Mohun Bagan

Anwar signed with

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

for the 2010-11 I-League season and before the

2011 Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

. Anwar had an impressive season, featuring 25 times at the heart of the defense for the Mariners.

United Sikkim

Ali signed for

United Sikkim United Sikkim Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Gangtok, Sikkim. Founded in 2011, the club usually competed in the Sikkim Premier Division League. United Sikkim is the only club from Sikkim to have played in the I- ...

of the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

in 2012. On 28 January, he scored with a superb scissors kick from an Ashish Chettri free kick against

Pailan Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) was an Indian developmental football club that competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, with a main goal of nurturing young Indian football tal ...

Kalyani, West Bengal Kalyani is a planned urban city in Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is also a municipality and Community Development Block in Nadia. It is located around 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Kolkata — the capital of West B ...

and gave the visitors the lead on the 74th minute, though substitute Tirthankar Sarkar equalized 6 minutes later to ensure level-pegging.

Mumbai FC

Anwar spent the 2013–14 I-League season with

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, building a strong defensive partnership with promising youngster

Sandesh Jhingan Sandesh Jhingan (born 21 July 1993) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the Indian national team. He won the AIFF emerging player of the year award in 2014 and made ...

whom he knew from his time at

, helping his side avoid relegation.

Delhi Dynamos

Anwar was snapped up by

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

side

Delhi Dynamos Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

for the 2014 season. Anwar was a regular for his team and played all of his teams' 14 league fixtures.

Mohun Bagan

Anwar signed with

for the 2014-15 I-League

East Bengal

On 11 December 2016 it was announced that Ali had signed with

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

for their

campaign after his stint with

Mumbai City Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014, during the inaugural season of ...

in the

is over. In April 2017, he suffered a heart attack after a practise session and was admitted to a hospital.

ATK

Ali signed for

franchise ATK ahead of the 2017–18 season.

International

Anwar continued to improve the following season and finally got a call up to the national team squad. His first tournament was the 2008 SAFF Cup but the

AFC Challenge Cup The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. "Vision Asia", created by former AFC president, ...

could be considered as his major breakthrough tournament as it was in this competition that he established himself as a regular. Anwar formed a formidable partnership with

Gouramangi Singh Gouramangi Singh Moirangthem (born 25 January 1986) is an Indian former professional footballer. He is currently the assistant coach of Indian Super League club Goa. Club career A product of the Tata Football Academy, he has plied his trade ...

at the heart of the central defence as India conceded only three goals in five matches. The tall defender has been a first team regular ever since, helping India to retain the

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to ...

title in 2009 and also featuring regularly in the international friendlies of 2010. He was also in the 23-member squad selected for the

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

Honours

India *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* SAFF Championship runner-up:

: 2009

References

External links

THE AIFF

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Anwar Living people 1984 births Footballers from Punjab, India Indian footballers India international footballers Footballers from Jalandhar 2011 AFC Asian Cup players I-League players Dempo SC players Mohun Bagan AC players JCT FC players United Sikkim F.C. players Mumbai FC players East Bengal Club players ATK (football club) players Indian Super League players Odisha FC players Association football central defenders Mumbai City FC players RoundGlass Punjab FC players