Kazi Salahuddin

Shadhin Bangla Football Team

At the start of 1971, Salahuddin went to West Pakistan to play in the regional championship for Dhaka. After the tournament he was called to join the camp for the Pakistan national team. He came back to Dhaka on 20 March but was only in the country for five days when a planned military pacification carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in erstwhile East Pakistan called Operation Searchlight started. His family wanted him to go to London, however, Salahuddin wanted to take part in the Bangladesh Liberation War. His father agreed and he crossed the border to reach Agartala where he joined the training camp for the guerilla soldiers. In 1971, he heard about Shadhin Bangla football team, a team of Bangladeshi football players who played in India to raise money and awareness about the war, from a photo journalist. The journalist, from Kolkata, convinced him to play for the team and explained to him the importance about growing public support for the war. Salahuddin decided to play and went to Kolkata on a Cargo Plane of the Indian Air Force. In Kolkata, he met with many of his teammates from Dhaka and played his first match for the team against Nadia XI, from Nadia district, on 25 July 1971. That day Salahuddin accompanied Enayetur Rahman Khan, in the team's forward line, as the game ended 2–2. He played under an alias; Turya Hazra. After that match, Salahuddin and his teammates played against Mohun Bagan…

After retiring from football, Kazi Salahuddin took on the coaching profession. He became the coach of Abahani Limited Dhaka in 1985, replacing his former coach Ali Imam as the club's head coach. The same year, Salahuddin completed his hattrick of titles by winning the 1985 First Division, despite Ali Imam's Brothers Union team giving Abahani a fight till the end. Abahani's historic hattrick league triumph meant that Salahuddin had won the first two titles as a player (1983 & 1984) and the final one as the coach, which is a unique record in Bangladesh's domestic football. Salahuddin also became the head coach of the Bangladesh national team the same year for the 1985 South Asian Games, while still being part of the Abahani coaching panel. He was also incharge of the Bangladesh Red team (main national team) during the President's Gold Cup, in 1986. Although at the tournament, Bangladesh faced club sides and second string national teams, they finished sixth in a 7 team group. In 1987, Salahuddin was appointed head coach of the Bangladesh Blue team at the 1987 President's Gold Cup, the team is assumed to be the junior national team consisting of players from Abahani. His side caused a major upset by defeating the Syria national team, thanks to a goal from Fakrul Kamal. Salahuddin was in charge of Abahani until 1987, and in 1988, he coached Bangladesh once more, and this time during the 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Abu Dhabi. After a season with Brothers Union, Salahuddin was…

Club

International

Scores and results list Bangladesh's goal tally first.

Managerial

As of 12 September 1994

Kazi Salahuddin was born on 23 September 1953 to an elite family in Dacca, East Bengal. His father, Kazi Muhammad Shahi, was a businessman, and his mother, Begum Simki Shafi, was a housewife. He belongs to the Kazi family of Rajapur in Faridpur District. The family was founded by Kazi Abdur Rasool, son of Shah Azimuddin, who had been appointed as Kazi in Mughal Bengal. He was enrolled in BAF Shaheen College Dhaka before moving to Dhaka College and eventually got into Dhaka University. While Salahuddin was in seventh grade at Shaheen College, he became involved with athletics and was selected for his school football team as the youngest member of the team. This attracted the interest of ex-Pakistani international footballer Rashid Chunna. In 1966, he played two matches as a goalkeeper for Gamma Sports Association in the Dhaka Third Division League. In 1968, Salahuddin started playing cricket for Azad Boys in the Premier Division Cricket League. Later that year, at the request of his sports teacher, Salahuddin played as a striker for Dilkusha SC in Dhaka Second Division League. Following a troublesome period, Dilkusha won the championship that season and were promoted to the top-tier, the First Division, while Salahuddin became the second division's highest goal scorer with 14 goals. In 1968, Salahuddin was called up to the East Pakistan Youth Team for the Pakistan National Youth Championship, and in the following year, Abdul Hashem, impressed by the young striker, signed him…