Mohammad Abdul Halim is a Bangladeshi former

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 le ...

who played as a striker for the Bangladesh national team from 1976 to 1979. He scored three goals during the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, and helped Bangladesh qualify for the main tournament for the first time ever. Halim was the joint–top goal scorer in the 1976

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 ...

season while playing for PWD SC, however, he did not play for Bangladesh's big teams, spending majority of his club career in the top tier with Rahmatganj MFS.

Early life

In his school years, Halim immersed himself in athletics, taking part in a multitude of high jump and marathon inter-school competitions.

Playing career

Halim's Dhaka career started with Holden XI in 1974. The following year, he played for the Fire Service in the Dhaka Second Division. In 1976, Halim got a chance to play top level of football in Dhaka, the

. He joined office team PWD SC and became the joint–top goal scorer in the league with 13 goals alongside

Hafizuddin Ahmed Bir Bikrom Hafizuddin Ahmed is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician, a retired Bangladesh Army major, and a 6-term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Bhola-3 constituency. He fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War and was awarded the ...

of Mohammedan SC. That year, Halim outscored established strikers Chunnu, Abdul Gaffar and Enayetur Rahman. Halim went onto join fellow league minnows

Rahmatganj MFS Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society is a sports club of Bangladesh based in Old Dhaka. It was founded in 1933. It is currently playing in the Bangladesh Premier League. It was also a team of Bangladesh Championship League until it got promotion in ...

. Being the league's top scorer, he was called up to the Bangladesh national team in the same year and went on to play in the King's Cup. Halim was also kept as standby for the

1978 AFC Youth Championship The 1978 AFC Youth Championship was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 5 October to 28 October 1978. It also served as qualification for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. Teams * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Group Stage Group A ...

held 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 ...

, although he did not make it to the final list of selected players. Halim's start with the senior national team was promising. In 1979, Halim scored a brace against Afghanistan in the qualifying round of the Asian Cup in Dhaka, after Bangladesh fell two goals behind in the first half. He helped Bangladesh qualify for the

1980 AFC Asian Cup The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was the 7th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Kuwait between 15 and 30 September 1980. The fie ...

as he scored during a 3–2 win against Afghanistan during their third qualifying match in Dhaka. However, Halim's playing career came to an early end due to a knee injury.

Personal life

Born in

Ishwarganj Upazila Ishwarganj ( bn, ঈশ্বরগঞ্জ) is an upazila of the Mymensingh District in Bangladesh. History The seventeenth century was important to the development of Ishwarganj. The Bhulsoma Mosque was established in 1600 and 25 years after th ...

of the

Mymensingh District Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is a district in Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh, and is bordered on the north by Meghalaya, a state of India and the Garo Hills, on the south by Gazipur District, on the east by the districts of Netr ...

, Halim has two sons, who were also former football players and played in the

Dhaka Third Division Football League Dhaka Third Division Football League is the fifth-tier football league in Bangladesh, as well as the third and lowest league division in Dhaka. It was established in 1948 as the third-tier of the Dhaka League, while Bangladesh was still under P ...

. After retiring from playing professional football, Halim joined the coaching profession, but did not stick with it for too long. In February 2022, Halim informed media that he has been suffering from a heart disease for a long time and his physical condition is gradually deteriorating. Along with that, Halim's previous knee injury from his playing days had still not gone away. He also informed that he is unable to get better treatment due to lack of money. Halim's elder brother, Abdur Razzak, a footballer who played in the

in the 70s, died on 23 October 2023.

International goals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halim, Mohammad Abdul Year of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing People from Mymensingh District Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Rahmatganj MFS players Brothers Union players Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Mymensingh Division