Syed Sabir Pasha (born 5 November 1972) is a former Indian football player and technical director at All India Football Federation. During his playing days, Pasha played for

Indian Bank Indian Bank is an Indian public sector bank, established in 1907 and headquartered in Chennai. It serves over 100 million customers with 39,734 employees, 5,721 branches with 5,428 ATMs and Cash deposit machines. Total business of the bank has ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

from 1991 to 2007 and represented

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 ...

between 1993 and 2001.

Playing career

Born in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, Pasha started his career with

in 1991. With Indian Bank, he won several titles including 2001–02 I-League Second Division, Chennai Super League,India regional tournaments 1997/98
''Rsssf''. Retrieved 16 August 2021 Tamil Nadu State League. He also won Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup in 1998List of Winners/Runners-Up of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup:
''indianfootball.de''. Retrieved 15 August 2021 and finished runners-up in 1996 Scissors Cup. Pasha later represented

in competitions such as the Santosh Trophy where he was top scorer in the entire competition during the 1996 and 1999 seasons. Pasha never played football at a semi-professional level in the hotbeds of Indian football of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

at the time.

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

, at one time, did attempt to sign Pasha but Pasha rejected in order to stay with Indian Bank. On 23 January 2007, it was announced that Pasha had retired from playing football.

International career

Pasha first began representing

at the international level in 1993. His most notable moment when playing for the national team was in 1995 when he scored the winning goal against

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 ...

in the

1995 South Asian Games The 1995 South Asian Games (or 7th SAF Games) were held in Madras, India between 18 and 27 December 1995.National Sports Council, Nepa"South Asian Games". Retrieved on 16 February 2011 Medal tally Sports * * * * * (debut) * * * * Swimming ...

final to win India the gold medal. It was always wondered if whether Pasha representing a team in

was going against him or not in terms of his standing with the national team. Despite his good performances with the national team whenever he played, Pasha only played a full-game with the national team on a couple of occasions.

Coaching career

Indian Bank and Tamil Nadu

After retiring from playing football, Pasha went on to become the coach of

. In 2010, Pasha received his AFC "A" License after completing the course in Japan. In 2012, he was appointed as the head coach of the

Tamil Nadu football team The Tamil Nadu football team is an Indian football team representing Tamil Nadu in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy. They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals twice, in 1972–73 and 2012, and have never won. ...

for the Santosh Trophy. In his very first season as head coach, Pasha bought Tamil Nadu to the final of the 2012 Santosh Trophy but could not help his side win as they fell to

Services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

2–3.

AIFF Elite Academy

Before the 2014–15 I-League U19 season, Pasha was confirmed as the head coach of the

AIFF Elite Academy The AIFF Elite Academy is the elite academy of the overall AIFF Academies. Started on 1 February 2013, the Elite Academy was started under a youth development project that was started between the AIFF and FIFA. The Elite Academy is the final fro ...

Chennaiyin

On 17 February 2016, it was announced that Pasha had signed with

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural season o ...

as their assistant coach and head of grassroots development.

Honours

India * SAFF Championship:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

; runner-up:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic ...

Gold medal:

; Bronze medal:

References

External links

AIFF Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasha, Syed Sabir 1972 births Living people Footballers from Chennai Men's association football forwards Indian men's footballers Indian football managers Indian football coaches India men's international footballers Indian Muslims South Asian Games medalists in football South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games bronze medalists for India Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India Chennaiyin FC managers