Monaem Khan Raju ( bn, মোনায়েম খান রাজু; born 7 July 1990) is a Bangladeshi

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 plays as a defensive midfielder for

Bangladesh Police The Bangladesh Police ( bn, বাংলাদেশ পুলিশ) of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a law enforcement agency, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It plays a crucial role in maintaining peace, and enforcement ...

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 ...

. He also represented 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 ...

between 2011 and 2016.

Career

In 2010, after his debut season with Feni SC, Raju was included in the 39-men preliminary squad for the

2010 South Asian Games The 2010 South Asian Games, officially the XI South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event that took place from 29 January to 8 February 2010 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This was the third time that the Bangladeshi capital hosted the South Asian ...

by Croatian coach Zoran Đorđević. However, he did not make the final 23-men squad, and Bangladesh U23 ended up clinching gold in the tournament. On 29 May 2011, Raju scored a brace for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in a 2–0 victory over Arambagh KS. However, the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

ended up being a disappointment for the club as they failed to retain the league title, finishing in seventh place. On 29 August 2013, Raju was added to the

2013 SAFF Championship The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for men's national football teams organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament took ...

squad by Dutch coach Lodewijk de Kruif, after captain Mamunul Islam and star midfielder Sohel Rana were deemed not fit enough. However, Raju's inclusion was not accepted by the

South Asian Football Federation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), founded in 1997, is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia and is part of the larger Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mald ...

, due to him not being a member of the previously announced 30-men preliminary squad.

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānlādēśa phuṭabala phēḍārēśana'') is the governing body that administrates the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national tea ...

's decision of including Raju after the original squad already announced, was later heavily criticised by local media, after Bangladesh finished bottom of their group during the tournament. On 15 January 2016, Raju was named the "Man of the Match" during Bangladesh's encounter with

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 ...

at the

2016 Bangabandhu Cup The 2016 Bangabandhu Cup or 2016 Bangabandhu Gold Cup was an international association football tournament organised by the Bangladesh Football Federation as a tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Launched in 1996, ...

. However, after a goalless draw Raju expressed his disappointment during the post-match interview by stating ''"This is the first time I have become the best player in an international match. A victory would have been a big achievement. But that didn't happen.''" On 24 May 2019, while playing for

Chittagong Abahani Limited Chittagong Abahani Limited ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also spelled as Chattogram Abahani or Chittagong Abahoni, is a sports club based in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A wing of Abahani Limited was ...

, Raju and four other local footballers were accused of match-fixing.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* * * 1990 births Living people Bangladeshi men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Chittagong Abahani Limited players Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club players Feni SC players Sheikh Russel KC players Bangladesh Police FC players Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh Premier League footballers People from Kishoreganj District Sportspeople from Dhaka Division {{Bangladesh-footy-bio-stub