Narender Thapa (22 September 1964 – 5 August 2022) was an Indian

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

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 ...

. He represented the India national team at the

1984 Asian Cup The 1984 AFC Asian Cup was the 8th 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 Singapore between 1 December and 16 December 198 ...

, where the team finished bottom in the group stage. He also played for

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, winning 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 ...

in 1986. Through his career he represented both of Calcutta's football clubs,

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 Mohammedan Sporting.

Career in football

Thapa was born on 22 September 1964. He was from the Indian state of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and moved to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in the 1980s. He played as a

and was noted for his craftiness in gameplay. At the club level, he played for both of Calcutta's football clubs

and Mohammedan Sporting at different times in his career. Between Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting, he was also a part of teams that won the

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 ...

Rovers Cup The Rovers Cup was an annual football tournament held in India, organized by the Western India Football Association. It was the second oldest tournament in India after Durand Cup. History Rovers Cup was incorporated by some British football e ...

, and

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 ...

. Thapa made his debut with the India national team in 1983 playing against China in 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 ...

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

in the southern Indian state of Kerala. He was considered one of coach

Milovan Ćirić Milovan Ćirić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милован Ћирић; 12 February 1918 – 14 October 1986) was a Serbian football coach and former player. He was the last player to captain SK Jugoslavija and the first captain of Red Star Belgrade (1945� ...

's favorites. Through his career he played 29 matches and scored three goals. His best performance came in the 1984 Great Wall Cup in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

where he scored the winning goal against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

allowing the Indian team to win 1–0. He represented the India national team at the

, where the team finished bottom in the group stage. He also played for

, winning the

in 1986.

Personal life

In addition to being a footballer, Thapa was employed with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), an Indian

public sector enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

. He also represented FCI in the B-division leagues. Thapa died on 5 August 2022 from a cardiac arrest. He was 57 years old. He had suffered a paralytic attack a few years earlier that had left his right side paralysed. An obituary in the Indian sports magazine ''

Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly Sports magazine, sports magazine published in India by the publishers of ''The Hindu''. Its headquarters is in Chennai. History and profile ''Sportstar'' was established in 1978. The magazine covers interna ...

'' called him a "brawny forward" and described his gameplay as a "rare combination of skill, speed and stamina".

Honours

West Bengal *

: 1986

Explanatory notes

References

External links

Asian Nations Cup 1984
at

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

(RSSSF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thapa, Narender 1964 births 2022 deaths 1984 AFC Asian Cup players Association football midfielders Footballers from Punjab, India India international footballers Indian footballers Indian Gorkhas Mohun Bagan AC players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Calcutta Football League players