Mohammed Habib is a former Indian football player and captain, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the

India national football team The India national football team represents India in international football and is governed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The team is affiliated to FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Indian team, which was once cons ...

. He is considered as the 'First Professional Football player' in India.He is also considered by many Indians as one of the best Midfielders the country has ever produced.

Playing career

Santosh Trophy

Although hailing from the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

(now Telangana), he represented

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in the

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state-level football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under ...

. With Bengal in 1969, the team led by Santo Mitra, Habib won title. He finished as top-scorer with eleven goals, including two hat-tricks against Madras and Services.

Club career

In 1968, he joined

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

club

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 ...

and played under "diamond coach"

Amal Dutta Amal Dutta (4 May 1930 – 10 July 2016) was a former Indian footballer, coach and football manager. Born in Calcutta, then Bengal Presidency, he is considered as the first professional football coach in the country. A finest thinker of the sp ...

, and won the 1969

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield tourn ...

with a 3–1 victory against East Bengal in the final. As manager, he guided Mohammedan Sporting in domestic competitions from 1999 to 2000, 2000–2003 and 2005. He also managed

Bengal Mumbai FC Bengal Mumbai Football Club, known by its abbreviation BMFC, was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1998, they have competed in the National Football League II, alongside the MDFA Elite League. It i ...

in the

Mumbai Football League The Mumbai Football League, also known as the Harwood League, is organised by Mumbai Football Association (MFA) as a ladder-based competition involving a total of five divisions and over 300 teams. It is the top football league in Mumbai and t ...

from 2007 to 2008.

International career

Habib represented India in international tournaments. He won a bronze medal at the

1970 Asian Games The 6th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand.- - Seoul, South Korea, had been selected to host the 6th Games but it declined due to both financial reasons and security threats from neighboring North Korea. (T ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

with Syed Nayeemuddin led, and

P. K. Banerjee Pradip Kumar Banerjee (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional footballer who played as a striker for the India national football team. He also captained the national team and later on became the coach of the national ...

managed team.

Managerial career

After playing football, Habib became coach of the

Tata Football Academy Tata Football Academy (Tata FA or TFA) is an association football academy situated in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, sponsored by Tata Steel, which owns ISL outfit Jamshedpur FC. It is one of the renowned football academies in India. History ...

. He also acted as chief coach of the

Indian Football Association The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers association football in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the oldest Football Association in India and was founded in 1893. Among the founders was form ...

academy in

Haldia Haldia is an industrial port city in Purba Medinipur in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a major river port and industrial belt located approximately southwest of Kolkata near the mouth of the Hooghly River, one of the distributaries of ...

Honours

Bengal *

: 1969 East Bengal *

: 1970, 1974 *

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

: 1980–81 India *

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

Bronze Medal:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Merdeka Tournament Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

third place: 1970 *Pesta Sukan Cup (Singapore): 1971 Mohun Bagan *

: 1978–79 Individual *

top-scorer: 1969 (with 11 goals) Awards *

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

: 1980 * East Bengal "Bharat Gaurav Award": 2015 *

Banga Bibhushan Banga Bibhushan Samman ( bn, বঙ্গবিভূষণ) is a title instituted by the West Bengal government to honour the services of personalities in various fields. The Banga Ratna Samman and the Banga Bhushan Samman ("Bengal ornament" ব� ...

: 2018 (by the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

)

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

All time Indian Football XI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Habib, Mohammed Indian footballers India international footballers 1949 births Living people Association football forwards Footballers from Hyderabad, India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1970 Asian Games Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award East Bengal Club players Mohun Bagan AC players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) managers Calcutta Football League players