Sawpan Kumar Das is a retired Bangladeshi

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach. He captained 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 ...

once during his international career.

Club career

Sawpan started playing 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 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 ...

. He then went on to play for

Wari Club Wari Club Dhaka ( bn, ওয়ারী ক্লাব ঢাকা) is an association football club from Dhaka, Bangladesh. It currently competes in the Bangladesh Championship League (BCL). Wari Club is the oldest football club of Banglades ...

and Wanderers Club before joining Mohammedan SC in 1980. The high point of his career at Wari came in 1978 when he was a part of the club's famous league double (2–0 & 3–2) over the reigning champions

Abahani Krira Chakra Abahani Limited Dhaka ( bn, ঢাকা আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club curr ...

. The following year, they defeated Mohammedan SC 2–0 and were dubbed the "Giant Killers" of domestic football. In 1984, Sawpan captained Mohammedan, however the following year he switched clubs, joining

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 ...

. In his debut season with the Oranges, they finished league runners-up. Sawpan retired in 1988 after returning to Mohammedan and finished his career with his second and final Dhaka League title.

International career

In 1978, Sawpan got selected for the Bangladesh U20 team by German coach

Werner Bickelhaupt Werner Bickelhaupt (born 2 December 1939) is a German professional football coach who has managed at both national and international level in Europe, Asia and Africa. Career Born in Ober-Ramstadt, Bickelhaupt has managed SpVgg Greuther Fürth, ...

, 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 ...

. His performance during the tournament convinced Bickelhaupt to give him a place in the senior national team squad, for the

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, was de ...

. Sawpan went on to represent his country during the 1979 President's Cup in Korea, and the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, in Dhaka. However, coach Abdur Rahim did not include him in the squad 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 ...

. In 1981, Sawpan was part of the Under–20 team that took part in the

1980 AFC Youth Championship The 1980 AFC Youth Championship was held from 21 February to 1 March 1981 in Bangkok, Thailand. The tournament was won by for the fifth time by South Korea. Qualification The finals will consist of five teams from the qualification phase. Q ...

. During the tournament he was an integral part of the team, helping Bangladesh earn draws against both

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. Nonetheless, the team disappointed during the other two games, and were unable to advance past the group-stage. In 1982, Sawpan returned to the senior team under coach Gafur Baloch, he was a member of a disappointing Bangladesh team which took part in the Quaid-e-Azam International Cup in Pakistan. Nonetheless, during the

1982 Asian Games The 9th Asian Games ( hi, 1982 एशियाई खेल) were held from 19 November to 4 December 1982, in Delhi, India. 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken at the event. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of ...

, Swapan was part of the team which made history by defeating

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

2–1. He was made the captain of the Bangladesh Green team (B team) at the 1983 President's Gold Cup in Dhaka. He represented Bangladesh in the

Bangladesh President's Gold Cup The Bangladesh President's Gold Cup was an international association football invitational cup competition held between 1981 until 1993. It was hosted and played in Bangladesh and succeeded the Aga Khan Gold Cup which was held in a similar format. T ...

in 1981, 1982 and 1983. In 1983, Sawpan played his first

Merdeka Cup 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 ...

. During his last two years representing Bangladesh, Sawpan played in the 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers and 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. His last international tournament was the 1985 edition of Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Tournament, during which he captained the team.

Honours

Mohammedan SC *

: 1980, 1982 *

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, 1981, 1982, 1983 *

DMFA Cup The Dhaka Metropolitan Football Association Cup or DMFA Cup was an association football tournament held in Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as wel ...

: 1984 * Ashis-Jabbar Shield Tournament (India): 1982

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Sawpan Kumar Living people 1962 births Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Bangladeshi Hindus Brothers Union players Bangladesh Police FC players Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) players People from Munshiganj District Bangladeshi football managers Bangladeshi football coaches Bangladesh Premier League (football) managers Asian Games competitors for Bangladesh Footballers at the 1978 Asian Games Footballers at the 1982 Asian Games Sportspeople from Dhaka Division