Mohammed Sujan ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সুজন; born 1 June 1982) is a retired Bangladeshi 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 le ...

who played as a defender and at times was deployed as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played for the Bangladesh national team from 2001 to 2013. He was also an integral member of the 2003 SAFF Gold Cup winning Bangladesh team.

Club career

Controversies

During 2008, Sujan took half his contract money from

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 ...

and was supposed to stay with the club that season. However, Sujan decided to return to his former club

Brothers Union Brothers Union is a football club based in Gopibag, Dhaka. The club was founded in 1949 and the regal business tycoon Kazi Ghiyasuddin Ahmed, better known as K. G. Ahmed served as the founder chairman of the club. At the beginning it was a well ...

. Nevertheless, due to the controversy Sujan ended up returning to Abahani the following season.

International career

On 8 February 2001, Sujan made his debut for the Bangladesh national team against

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, during the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. During the qualifiers, Sujan scored a brace against

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and helped Bangladesh come from behind to take the lead. However, after a late equalizer saw the game end in a 2–2 draw. Sujan played four out of the five matches during the 2003 SAFF Gold Cup. He helped Bangladesh keep a solid defense as they only conceded twice during the entire tournament. On 1 January 2003 after a 1–1 stalemate during the final of the tournament, against

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

, Sujan stepped up to take the last penalty during the shootout and kept his nerves as Bangladesh won their first ever SAFF Championship. The match is seen as one of the most important matches in the countries footballing history. After a six-year absence from the national team, newly appointed head coach

Nikola Ilievski Nikola Ilievski - Djidji ( Macedonian: Никола Илиевски - Џиџи, born 16 December 1954) is a football coach and former player from North Macedonia. Playing career Club Born in Skopje, during his playing career he played with F ...

recalled Sujan in 2011, after watching his performances in the league with Dhanmondi Club. Ilievski made Sujan the captain of the national team during the

2011 SAFF Championship The 2011 South Asian Football Federation Championship, sponsored by Karbonn Mobiles and officially named Karbonn SAFF Championship 2011, was the 9th tournament of the SAFF Championship, which held in New Delhi, India. Venue It was originally sc ...

s. However, under his leadership Bangladesh crashed out of the tournament after being defeated 3–1 by rivals Maldives during the last group-stage game. The team was heavily criticized due to their individual mistakes, in the end costing them a place in the knockout stages. On 4 March 2013, Sujan made his last appearance for the national team against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

during the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers. Sujan made a total of 36 appearances and scored 3 goals for his country during his twelve year long international career.

Career statistics

International caps

International goals

Youth

Senior

Honours

Club

Abahani Limited Dhaka *

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 ...

: 2008–09, 2009–10, Sheikh Jamal *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Muktijoddha Sangsad KC * National Football Championship: 2003 *

Bangladesh Federation Cup Federation Cup, also known as Bangladesh Federation Cup, is Bangladesh's premier cup competition in men's association football. The competition started in 1980 and is run by the Bangladesh Football Federation which is responsible for all types of ...

: 2001, 2003

International

Bangladesh *

SAFF Championship The South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly known as SAFF Championship (previously known as ''South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup'' and ''South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup''), is the main international ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Awards and accolades

*2005 − Sports Writers Association's Best Footballer Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sujan, Mohammed 1982 births Living people Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Dhaka People from Narayanganj District Asian Games competitors for Bangladesh Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Muktijoddha Sangsad KC players Bangladesh Premier League footballers Abahani Limited Dhaka players Chittagong Abahani Limited players Brothers Union players Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club players Sportspeople from Dhaka Division