Shahidur Rahman Chowdhury ( bn, শহীদুর রহমান চৌধুরী; born 17 November 1947), known by his nickname Shantoo, is a former Bangladeshi football player and manager.

Club career

In 1966, after giving his SSC examination in Rangpur, he moved to

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 i ...

. His football career started the same year for

Azad Sporting Club Azad may refer to: People Mononym * Azad (fl. 345), a eunuch and a companion in martyrdom of Simeon Barsabae * Azad (Maoist) (1952–2010), alias Cherukuri Rajkumar, Spokesperson and Central Politburo member of the Communist Party of India * Aza ...

in the

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 B ...

, after impressing Azad coach Ranjit Das. However, before playing domestic football in Dhaka, he played in the inter-district team for Rangpur and the divisional team for

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous division and district. Located on the north bank of the P ...

, where his team reached the district final against Dhaka. He made a name for himself while playing for the

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

's two biggest clubs at the time Dhaka Wanderers and Mohammedan SC, before

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

's independence.

International career

Pakistan national team

In 1967, after making his move to Dhaka Wanderers, Shantoo was one of the only four East Pakistani players who were called up to the

Pakistan national football team The Pakistan national football team represents Pakistan association football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Pakistan became a member of FIFA in 1948 ...

for the 1967 RCD Cup. The other players being

Golam Sarwar Tipu Golam Sarwar Tipu ( bn, গোলাম সারোয়ার টিপু; born 22 October 1945), is a former Bangladeshi football player and manager. He is one of the few East Pakistani footballers to represent the Pakistan national footba ...

, Pratap Shankar Hazra and

Hafizuddin Ahmed Bir Bikrom Hafizuddin Ahmed is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician, a retired Bangladesh Army major, and a 6-term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Bhola-3 constituency. He fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War and was awarded the ...

. He went onto represent Pakistan during the

1969 RCD Cup The RCD Cup 1969 was the third edition of the RCD Cup professional football tournament, held in Ankara, Turkey in 1969. This was a three nation tournament played in league format between Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Venue Results ---- ---- ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and also during the Friendship Cup held in Iran the same year. In 1970, he also played for East Pakistan team in Nepal.

Bangladesh national team

After the

1971 Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali ...

, Shantoo played for the President's XI team during the first football match in the newly independent

, on 13 February 1972. He kept a cleansheet as his side defeated Bangladesh XI (unofficial Bangladesh national team) 2–0. On 13 May 1972, Shantoo represented the Dhaka XI team as they defeated the first international football team to visit independent Bangladesh,

Mohun Bagan AC 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 ...

by a goal from

Kazi Salahuddin Kazi Md. Salahuddin ( bn, কাজী সালাউদ্দিন; born 23 September 1953) is a Bangladeshi former football player currently serving as a president of South Asian Football Federation. He was a member of the Shadhin Bangla ...

. In 1973, coach Sheikh Shaheb Ali named Shantoo in the first Bangladesh national football team squad which travelled to Malaysia fothe 1973 Merdeka Tournament. He made his debut for Bangladesh against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

during the country's first official international game. With the encounter ending 2–2, Bangladesh were reported to have lost on penalties. With Shantoo in goal, the defense that day included captain

Zakaria Pintoo Zakaria Pintoo (born 1 January 1943) is a Bangladeshi retired professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Pintoo played for the Pakistan football team before independence. He served as the captain of Shadhin Bangla Football Team ...

, Abdul Hakim, Sheikh Ashraf Ali and Nazir Ahmed Chowdhury. Shantoo remained the first choice goalkeeper for the national team during 1975 Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia,

1976 King's Cup The 1976 King's Cup finals were held from 15 December to 25 December 1976, in Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occ ...

and

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 ...

in Bangkok, the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Dhaka, South Korea's 1979 President's Cup, Kuwait's 1980 AFC Asian Cup, President's Gold Cup in Dhaka in 1981 and lastly during the 1982 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup in Pakistan. Shantoo was made the national team captain for the

. At the time when the

Dhaka Derby The Dhaka Derby is a football rivalry between the Dhaka teams of Abahani and Mohammedan, although the rivalry was bigger in the past, it is still considered to be the biggest game in the country's domestic football scene. Mohammedan was foun ...

was one of the most heated football rivalries in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

, Bangladesh Football Federation's decision to choose Mohammedan SC's Shantoo over the more experienced Monwar Hossain Nannu of

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 ...

, was criticized by both players and fans. This led to six Abahani players quitting the national team before the tournament. In the opening match of the 1980 AFC Asian Cup against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, coach Abdur Rahim had to substitute an injured Shantoo for the second choice Wahiduzzaman Pintu. Nevertheless, after Pintu's consecutive blunders Bangladesh lost the opening game 2–3. Shantoo went onto start the next couple of the group-stage games against Syria and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, conceding a total of 8 goals during them.

Coaching career

Bangladesh Youth

Shantoo managed the defending champions Bangladesh U23 during the

2004 South Asian Games The 2004 South Asian Games, officially known as the IX South Asian Federation Games, were held in Islamabad, Pakistan from 29 March to 7 April 2004. Originally scheduled for 2001, the games were postponed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the Un ...

. After a 0–0 draw with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and a 2–1 win over

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, going into the last group game the Bangladesh team needed a draw against

to advance past the group-stage. However,

Muhammad Essa Muhammad Essa Khan (Urdu/Pashto: ; born on 20 November 1983) is a Pakistani former footballer who played as a forward. Essa is one of the most well known faces in Pakistani football, due to his regular goal scoring at international level. Cl ...

late penalty knocked Bangladesh out of the tournament. Shantoo was put incharge of the Bangladesh U17 team for the

2004 AFC U-17 Championship The 2004 AFC U-17 Championship was the 11th AFC U-17 Championship, which was held between 4 and 18 September 2004 in Japan. China won their second title after beating Korea DPR 1-0 in the final. Qualification Venues The matches were played ...

. Although the team got tharshed by

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 ...

and

during the tournament, the team produced future senior international players such as

Mohamed Zahid Hossain Mohamed Zahid Hossain ( bn, মোহাম্মদ জাহিদ হোসেন; born 15 June 1988) is a Bangladeshi footballer who last played as a winger for Chittagong Abahani Chittagong Abahani Limited ( bn, চট্টগ্র ...

and

Mithun Chowdhury Mithun Chowdhury Mithun (born 10 February 1989) is a Bangladeshi footballer who plays as a striker for Sheikh Russel KC and the Bangladesh national team. He made his international debut in 2009. He captained the U23 team against Kuwait in 2012 O ...

Bangladesh

Shantoo was made the interim coach of the senior team before the

2009 SAFF Championship The 2009 South Asian Football Federation Championship was hosted by Bangladesh from 4 to 13 December 2009. Bangladesh was awarded to host the tournament after the withdrawal of original hosts India. After India's reluctance to host the tournam ...

, after Brazilian coach

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

was sacked less than a month before the tournament got underway, as he refused to select established senior players. Shantoo's team cruised through the group-stage, with 4–1 and 2–1 wins over

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

and Sri Lanka. However, in the semi-final Bangladesh suffered an embarrassing defeat to eventual champions

who fielded an U23 side. The game marked the end of Shantoo's coaching career.

Honours

Mohammedan SC *

= 1969, 1976, 1978 Brothers Union * Bangladesh Federation Cup = 1980* *

Aga Khan Gold Cup The Aga Khan Gold Cup was a tournament played in Dhaka, Bangladesh which invited the top club sides from leading football playing nations of Asia to compete. Many renowned football pundits regard this competition as a predecessor of AFC Champio ...

= 1981–82*

Awards and accolades

*1978 − Sports Writers Association's Footballer of the Year. *2004 − National Sports Award.

Cricket career

Shantoo also played domestic cricket for Mohammedan SC from 70s to 80s, and regularly played as a left-handed medium pace bowler. In the 1970s, during the Shahid Smriti tournament, he took 3 wickets in a single over against

Dhaka Wanderers Club Dhaka Wanderers Club ( bn, ঢাকা ওয়ান্ডারার্স ক্লাব) is a football team from Dhaka, Bangladesh. They are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Bangladesh. The Wanderers dominated the domestic ...

cricket team. During the 1963–64 season, he came to

to play summer cricket for the Sunrise Club of

as an eighth grade student. In the first match against National Sporting, he created a surprise with 7 wickets for 14 runs. In the First Division Cricket League he made his debut playing for Dhaka Wanderers Club in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shantoo, Shahidur Rahman Living people 1947 births Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Pakistani men's footballers Pakistan men's international footballers Dual men's international footballers Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) players Brothers Union players Men's association football goalkeepers Bangladeshi football managers Bangladesh national football team managers Asian Games competitors for Bangladesh Footballers at the 1978 Asian Games 1980 AFC Asian Cup players Recipients of the Bangladesh National Sports Award Sportspeople from Rangpur Division People from Rangpur, Bangladesh