Nasir Chowdhury

Early years

Born in Chittagong, Nasir played football using his tuition fees. He did not even have boots before giving trials for Chittagong Pioneer Football League clubs. When the Chittagong League was postponed, a friend of Nasir's encouraged him to participate in a trial for the Bangladesh Army Football Team, and although his parents were hesitant, Nasir impressed in the trials and ended up getting selected by the army officials. Nasir started his career with the army at the 28 East Bengal Regiment of Chittagong Cantonment. After completing his military training, Nasir travelled to Sri Lanka in 2000 as, the Bangladesh Army participated in a football tournament held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sri Lanka Army. Former Bangladesh national team coach György Kottán was impressed by Nasir's performance during a friendly match between the Army team and the Bangladesh national team at BKSP and offered him a chance to play in the national team. However, the army officials did not give him permission to leave duty. In 2004, the Army were the runners-up at the Sher-e-Bangla Cup (losing to Narayanganj) and Nasir finished as the top-scorer with 5 goals. In 2006, Nasir went to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia. There he met legendary footballer George Weah. After this encounter, Nasir decided to quit his job in the army and in 2008, he filed a petition with the authorities and returned home. Nevertheless, he was unable to play for any professional club…

Serbian coach Zoran Đorđević was the first to include Nasir in the Bangladesh national team. He mainly played as a defender as per the coaches preference. He started his international career during the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup, in Sri Lanka. Nasir captained Bangladesh at the 2013 SAFF Championship, where he injured his head after a collision with Indian defender Nirmal Chettri. In 2014, Nasir was appointed vice-captain for an exhibition match against India. He scored his first international goal against Singapore during a friendly in 2015.

International apps

As of 29 August 2018.

International goals

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club

Bangladesh Premier League: 2013–14, 2014–15 Federation Cup: 2013, 2015 King's Cup (Bhutan): 2014 Abahani Limited

Bangladesh Premier League: 2017–18 Federation Cup: 2017 Bashundhara Kings

Bangladesh Premier League: 2019 Independence Cup: 2018 Individual

2004 − Sher-e-Bangla Cup Top Scorer Award. 2004 − Sher-e-Bangla Cup Best Player Award. 2014 − Sports Writers Association's Footballer of the Year.